A restriping project set to begin this fall will extend existing biking lanes along a small stretch of South Cascade Avenue in downtown Colorado Springs.

City crews will restripe South Cascade Avenue between Colorado Avenue and West Fountain Boulevard, and extend existing bicycle lanes, “to provide safe connections to numerous local community trails and attractions,” according to a project webpage.

City officials have invited residents to attend a project open house on Wednesday to learn more. The public can join city and project teams to discuss details and review exhibits and the schedule.

The meeting will take place from 5 to 6:30 p.m. inside the Columbine Room on the first floor of the Penrose Library, 20 N. Cascade Ave. Library parking kiosks in both the upper and lower lots require payment by credit card or with coins.

Crews will add 6-foot-wide, on-street buffered bike lines on both sides of Cascade Avenue from Colorado Avenue south to Fountain Boulevard. This provides “an additional level of safety” for cars, cyclists and pedestrians, the project webpage states. Bike delineator posts will not be installed as part of the project, city spokesman Max D’Onofrio said.

The project will restripe Cascade to accommodate parallel parking spaces on both sides and adds an all-way stop at the intersection of Cascade and Moreno avenues, with a marked crosswalk.

The existing raised center median and sidewalks on both sides of Cascade will be maintained, and the project will provide bicycle guidance at intersections.

There will be no changes made to parking capacity.

D’Onofrio said the work is expected to be completed in about a week. Cascade will remain open to traffic.

Colorado Springs is paying for the work through revenues from its bicycle excise tax, a $4 tax levied on certain new bicycles sold in the city, and general funds.

It is unclear how much the project could cost, since city crews are conducting the work and the project was not contracted out, D’Onofrio said.

Many new bike lanes, traffic configurations and striping modifications are among changes laid out in the city’s Experience Downtown Master Plan the City Council approved in 2016 and the bike master plan the council adopted in spring 2018.

When Colorado Springs officials began implementing those changes in the summer of 2018, including in areas downtown such as along Weber Street and Pikes Peak and Cascade avenues, residents across the city shared mixed feelings.

Proponents said the changes make downtown streets safer and more accessible to pedestrians and bicyclists. Opponents said the bike lanes were unnecessary and would narrow lanes used by automobiles.

Some roadway changes, including installing bike lanes on stretches of Cascade Avenue and Weber and Fontanero streets, received vehement criticism from residents in the Old North End neighborhood near downtown in particular. A group of residents even sought a temporary injunction on the street work. A judge ultimately granted the injunction in May 2018, but it was lifted a month later.

D’Onofrio said Friday because the upcoming changes slated for this portion of Cascade Avenue are in a high-traffic area in the downtown corridor, officials decided to hold Wednesday’s open house to let people know about the planned work.

“We understand that in the past, residents have been very vocal about the bike lanes, both in favor of and opposed to them. … We wanted to make sure we went above and beyond (by hosting a project open house so) residents know and understand what is going on,” he said.