Bay Street is joining the growing number of downtown streets getting bike lanes and sharrows -- those painted arrows -- this summer. In addition toPeter, Simcoe, Richmond, and Adelaide, the north-south corridor is getting brand new markings, some of which are already open for use.

The Toronto Cycling Twitter accountsent out pictures of the newly completed lanesyesterday.

Although the timing comes as a surprise (no one was talking about bike lanes on Bay St. of late), the new road layout has been a long time coming. The designs, which call for painted bike lanes between College and Dundas and, further south, between Front and Queens Quay, were approved in 2010 under David Miller. Sharrows will fill in the gaps between lanes.

"This is something that's been in the works for quite a while, actually," says Dan Egan, the city's cycling manager. "It's just that there's been construction happening ... it's part of an ongoing process to get Bay Street designated as a [bike] route all the way down."

Last year, the city completed the installation ofpainted bike lanes from just north of Bloor to Davenport Road.

The full set of bike lanes and sharrows from Davenport Road to Queens Quay is due to be completed by next year.

Chris Bateman is a staff writer at blogTO. Follow him on Twitter at@chrisbateman.