Every workday in Ridgecrest, a federal traffic problem soon becomes everyone’s problem. At the main gate of Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake, which is located at the intersection of China Lake Boulevard and Inyokern Road, vehicles stack up during rush hour, the backup spilling into the rest of the town. For a city that was built around the base and depends on it for the majority of its economy, the congestion is more than just annoying. It’s disruptive, it’s predictable, but what it isn’t is excusable.
China Lake does have additional gates; however, their hours are limited. The Richmond gate is only open during certain times on weekdays, and the Sandquist gate closes in the early evening and is completely closed on flex Fridays, holidays, and weekends. This leaves the main gate dealing with the brunt of the burden as commuters try to get to work or go home. Even without a published traffic study, the setup alone makes it obvious that when every car going in or out of the base has to funnel through a single gate check at a key road junction–well, it’s going to be the town that pays the price.
What makes the situation even more frustrating is that the Navy has other bases that are testing faster methods elsewhere in the same region. At Naval Air Station North Island in San Diego County, part of the Naval Base Coronado, the Navy has started implementing “SWIFT” biometric lanes. Official Navy-region posts say that the system, as a biometric program, is “twice as fast as normal lanes,” all with the intention of reducing traffic. According to a separate Navy image caption from 2024, the biometric facial recognition system has been a way to improve system efficiency.
Some will argue against me and say that this is likely due to a law or legislation in place in our region. But no! The same regional command applies because China Lake is part of Navy Region Southwest. Naval Base Coronado, which includes North Island, is too. This doesn’t mean that every base in the region has to use identical gate systems, but it does give Ridgecrest residents the right to ask why a congestion-reducing tool is being used in one place while a smaller desert city remains stuck with a choke point that clogs two of its main roads.
Security is important. Nobody is arguing otherwise. But efficiency is important too, especially when a single base entrance effectively controls the flow of a town. Ridgecrest shouldn’t have to accept the daily gridlock as the cost of living near a Naval base. If faster screening technology exists–which it does–within the same regional system, China Lake should be pushing to bring it here.
