5th Street cycle track in Calgary to open Friday

Another section of Calgary'scycle track isopeningdowntown, this time the Fifth Street portion.

• 'Bicycle ambassadors' to help Calgarians navigate expanded cycle track

The bicycle-only lanes run along FifthStreetfrom Third Avenue S.W.to 17th Avenue S.W., giving cycling commuters a north-south route through downtown and under the railway tracks. It opens Friday morning.

It's significantbecauserailway tracks made moving through downtown difficult for cyclists, according toCalgary'sbicycle co-ordinatorTomThivener.

"Travel delays may seem to be a bit longer right now, but rest assured,weare working to optimise traffic flow as best as possible. We have a lot of engineers working on this, driving the corridor, to see where there are issues and to make fixes along the way," saidThivener.

The12th Avenue tracklaunchedearlier this month.Two more sections of the cycle track, on Eight and Ninth avenues in downtown, are still under construction.

See a larger map of Calgary's cycle track here.