What's the hold up? Money, of course, is an issue, but Philadelphia's City Council has a lot of influence on where, and if, protected bike lanes come to the city. A protected bicycle lane needs to be nine feet wide – six feet for the lane of travel and another three to make space for the divider. Any street redesign that takes a travel lane away from cars requires Council approval, something that can be tough to achieve if constituents don't want to lose the driving lane.