Sunnyvale Infrastructure Ride Highlights
Caption: Sunnyvale infrastructure ride participants ready to explore Sunnyvale.
The city of Sunnyvale was our host for an insightful infrastructure ride on a beautiful October 25th. It was a wonderfully mixed group including Sunnyvale staff, Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee members from Campbell, Santa Clara, and Sunnyvale, a Sunnyvale business representative, a VTA staff person and a Santa Clara County Dept of Public Health staff person. We were anxious to learn about and discuss the latest improvements in Sunnyvale and planned and potential improvements to make cycling safer and better in Sunnyvale .
SVBC in collaboration with Santa Clara County is doing a series of 13 educational infrastructure rides. This was the sixth ride in the series after previous rides in San Jose, Morgan Hill, Mountain View, Santa Clara and Cupertino. The ride was an approximately fourteen mile double loop through Northern Sunnyvale during which we stopped at eight locations to discuss current bike facilities, proposed plans, potential ideas, and solutions.
We headed west on Stewart Ave from our starting point at the Sunnyvale Sports Basement to our first stop at Fair Oaks Park. Sunnyvale staff informed us that they are studying reconfiguring this intersection and possibly adding traffic signals at the corner of Maude and Wolfe to make this uncontrolled corner safer to cross. This would make it much easier and safer for people to get to the park from the nearby neighborhoods. The second stop further west along Maude Ave was where the future Maude Ave bike lanes between Fair Oaks and Sunnyvale Rd were discussed. Sunnyvale is also planning improvements at the corner of Maude and Sunnyvale Rd, an important intersection for bicycling from the Sunnyvale Caltrain station to Moffet Park. Continuing west on Maude, we stopped next at Mary Ave. Sunnyvale has recently added bicycle lanes on Mary into the Perry Park business park. This makes Mary Ave a better north-south connector all the way from Homestead Rd. to US 101, crossing most of Sunnyvale. The newest infrastructure on Mary Ave is a protected bikeway north from Maude Ave. to Almanor Ave. It is the first one in Sunnyvale and a harbinger of future improvements.
From Peery Park, we rode across the two bicycle bridges along Borregas Ave. crossing both 101 and 237 into the Moffet Business Park to hear about the exciting plans for that area. There are major changes happening to the Mathilda/101/237 highway interchanges right now and one of these involves converting a section of Moffet Park Drive to a Class 1 bicycle-only path. We had a Google representative on the ride with us and he described the changes planned along Bordeaux Dr. including: the addition of bike lanes and improvements at the Fifth Ave. Bordeaux intersection; the possible GreenLink Google is planning to build across Moffet Park to connect the new developments planned there; and a road diet to add bike lanes along Java Ave.
After a short ride north to the Bay Trail, we started back with a stop to talk about the recent Bay Trail improvements, and future Caribbean Dr. upgrades. As part of the Moffet Park general plan update, Sunnyvale is asking for a new class-1 bike/pedestrian path along the southern side of Caribbean. Big improvements will be coming to northern Sunnyvale!
On our trip back to the starting point, we made a quick stop at Columbia Middle School. While there, Sunnyvale staff informed us about plans at Morse Ave to improve walking and bicycling to the school and community center there. After crossing Fair Oaks Ave., we had an enjoyable experience riding along the new buffered bike lanes on Duane Ave connecting Fair Oaks Ave. and Stewart Ave. Before finishing our ride, we stopped at Sunnyvale’s newest park, Wiser Park, where staff discussed future bike lanes on Santa Real and Indian Wells Aves to support the new townhome neighborhood there and the future housing complex under construction at 1 AMD Place.
You can see there are lots of changes occurring in Sunnyvale to improve conditions and safety for bicycling. Sunnyvale approved its Vision Zero Plan this summer with a goal of reducing traffic fatalities and serious injuries by 50% by 2029. It will take a huge increase in the rate of infrastructure improvements to make that goal a reality. Sunnyvale is currently creating its first Active Transportation Plan which includes Sunnyvale’s bicycle master plan as well. Please consider engaging with the development of this plan to create the roadmap for future bicycling improvements in Sunnyvale for the next ten years.
Everyone enjoyed riding and learning about recent and future infrastructure improvements in Sunnyvale. The ride fostered great discussions between all the stakeholders, sharing of new ideas, and observations, all while biking through the city. Participants ended the ride better informed and inspired to push for an improved community, environment, and economy in Sunnyvale by getting more people to ride bikes for everyday use.
Once again, we thank all those who carved out time on a Friday morning October 4 for joining us on the ride. Special thanks to City of Sunnyvale staff, Ralph Garcia, Lillian Tsang, Dennis Ng, Joel Arreola, and Lynette Jeramillo for all their planning, knowledge sharing, and time to make the ride a huge success!