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As part of an effort to make traveling by bike safer in Atlanta, the Midtown Alliance, City of Atlanta and the PATH Foundation have teamed up to build a new bike lane on 10th Street stretching from the intersection at Monroe Drive to the intersection at Charles Allen Drive.

This bike lane is just one part of a $2.5 million initiative to create over 25 bike lanes in Atlanta. According to a newsletter sent out by the PATH Foundation on Friday, August 16, “the planned extension of the cycle track to Peachtree will connect all of Midtown and the proposed Juniper Street bicycle facility.”

The new lane, which was constructed over the summer, has given many students and teachers at Grady much to rejoice about. Though there were some people who voiced concerns about the traffic the new lane might cause, Oceanography and Environmental Science teacher and occasional bike rider Kori Ellis says that the traffic the lane may cause is a good thing.

“Atlanta is behind other metropolitan areas as far as having bike lanes,” Ellis said. “It’s one of the least bike-friendly places I have ever seen. Especially here in Midtown, people don’t need to drive to places and I think the more inconvenient it is to drive, the more we will encourage people to use bikes and walk.”

First-year Grady teacher Ben Sellers shares Ellis’ view that the new bike lane will make Atlanta bike more often.

“I think [the new bike lane] is being used,” Sellers said. “And I think it encourages people to use it more and bike more. It’s much safer with the separator cones and it’s not only a bike lane, but a two-way bike lane which is key if you have a lot of people on it.”

Sophomore Caden Jackson, who rides his bike nearly everyday to school, is happy with the new bike lane because of the safety it offers bikers.

“The lane is a good way to get on the beltline from Piedmont park and not to have to deal with motorists,” Jackson said. “But I also feel that sooner or later we are going to find a sophomore cutting traffic under the wheels of an Escalade.”