Bicyclists along a portion of The Drag on the the UT campus will now have their own protected lane.

The protected bicycle path, or cycle track, debuts Oct. 17 on southbound Guadalupe Street from 24th Street to Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. Also known as green lanes, these pathways protect cyclists by using a curb, landscaped buffer, parked cars and other barriers to keep riders separate from vehicle traffic.

Shannon Wisner, city of Austin public works department spokeswoman, said the nonprofit group Bike Austin and the Austin Police Department will be working along the new pathway Oct. 17 to educate bicyclists and motorists.

"There will now be a parked car barrier for people traveling along the cycle track," Wisner said. "The green paint is still in process and will be installed next week."

The majority of the $650,000 project was paid for with funds from a 2010 Mobility Bond. Construction coincided with work on Capital Metro's MetroRapid concept, which will debut in 2014 with new priority bus lanes, limited stops and advanced signal technology to keep traffic lights green when the bus is running behind schedule.

The effort to build dedicated bike lanes stems from a 2013 city of Austin study that suggests half of Austinites want to use a bicycle as a means of transportation but fear riding alongside high-speed motorized traffic. These separated cycle tracks make biking safer, Wisner said.

"It's a very high-traffic area of Guadalupe Street with a lot of students around," she said. "Also, with MetroRapid coming, it created an opportunity to have a protected facility, which tends to increase the amount of [bicyclists] because people tend to be more comfortable when there is a barrier."

Other Austin streets with cycle tracks include Rio Grande Street in West campus, Fourth Street next to the Austin Convention Center, Third Street downtown, Bluebonnet Lane, Barton Springs Road, Pedernales Street and Berkamn Drive. The city is working on a long-range plan to eventually connect more cycle tracks and urban trails. A plan could be unveiled early next year, Wisner said, following public meetings in November.

"The goal is to connect more of these facilities together so you can get from Point A to Point B in a protected fashion," she said.