Kern County Grand Jury • 2024-2025

Report - The Proliferation of Bike Lanes

Published: May 27, 2025 5 pages
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Findings and Recommendations 7 findings

F1
Removing one automobile and replacing it with a bike equates to a reduction of 0.00000119 percent of the Central Valley’s annual CO production of 43,000,000 tons5. This brings into question the value of spending $200,000 of Federal grant money plus substantial sums of local dollars for such a miniscule reduction.
No recommendations for this finding
F2
According to their own website, the design consulting firm is biased toward bicycles and other forms of alternative transportation.
Related Recommendations (1)
R1
By July 1, 2025, the City should consider revising its Request for Proposal (RFP) material to better identify potential conflicts or biases of proposals. (Finding #2)
F3
The weather extremes and poor air quality in Bakersfield do not support a movement toward bicycles from automobiles.
No recommendations for this finding
F4
There are no practical alternatives for relocating traffic from H Street: Chester Avenue is too congested to move traffic to that street; Union Avenue and Oak Street are too far from H Street to be viable options. From Imperial News UK 2 KernCOG (Kern Council of Governments) 3 Simplified Highway Capacity Calculation Method for the Highway Performance Monitoring System, US Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration 4 Proven Safety Countermeasures, US Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration 5 California Air Resources Board (CARB)
No recommendations for this finding
F5
The narrowing of automobile lanes to accommodate bicycle lanes often has a positive impact of also tending to compel automobile drivers to reduce speeds.
Related Recommendations (1)
R2
Automobile and bicycle traffic counts should be conducted prior to installation of new bicycle lanes on existing roadways starting September 1, 2025. (Finding #5)
F6
Roads in new developments can be designed to accommodate bicycle lanes without inhibiting the flow of automobile traffic.
No recommendations for this finding
F7
A cost of ~$15,000 per mile for the installation of a bicycle lane is only a reasonable expense if there is a demand for the lanes. COMMENTS: The Grand Jury thanks the Bakersfield Public Works Department for their time and valuable information provided for this report.
No recommendations for this finding

Comments 7

No Responses Found 1

Government entities assigned to respond to this report. No response documents have been linked in our database.

Bakersfield City