At 22nd Annual Bike to Work Day, Council members express support for protected bike lanes [photos]

A group of around 50 cyclists celebrated Bike to Work Day with a group ride organized by the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia from the University of Pennsylvania to Dilworth Park capped off by a speech by Mayor Jim Kenney.

Three City Council members joined the ride: at-large freshmen members Helen Gym and Allan Domb, and Majority Leader Bobby Henon.

Henon’s 6th District in Northeast Philadelphia will be the first to see protected bike lanes in the city, which will be installed this year along Ryan Avenue. Henon said he was “super excited” for the bike lanes. “Protected bike lanes [are] the big and new and exciting thing,” said Henon. “Northeast Philadelphia welcomes it.”

The last stretch of the celebratory ride took the cyclists, riding everything from Indego Bike Shares to high-end racing bikes and decked out in suits and skirts to lycra and spandex, down West Market Street’s busy five lanes of traffic. All of the Council members on the ride expressed support for adding a protected bike lane to the street, as the Center City District has proposed doing since 2011.

Read more on PlanPhilly.