Council Prioritizes Walking and Biking

At the annual Council Priority Projects Workshop in February, Council showed strong support for walking and biking projects. These projects involve the Safe Routes To School program, sidewalk maintenance, Fair Oaks Avenue, and pedestrian scrambles next to high schools.

The Safe Routes To School proposal aims to re-invent the program, which has made no documented progress to date.

The re-invention of the Sunnyvale Safe Routes To School (SRTS) program was one of the proposals that was advanced. The goal of the SRTS program is to increase the rates of walking and biking to school. Under city management for over 10 years, SRTS has made no documented progress. This study aims to re-invent and re-invigorate the program, drawing upon successful programs in neighboring cities.

Uneven sidewalks are a tripping hazard. Council advanced a proposal to address the long backlog of sidewalk maintenance requests.

Sidewalk maintenance was another proposal that got advanced for further consideration. Uneven sidewalks are a tripping hazard and difficult for people with disabilities. The city currently has a long backlog of sidewalk maintenance requests. It could take years to get a faulty sidewalk smoothed. This proposal aims to establish a 9-month response time, by allocating more budget to sidewalk repair.

The Fair Oaks Avenue signalization at 3 intersections study was already approved in 2025 but flagged for possible cancelation at this year's Workshop. It was put on the chopping block not because it isn't important but because it hadn't yet begun so canceling it would not waste work. Luckily, Council saw the importance of this study to address one of the most deadly roads in Sunnyvale, so they chose to preserve this study. With unsignalized intersections and many destinations, Fair Oaks has seen 60 reported crashes involving bicyclists or pedestrians since 2020, with 9 crashes resulting in fatalities or severe injuries.

Another already approved 2025 study and also flagged for possible cancelation was the pedestrian scrambles at the Kennewick/Homestead intersection at Homestead High School and the Sunnyvale-Saratoga/Fremont intersection at Fremont High School. Like the Fair Oaks study, this study hadn't begun. Again, Council chose to preserve this study. Student pedestrians and cyclists come into constant conflict with cars at these 2 intersections. A pedestrian scramble would dedicate a traffic light phase to pedestrians and cyclists while cars are at a standstill.

The outcome of the Council Priority Projects Workshop was to advance the SRTS and sidewalk maintenance proposals for staffing and budget considerations. These proposals will be brought back to Council for approval at the Budget Workshop in May. The Fair Oaks and pedestrian scramble studies are preserved and hopefully will begin soon. As far as walking and biking initiatives, the outcome of the Council Priority Projects Workshop could not have turned out better.

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About the Author

Sharlene Liu is Founder and Chair of Sunnyvale Safe Streets. She is dedicated to making Sunnyvale's streets safe for walking and biking.