Downtown bike lane causing confusion

It looks as though downtown commuters are going to need a lesson in parking on Pennsylvania Street.

The city of Indianapolis this week installed a bike lane on the west side of the street, but apparently no one got the memo, judging from the number of cars parked in the lane Friday morning.

The idea with the new bike lane is to have cars parking away from the street, in space between traffic and the bike lane, so bicyclists are protected from the traffic by the parked cars.

But, so far, the lane only seems to be causing confusion, until signs are erected explaining where cars should park and where bikes have the right of way.

The lane on Pennsylvania extends eight blocks, from St. Clair Street to the north to Washington Street to the south.