A San Diego County Grand Jury is calling for changes to how the city installs bike infrastructure.
The grand jury spent months analyzing the safety and convenience of biking in San Diego. Its report "Shifting Gears: San Diego Peddles Bicycle Mobility Through A City Dominated By Cars," found the city has major gaps in its bike network that discourage people from riding.
Ian Hembree, advocacy and community manager for the San Diego County Bicycle Coalition, said the city does not prioritize filling gaps in the bike network. Instead, he said, it installs bike lanes only when other types of roadwork, like repaving projects or pipeline replacements, are already planned.
"All of these things that we need to do are packaged with bike infrastructure upgrades," Hembree said. "But the connectivity of the network is not being prioritized when we build bike infrastructure in this way."
The City Council's Active Transportation and Infrastructure Committee reviewed the grand jury report Thursday, along with the city’s draft response to the report's findings.
The first finding is that San Diego's lack of "connected, well‑maintained bike infrastructure discourages many people from bicycling as a viable commuting option."
City officials said they partially disagreed, and that bike infrastructure in the city is getting better. They also said transportation decisions are influenced by more than just infrastructure.
But Councilmember Kent Lee said he thinks the grand jury got it right, and that unsafe streets clearly discourage people from biking.
"I don't know about my colleagues, but I would just agree — that's just factually true," Lee said. "I understand contextualizing … but to me, it just came off as we're being very defensive."
The grand jury report also calls for more regular maintenance of bike lanes, such as clearing debris and filling potholes.
The city's official response to the grand jury report still needs approval from the full City Council. The response is due by Nov. 27.
