A protected bike lane on Elston Ave in Chicago, installed in May. Chicago Bicycle Program / Creative Commons Over the weekend, Chicago installed its first two-way bike route with dedicated traffic signals, in an effort to attract high-tech companies and startups to the city.

“It’s part of my effort to recruit entrepreneurs and start-up businesses because a lot of those employees like to bike to work,” Mayor Rahm Emanuel said, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

On a 1.15-mile stretch on Dearborn Parkway between Polk Street and Kinzie Street in downtown, the lane runs along the curb, with a parking lane and "buffer lane" between bicyclists and moving traffic.

One lane for cars on the busy street has been eliminated to make space.

The bike lanes will be a boon to all Chicago residents, Chicago DOT Commissioner Gabe Klein said, explaining, “the Dearborn Street two-way protected bike lane project will balance roadway space to ensure pedestrians, transit users, bicyclists and motorists can travel along and across the street safely.”

Emanuel has pledged to install 100 miles of bike lanes throughout the city by the end of his four-year term.