Downtown Sacramento is going to get more bicycle-friendly over the next year and a half, as the City Council gave the nod for the Department of Transportation to begin planning more bicycle lanes for downtown streets Tuesday night. “The intent of the project is to create bike lanes on some of the most traveled downtown streets,” said Ed Cox, the city’s pedestrian and bicycle coordinator. The project will be completed in two phases. The first phase involves painting bicycle lanes on a number of streets that are already wide enough to handle the bikeways without losing any lanes or parking spaces, Cox said Wednesday. “We’re looking at J Street, I Street, Ninth Street, Fifth Street, 10th S

 A new traffic signal was erected this morning at 10th and H street. This is the first stage of a project that will convert 10th street, currently one-way running north, to two-way traffic between E and I streets. 9th street is also included in this conversion, changing from a one-way running south to two-way between E and H streets. Bike lanes and parking spaces will also added on either side of the street for both 9th and 10th. One benefit of the change will be increased access to the underground parking garage below City Hall. The conversion is scheduled for this Sat., Feb. 21 and the roads will be open to two-way traffic by Mon., Feb. 23. There will be no closure to traffic during the