Bicycles Before Business – Econlib

El Camino Real (ECR), State Highway 82, the main thoroughfare connecting San Jose with San Francisco, is sandwiched between Federal Highways 280 and 101.  Maintenance and Rehabilitation is largely paid by the state with modest local government participation.  Indeed, Caltrans can repave and redesign ECR even without city approval.

In 2024, Caltrans decided to repave ECR from Menlo Park southward through Palo Alto (which parallels Stanford University), Los Altos, Mountain View, to Sunnyvale.  The work included upgrading curb ramps and sidewalks to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act.  It also added bicycle lanes.  The work was largely completed by July 1, 2025.

Caltrans allocated $7,133,000 for the project, but did not explicitly list the cost of the soft white-posts-and-green-marker separated bike lanes.  I would guesstimate no more than $2 million.

Restaurants and other commercial establishments complained about the loss of street parking and business before, during, and after the lane posts were installed.  Patrons sometimes have to search for street parking in residential neighborhoods.  It’s hard to know actual business losses, but I’ve watched some prospective customers give up and drive away.

What about bicyclists’ use of the new dedicated bike lanes since their completion?  Every Sunday, my wife and I go out to lunch at a restaurant on ECR, or a side street off ECR.  On average, I drive weekly to Safeway Pharmacy and Grocery Store in Menlo Park along ECR.  My wife drives weekly along ECR to each of two big box stores and biweekly to Ranch 99 in Mountain View.  That’s four trips a week and nine biweekly.  On August 17, 2025, our 62nd anniversary, we went to our favorite Chinese restaurant on ECR.  We arrived early and were seated next to a large window looking out at the street.  And then, we remarked simultaneously, “Look, a bicyclist!” the first we saw using the new bike lane.  I estimate that we had driven about a hundred miles between July 1 and August 17.

Several thousand students, staff, and faculty ride bicycles to Stanford each working day, having done so for years without dedicated bike lanes along ECR.  Stanford’s internal bike lanes are simply demarcated with paint and words.

Are the new bike lanes worth the direct cost of installation and indirect cost of lost business?  I think not, unless and until they are more heavily used, with fewer automobiles on the road unclogging traffic and reducing carbon emissions.  Even if that occurs, businesses will continue to lose money.  But, hey, this is California!

Alvin Rabushka is the David and Joan Traitel Senior Fellow, Emeritus at the Hoover Institution.