(Photo by Mariana Dale - KJZZ)

Cyclists say the buffered bike lane on McClintock has made the street safer.

Tempe residents who’ve complained that buffered bike lanes snarled traffic on McClintock Drive should see some relief by the end of the week.

The city is re-striping the road between Southern Avenue and Baseline Road to add back a third southbound travel lane.

“Bicyclists won’t see much of a change there is going to continue to be existing bicycle facilities, buffered from the traffic,” Tempe Traffic Engineer Julian Dresang said. “The main change ... is for southbound drivers and that will be most noticeable during the evening rush hour.”

The bike lanes will no longer be marked by semi-flexible poles referred to as candlesticks.

“There was issues at one point with vehicles driving in the bike lanes, but with the new striping plan the bicycle lanes and buffer lanes will now provide enough width for cars to drive in there,” Dresang said.

When Tempe re-vamped McClintock in 2015 to include buffered bike lanes many cyclists celebrated, but complaints about traffic came swiftly and constantly.

RELATED: Early Data Shows Slower Traffic, Fewer Accidents After McClintock Bike Lane Addition

The City Council approved a multimillion dollar compromise to re-do parts of the street last fall.  The city is currently designing the next phase of the project, widening McClintock between Broadway and Southern.