Construction crews are a few weeks away from finishing a nearly $1 million bike lane project in Ignacio that will help preserve the safety of two-wheeled riders who often came within inches of moving cars on the dangerous half-mile stretch.Mark Birnbaum has been waiting 10 years for the upgrade. The Novato resident commutes on his bike just more than 16 miles to his job as controller at Snader & Associates in San Rafael and has always been nervous riding the narrow stretch of Alameda del Prado.”It became apparent the first day I ever commuted on my bike in 2000 that it was totally unsafe there,” Birnbaum said. “It was just a matter of time before somebody got killed by an impatient driver. Ive had a couple of close calls myself.”An extra-wide median on the northern section of Alameda del Prado has been narrowed to allow for bike lanes in a portion of the road between Posada del Sol and Alameda de la Loma, just south of Ignacio Boulevard. The winding street is a frontage road that often handles overflow traffic when Highway 101 is backed up, and it is a main route for children attending Loma Verde Elementary School. The 30-foot-wide median created a dicey situation for bike riders when they were being passed by vehicles.The segment is considered a key link in the North-South Bikeway used by bike commuters. Previously, riders had to switch back and forth between the east and west sides of Highway 101 in southern Novato if they were determined to ride in standardAdvertisement5-foot-wide bike lanes.  Read more... (277 words, 1 image, estimated 1:06 mins reading time)