Local leaders are counting on you to ride your bike along hundreds of miles of dedicated bike lanes in San Diego County. The city of San Diego, the county and the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) have deployed upward of 60 digital counters along bike paths and lanes.
“It turns out thousands and thousands of people bike,” said Sharon Humphries, SANDAG’s director of engineering & construction. “We’re getting 2,000 riders a day. So, that’s 2,000 people that are not in their car.”
Humphries spoke to NBC 7 while standing near a counter along the Rose Creek Bike Pathway. She said more than 30 more miles of bike pathways will be completed or started in 2022.
Statistics provided by SANDAG showed that more than 400 miles of dedicated or shared bicycle lanes have been added in San Diego County since 2010. SANDAG and other local agencies invested in the counters to track ridership to see the number of users.
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“We always say, ‘If they build it, people will come,’ and I’m seeing that,” said cyclist Sylvie Froncek.
Froncek said her bike is her primary mode of transportation.
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“I’m excited to see all this change, but I’d really love to see it be possible for anybody in San Diego to get on a bike,” she said. “Cautious and potential cyclists would bike a lot more often if they felt they had that separate space and protection.”
The city of San Diego recently placed a bicycle counter on a newer pathway on 30th Street in North Park. They posted a live link for anyone to view how many people are using the path.
