Illustration (Antara/Ahmad Subaidi)

The Jakarta city administration will develop a four-kilometer bike lane along Jl Suryopranoto and Jl Harmoni in Central Jakarta, the city'€™s third bike lane after the one-and-a-half km lane from Ayodya Park to Blok M in South Jakarta and  the 6.7-kilometer bike lane in East Jakarta.

'€œWe plan to complete the construction of the Suryopranoto-Harmoni bike lane later this year,'€ said City Public Works Agency head Yusmana Faisal on Tuesday as reported by beritajakarta.com.

To develop the lane, Jl Suryopranoto is being be made a one-way road and the median strip will be removed, according to Yusmana.

Meanwhile, head of roads and bridges at the Public Works Agency Yudi Febriyadi said the city administration had allocated Rp 6 billion (US$ 414,000) to the project, taken from funds allocated to sidewalk repairs in the 2015 city budget.

'€œThese particular roads are not too crowded [with motorized vehicles]. Therefore, it is good for a bike lane,'€ said Yudi. Apart from developing a bicycle lane between 1.5 and 2 meters in width, the city administration will also expand the width of the sidewalk by 1.5 to 3 meters.

Yudi said that the city also planned to develop another bike lane from Jl Sudirman in South Jakarta to Kota Tua (Old Town) area in West Jakarta.

There are dozens of cycling communities in Jakarta and in its satellite cities Bogor, Bekasi, Depok and Tangerang. The Bike to Work Community is the largest cycling group with a membership of more than 3,000 people.

The cycling communities have long criticized the city administration for its sluggish effort to develop bike lanes. (bbn)(++++)

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