The unprecedented new physically-separated bike path running along Chelsea’s Ninth Avenue has already been set up using temporary materials. The Department of Transportation is billing it as New York City’s "street of the future." New York 1 reported yesterday:

Bicyclists have a new lane to use in Chelsea, and the city is hoping to expand the project around Manhattan.

The new bike lane runs along 9th Avenue between 16th and 23rd Streets. Cyclists are protected by a lane of parked cars in the middle of the street. The city is also putting in special signals to make it clear when cyclists can cross.

Eventually a strip of pavement will separate cyclists from the parked cars. Even in its preliminary form, cyclists seem to be loving it.

"It keeps you away from the traffic so you don’t have to worry about the cars, and crossing over and stuff like that," said one cyclist.

Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan says it’s all part of the city’s bike master plan.

"We’re bringing in the best practices from around the world to the streets of New York City," she said. "Mayor Bloomberg has said that he wants us to look at ways that we can bring more efficient ways of moving around the transportation network, so it’s very much in keeping with PlaNYC."