Councilmember calls San Diego bike lane response 'defensive'

San Diego's bike lane network is too fragmented to get people commuting on two wheels, a county Grand Jury report concluded after months of investigation.

The report, titled "Shifting Gears," found the city's lack of "connected, well-maintained bike infrastructure discourages many people from bicycling as a viable commuting option." The Grand Jury visited dozens of streets and neighborhoods across the city, including La Jolla Boulevard, according to KPBS.

The City Council's Active Transportation and Infrastructure Committee reviewed the report and the city's draft response on Thursday, Oct. 22. City officials partially disagreed with the jury's central finding, arguing that bike infrastructure is improving and that commuting decisions depend on factors beyond the city's control, such as trip distance and topography.

Councilmember Kent Lee pushed back. Lee, who represents District 6, said the Grand Jury got it right.

"I don't know about my colleagues, but I would just agree — that's just factually true," Lee said at the committee meeting, according to KPBS. "I understand contextualizing … but to me, it just came off as we're being very defensive."

The Grand Jury's report details the scale of the problem. Five bicyclists were killed on city roadways in 2024, placing San Diego fifth among California's 50 major metro areas for average bicycle deaths over the past five years, according to state traffic records cited in the report. The city has close to 1,900 miles of bikeways compared with 6,600 miles of automobile roadways.

A core problem, the jury found, is that the city installs bike lanes only when other roadwork is already planned. Ian Hembree, advocacy and community manager for the San Diego County Bicycle Coalition, told KPBS the city does not prioritize filling gaps in the network. Bike improvements get bundled with repaving projects or pipeline replacements instead.

The Grand Jury also found the city has just one operable sweeper small enough to clean 63.7 miles of protected bike lanes. That sweeper runs on no regular schedule. Maintenance depends on residents filing reports through the city's Get It Done app. The city agreed with that finding but said acquiring another sweeper "is not reasonable" given its structural budget deficit and staffing levels.

On the jury's top recommendation to prioritize building continuous bike infrastructure instead of waiting for larger projects, the city's draft response states the recommendation "has been implemented." The response points to the existing practice of bundling bike improvements with resurfacing work. That is the same approach the Grand Jury and cycling advocates criticized as inadequate for building a connected network.

The full City Council must approve the official response by Nov. 27. Council President Joe LaCava, who represents District 1 including La Jolla, has not publicly stated a position on the report. The council can amend the draft response before sending it to the presiding judge of the San Diego Superior Court.