A bike lane on E Street NW. (Photo by philliefan99)

Downtown D.C.’s newest cycle track will begin to be laid down tonight, when crews from the District Department of Transportation start repaving and repainting a stretch of L Street NW which, when finished, will include a firmly demarcated cycle track.

The new bike lane will run from the intersection with New Hampshire Avenue to 12th Street, making a heavily trafficked 10-block stretch far more hospitable toward cyclists. That section of L street runs eastbound in that section.

A DDOT spokesman tells DCist in an email that the bike lane will be opened up in two-to-three-block segments as the track is created along the left-hand side of L Street. Portions of the lane near intersections will be painted green and protected with bollards to better alert drivers to cyclists’ presence on the roadway. (You can see the design on DDOT’s website.)

DDOT estimates the track will take three weeks to complete. Construction begins tonight at 7 p.m. The agency says that at least one lane of the street will remain open throughout the process, though parking restrictions will be in effect.