A 6-KILOMETER-LONG bicycle lane will be put into use by the end of this month when the Shennan Thoroughfare renovation project is completed.

The bicycle lane, 1.5 meters in width, extends from Shahe Road West to Shanghai Hotel and runs along Shennan Thoroughfare.

"Unlike bicycle lanes in Beijing which shoulder with vehicle lanes, the bicycle lane along Shennan Thoroughfare is separated from vehicle lanes by pavement," said Wong Kaixiang, chief engineer of the Shennan Thoroughfare renovation project. The lane will connect with the old bicycle lane, which starts from the pavement at its eastern end at Shanghai Hotel.

The city's planning authority had decided to build a bicycle lane when it started the Shennan Thoroughfare renovation project six months ago, after receiving letters, phone calls and visits from the public.

"The construction of the bicycle lane is of importance especially after the number of vehicles on road had hit 1.2 million in the city," said Wong. "The move is to encourage the public to use greener transport means."

"Shenzhen canceled bicycle lanes in its planning out of fear it might be a waste of resources 10 years ago," said Niu Riling, an employee of the Shenzhen Urban Planning and Design Institute.

"At that time, public security is not as good as now, many people don't want to use bicycles because they often lost them," said Niu.

According to the road renovation plan, the city will build bicycle sheds near Metro stations and bus stops for riders' convenience.

Shenzhen began the 300-million-yuan renovation of Shennan Thoroughfare, a 23.8-kilometer arterial road running through Luohu, Futian and Nanshan districts, at the end of September.

Editor: Wing