Measure S: Are We Investing in the Transportation Fresno County Actually Uses?

Fresno County needs transportation investment. Our roads need repair, our sidewalks need attention, and every year we postpone maintenance, deterioration continues and future repairs become more expensive.

So before taxpayers make a 30-year commitment under Measure S, we should ask a basic question: Are we investing first in the transportation infrastructure Fresno County residents actually use and urgently need?

One provision of Measure S deserves more public attention. The measure requires at least 120 miles of new bike paths or protected bike lanes by 2057. According to KVPR's September 8, 2026 analysis, 84 miles are designated for Fresno and Clovis and another 36 miles for unincorporated Fresno County.

This is not simply funding available for bicycle infrastructure when local demand justifies it. It establishes a minimum requirement extending three decades into the future.

Now look at how Fresno County residents actually travel.

Fresno COG's 2026 Mobility Hubs Plan, using U.S. Census American Community Survey data from 2019-2023, shows that 84.9% of Fresno workers commute by car, either driving alone or carpooling. Countywide, that number rises to 86.3%.

By comparison, only about 0.9% of Fresno County commuters use public transportation to get to work and approximately 0.8% commute by bicycle.

Fresno has already substantially expanded bicycle infrastructure. Fresno COG's 2018 Regional Transportation Plan reported that, since 2010, the City of Fresno had added 24 miles of Class I bike paths, 205 miles of Class II bike lanes and eight miles of Class III bike routes. Even with that substantial expansion in the city's bicycle network, bicycle commuting remains below 1% countywide.

Long-term bus ridership raises another question. Fresno Area Express recorded approximately 11.24 million annual rides in 2005 compared with 9.61 million in 2024, a decline of about 14.5% over that period. Meanwhile, Fresno County has continued to grow, automobiles remain the dominant form of transportation, and road use has increased. Caltrans data show that daily vehicle miles traveled in Fresno County increased from approximately 21.95 million miles in 2021 to 23.24 million miles in 2023, an increase of nearly 6% in just two years.

The contrast deserves attention. While approximately 0.9% of Fresno County commuters use public transportation to get to work, Measure S would dedicate 25% of its revenue to public transit and require at least 120 miles of new bicycle infrastructure. At the same time, automobile travel is increasing, and the roads carrying that traffic face billions of dollars in repair needs.

This is where priorities matter.

Transportation dollars are limited. Every dollar committed to one purpose is unavailable for another. Investment should be concentrated where the need is greatest, where infrastructure is most heavily used and where delaying repairs will cost taxpayers even more.

Today, that need is visible every time we drive down a deteriorating street.

During the Measure C renewal planning process, Fresno COG estimated that bringing the countywide pavement system to an average Pavement Condition Index of 70 would require approximately $5.4 billion over 10 years. The analysis warned that costs would increase if improvements were delayed because additional roads would continue deteriorating.

A street requiring preventive maintenance today can require far more expensive reconstruction tomorrow. Deferred maintenance does not eliminate the expense. It increases it.

There is also the question of committing future generations to transportation assumptions being made today.

Thirty years is an extraordinarily long time. Think about transportation in 1996. Smartphones and rideshare companies did not exist. Electric vehicles were barely part of the transportation discussion, and remote work was uncommon.

Measure S would establish transportation requirements extending to 2057. No one can know exactly how Fresno County residents will travel 10, 20 or 30 years from now. Technology, population patterns, employment and transportation itself will change.

Voters should also know who developed and financed the initiative.

The campaign promoting the measure is Fresno County Residents for Better Roads and Safe Streets - Yes on S. Its website identifies major financial supporters including the Central Valley Community Foundation, North Coast States Regional Council of Carpenters and Fund for a Better Future, Inc.

Campaign finance reporting showed approximately $1.25 million raised during the first six months of 2026, with nearly $500,000 spent on signature gathering to qualify the initiative for the ballot.

The numbers should cause us to look closely at the priorities being established for the next 30 years.

Only about 0.8% of county commuters bicycle to work and approximately 0.9% use public transportation. Meanwhile, 86.3% commute by automobile, either driving alone or carpooling, while Fresno County faces billions of dollars in pavement and infrastructure needs.