Let Sunnyvale know what you think of it’s proposed Bicycle Master Plan
Sunnyvale recently published its draft Active Transportation Plan (ATP). This is your best opportunity to shape the future of walking and bicycling in Sunnyvale for the next 10 years. The ATP includes the Bicycle Plan (Chapter 4) Pedestrian Plan (Chapter 5) and Safe Routes to School Plan (Chapter 6). The public comment period is open until April 19, 2020.We are grateful to the City of Sunnyvale for updating these important plans together. It creates better alignment between them by updating them all at the same time. The draft Bicycle Plan recommends many improvements in both bicycle policies, including bicycle parking requirements, and infrastructure for Sunnyvale.Here are SVBC’s high-level concerns and recommendations for the Sunnyvale ATP.
We recommend Sunnyvale set a 10% bicycle mode share goal by 2030. This plan sets a very low target for increasing bicycle mode share to only 5% by 2030. It is critical for people and nature worldwide and the health, happiness, and safety of Sunnyvale residents that Sunnyvale set a much higher target. Other nearby cities have shown that it is possible in the Bay Area to achieve much higher bicycle mode shares when cities work toward it, for example Mountain View is already at 6% bicycle mode share.
We encourage City of Sunnyvale plan for at least 50 miles Class I and Class IV bike infrastructure and at least 120 miles of planned improved infrastructure to create a truly safe bikeable walkable city. The proposed improvements in the draft plan will not increasing bicycling enough to achieve even a 5% bicycle mode share by 2030 in our opinion. It is currently very difficult or impossible to get to many important locations in Sunnyvale via a low stress bike route. Safety is the number one reason people choose not to bike and Class IV protected bike lanes and Class I trails have been shown to increase safety for people biking (both facts bolstered by the survey on page 39). Class III routes and basic Class II bike lanes offer little protection and do little to make most people feel safe enough to use them. The current proposal of 35 miles of new Class I and Class IV bike infrastructure is a great improvement over the current situation, but it is not sufficient to create a complete low stress bike network as stated in the goals for a city as large as Sunnyvale.
We recommend the plan includes a plan and methodology to do “quick build” projects that get pilot and demonstration projects on the ground faster and cheaper. This allows Sunnyvale to test out improvements and get feedback as well as providing increased street safety and bicycle mode share faster.
We request Sunnyvale evaluate potential bicycle infrastructure using our newly developed bicycle network evaluation tool before making high, medium, and low project rankings final. SVBC, working with Copenhagenize, has developed a bicycle network evaluation tool for evaluating the importance of each street in creating a complete bicycling network. We think our bicycle network evaluation tool will help Sunnyvale build a safer and more complete bicycle network sooner by ranking projects differently than currently ranked in the ATP.
We encourage Sunnyvale budget to invest at least $40M over the next 10 years, or $4.0M per year for implementation, adjusting for inflation going forward. The plan estimates it would cost between $21M to $49M to implement the recommended improvements.
Please take the time to review the plan and submit your feedback, particularly about streets and routes you use. The public comment period is open until April 19, 2020. Here are ways to provide your input.
Read the ATP and make comments online at https://sunnyvaleatp.altaplanning.site/#/
Submit your comments via email or in writing to:
Lillian Tsang, Principal Transportation EngineerCity of Sunnyvale Department of Public Works456 W. Olive Ave.Sunnyvale, CA 94086Ltsang@sunnyvale.ca.gov.
Attend the Sunnyvale Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Commission (BPAC) Meeting in April
Date: Thursday, Apr. 16
Time: 6:30 p.m.
Where: Council Chambers, Sunnyvale City Hall, 456 W. Olive Ave.
(Note: The March 19 BPAC Meeting has been canceled)