Is Bakersfield Traffic Getting Worse?

In 2026, weekday freeway congestion in Bakersfield was 21% better than in 2025 and 62% better than in 2016, measured as hours lost in stop-and-go traffic per 1,000 miles driven. Traffic volume per sensor was about the same as in 2025.

Year by year (weekdays)

Year	Delay per 1,000 vehicle-miles	Change	Vehicles per sensor per day	Average speed	5 pm speed	Sensors
2016 (partial)	0.05 h	–	39,766	64 mph	61 mph	78
2017	0.03 h	-35%	39,235	65 mph	63 mph	79
2018	0.03 h	-1%	40,598	65 mph	63 mph	87
2019	0.07 h	+105%	40,799	64 mph	61 mph	89
2020	0.02 h	-68%	37,746	64 mph	63 mph	100
2021	0.08 h	+297%	38,615	64 mph	63 mph	101
2022	0.12 h	+40%	36,713	64 mph	63 mph	92
2023	0.04 h	-65%	38,672	63 mph	62 mph	109
2024	0.02 h	-41%	40,150	64 mph	63 mph	114
2025	0.02 h	+1%	41,407	63 mph	63 mph	108
2026	0.02 h	-21%	42,103	64 mph	63 mph	110

Month by month

Weekday delay per 1,000 vehicle-miles in Bakersfield, by month (hours)

Freeway by freeway, 2016 vs 2026

Freeway	2016	2026	Change
I-5 North	0.00 h	0.01 h	–
I-5 South	0.03 h	0.06 h	+77%
SR-58 East	0.04 h	0.01 h	-79%
SR-58 West	0.17 h	0.00 h	-98%
SR-99 North	0.02 h	0.02 h	-33%
SR-99 South	0.05 h	0.03 h	-51%

Weekday delay per 1,000 vehicle-miles on each freeway direction within Bakersfield.

How this is measured

Every hour, road sensors report how many vehicles passed and how fast they went. For each sensor we multiply the vehicles by the length of freeway it covers to get vehicle-miles, and count the extra time spent below 35 mph as delay. Dividing delay by miles driven gives a congestion measure that doesn't change just because sensors are added or retired. Only weekdays with at least 20 hours of data are used. Data: Caltrans PeMS.

See also: how rain slows Bakersfield traffic, by time of day and how hard it rains.