On his way out of office, Miami Mayor Manny Diaz aims to leave the city's long-bereft cyclists two reasons to be happy this week.

The first: Sunday is the last Bike Miami Days of his tenure -- and, perhaps, the last one, period, unless Diaz's successor picks up the recurring, car-free downtown street festival. This edition, which runs roughly from Mary Brickell Village to Bayfront Park, will feature popular local bands playing in the middle of Flagler Street, loaner bikes, free swag and an appearance -- on wheels? -- by Tim Hardaway, whose foundation is sponsoring a kids' corner.

Then, on Thursday, the City Commission will vote on Diaz's ambitious bicycling master plan. A first for Miami, the 20-year plan would establish a comprehensive network of bike lanes, designated bikeways and bike-parking facilities to make city streets safer and more appealing for the city's fast-growing cadre of commuting and recreational cyclists.

Also in the offing: a proposed city ordinance that would require new commercial buildings to include covered bicycle parking.

The flurry of cycling initiatives comes as Diaz, who is term-limited and leaves office in November, attempts to finalize a number of key plans -- including Miami 21 -- designed to transform auto-dominated Miami into a more urbane city that makes space for pedestrians and cyclists on its streets.

POINTS OF PLAN

The highly detailed cycling master plan, based on an action plan approved by the commission a year ago, calls for increasing the number of bike lanes and paths in the city from less than 16 miles now to 280 miles -- about the length of bikeways in place such as New York City, considered a national leader.

``We learned from a survey we did that the biggest concern for people is the lack of connected bikeways, which creates a feeling that it's not safe to ride,'' said Mike Lydon, the city's consultant. ``The more bike facilities that can be built, the safer they will feel, and the more they will ride.''

The plan also identifies 950 locations across the city for bike racks, lockers, shelters and other means of bicycle parking. It also concludes that many existing racks are unusable because of poor design or installation -- multiple examples are pictured in the plan -- and sets out specific guidelines for functional racks.

Just as significantly, the plan calls for a broad educational campaign to teach motorists and cyclists alike how to safely share streets, as well as enhanced enforcement by police. The campaign could be funded with available federal grants, Lydon said.

Diaz's stated goal is to earn Miami -- selected by Bicycling magazine last year as one of the country's worst towns for cyclists -- designation by the League of American Bicyclists as a ``Bicycle Friendly'' city by 2012.

FINANCIAL SUPPORT

For the first time, Sunday's Bike Miami event has attracted a commercial sponsor, Waste Services of Florida, which donated $20,000, supplemented with $10,000 from the Downtown Development Authority. Planners hope continued sponsorships would allow the financially strapped city to continue the increasingly popular car-free events under a new mayor.

``We just don't know what will happen,'' Moore said.

But Sunday's edition will be the most elaborate yet, with more bands, businesses and restaurants, and cycling, and community groups.

GRADUAL PROGRESS

If approved by the commission, the cycling master plan would be implemented gradually, as streets and sidewalks are rebuilt or resurfaced. One aim is to connect neighborhoods now separated by busy roads. The plan would knit together designated bikeways or bike boulevards -- back streets redesigned to slow cars with traffic circles and other traffic-calming measures -- with bike lanes on main corridors like Coral Way or Northeast Second Avenue, for example.

One advantage of such bike-friendly measures is that they are relatively inexpensive, said Lydon, the consultant. The city could easily do a demonstration project, for instance, by converting a street that already has traffic-calming measures into a designated bike boulevard by adding signage and street markings.

Because many of those main streets are state or county roads, though, installation of bike lanes would require sometimes-tricky coordination among different jurisdictions. The Florida Department of Transportation, long seen as hostile to cyclists, has started agreeing to the installation of bike lanes on its roads, especially in the wake of lawsuits by South Florida cycling groups.

``The real strength of having a plan like this is that whenever the county or state comes into the city with a project, this gives the city backing and standing to ask for bicycle facilities, and that alone is a big step forward,'' Lydon said.