The urban core of Honolulu is yielding to accommodate more bicycle traffic.

In a ceremony Wednesday, the city opened the South Street Protected Bike Lane to give bicyclists a mauka-makai route in the heart of Honolulu, improving access to downtown and Kakaako.

City spokesman Andrew Pereira said the bikeway is the latest in Mayor Kirk Caldwell’s initiative to make Oahu more bike friendly and give residents an alternative to sitting in traffic.

“It’s great,” said Hawaii Bicycling League executive director Chad Taniguchi. “The mayor’s doing a great job in this.”

The protected bike lane runs along the Ewa side of South Street from King to Pohukaina streets and is near existing and developing residential high-rises and the proposed site of the future Civic Center Rail Station.

From Pohukaina Street seaward, 5-foot-wide bike lanes have been installed to connect to Ala Moana Boulevard and the Kakaako makai area.

Taniguchi said the South Street Protected Bike Lane is the first mauka-makai lane of its kind in Honolulu and that he’s looking forward to more of them.

The other protected bike lane was created in 2014 on the mauka side of King Street from Alapai Street near Honolulu Hale to Isenberg Street in Moiliili.

City officials said the South Street bikeway was constructed by in-house staff at the Department of Facility Maintenance for $80,000.