The City of Victoria has three bike lane projects in the works.
Wharf street and Dallas road will be getting separated, two way bike lanes, while Vancouver street will be undergoing traffic calming measures to make it a more bike-friendly road.
Mayor Lisa Helps says the current work along Dallas road needs to be done before the bike lane can be installed.
"Right now they are laying a very large pipe, as we've all seen, about 6 feet in diameter, between Ogden Point and Clover Point. So that construction is already underway. And once the pipe is laid, the CRD construction will put in a two way bike lane on the ocean side"
She says the project on Wharf street will be done in a similar fashion, with new pipes laid before a two way bike lane is installed. Helps says the city hasn't finalized any contracts for the bike lane construction, and are focusing on the underground work first.
"We decided to do the underground work first before the bike lane, so that we wouldn't put in the bike lane, and then two years later have to do the underground work, that would be highly inefficient and a waste of money. The underground work has been underway since December, and that's what's happening right now. The bike lane contract tender closes on January 23rd, and after that we should have some information on who is building the bike lanes."
She says the new bike lanes will affect parking along those roads. Vancouver street won't be impacted, but 21 spots will be lost along Wharf street, and Dallas road will lose about 3 percent of the 500 available spaces.
Helps did not have an estimate on how long it would be until the bike lanes are installed and operational.