BERKELEY — A new cycle track along Bancroft Way, expected to be completed next week, will provide safer access to UC Berkeley while creating the city’s first intersection of protected bike lanes, Bike East Bay announced.

The two-way, protected track will allow bicyclists to travel in both directions along Bancroft Way between Fulton and Dana streets, in time for Cal’s fall semester.

The new track will connect to an existing one on Fulton Street between Bancroft Way and Channing Way, developed in the wake of a Feb. 2, 2016 near-fatal accident after intense lobbying by Bike East Bay The advocacy organization “promotes healthy, sustainable communities by making bicycling safe, fun and accessible,” according to its mission statement.

In that accident, Megan Schwarzman, 42, a mother and research scientist at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health, was struck from behind by a suspected drunken driver as she rode home from work on Fulton Street south of Bancroft Way.

The Bancroft Way cycle track is part of a larger pilot project to create a network of protected bike lanes and transit improvements on the south side of the UC Berkeley campus, Bike East Bay notes on its website.

The cycle track will be accompanied by new, red-painted, bus-only lanes and shorter crosswalks. Next year, the organization says it hopes to see a new cycle track on Dana Street, and extensions of the Bancroft Way cycle track and bus lanes east to Piedmont Avenue.

Bike East Bay is looking for volunteer “street ambassadors” to talk to people on Bancroft Way for one- or two-hour shifts from Aug. 14 through Aug. 25. To volunteer, click here.

The new Bancroft Way cycle track will be celebrated as part of an East Bay Bike Party and ride on Aug. 11, beginning at 7:30 p.m. at Mosswood Park, Oakland. The theme of this month’s party is pajamas. More information about the party is available here.