PORTSMOUTH — The city is moving forward with a plan to develop protected bike lanes along Lafayette Road from Portsmouth High School to the downtown.

City Council voted 8-1, with City Councilor Jack Thorsen voting against the motion, to have City Transportation Director Juliet Walker continue working on the plan, while also getting feedback from the city’s Parking and Traffic Safety Committee.

Walker said the next step will also include early engineering and design work on the proposed protected bike lane.

Thorsen said he didn’t want to vote to move the project forward until he heard from the Parking and Traffic Safety Committee.

“If we haven’t heard back from the committee, I’m not sure if we’re ready to do that,” Thorsen said.

Walker explained three options that city staff and the city’s consultant have considered.

They include traditional bike lanes with just striping to indicate where the bike lane is on the road and protected bike lanes, which includes some buffer between bike riders and vehicles, and lanes on either side of the road.

The third option has protected bike lanes on one side of the road, with bikers going in either direction on the same side of the road, Walker said.

Walker reported that 86 percent of people who attended two public meetings or gave public comment supported alternative B, which is the option that offers protected bike lanes on either side of Lafayette Road.

“It has a significant amount to date of public support,” Walker said.

The city received money from the state Department of Transportation’s Safe Routes to School program for the initative.

The program is aimed at increasing “utilization by school-age children to get to and from school,” Walker said.

Walker noted that the route is “a key entry to the downtown and has on-street parking most of the way.”

Option B, which the council voted to support, “increases the space and comfort for bicyclists,” Walker said, but costs more to implement and maintain than the striped bike lane.

Walker said the protected bike lanes are being designed for “children, families, seniors, people who are just learning or veteran bikers who don’t feel comfortable mixing with vehicles.”

Walker acknowledged the plan will have an impact on the availability of on-street parking, but just how much won’t be known until the design work is completed.