SAN DIEGO – Bicycle lanes will replace 30 metered parking spots on a busy mile-long stretch of University Avenue in Hillcrest.

San Diego City Council unanimously approved the plan to remove the parking spaces and install bike lanes on University Avenue from 5th Avenue to Park Boulevard. Forty-nine angled spots will be added to side streets surrounding businesses.

The plan is part of Vision Zero, a strategy to eliminate all traffic deaths and severe injuries on the streets of San Diego by 2025.

In 2015, SANDAG approved of the Uptown Bikeways project, which will bring protected bikeways to University Avenue, however a gap was created in the core of Hillcrest to mollify opposition in the neighborhood.

“Today’s vote to shorten the gap on University is a key step toward improving safety on one of San Diego’s most dangerous Vision Zero corridors,” said Maya Rosas, advocacy manager with Circulate San Diego.