The Great Barrier Myth

This rigid steel bollard at the entrance to the Fremont Avenue bridge over Stevens Creek recently caused a Sunnyvale cyclist to crash. Her thumb sustained a complex fracture and will need 12 months to recover.

Five screws and a plate hold together her thumb after the crash.

If you’ve ever used one of Sunnyvale’s many off-street bike or pedestrian paths, you may have encountered bollards, staggered gates, or other barriers at the entrances. You’ve probably had to swerve, slow down, or even dismount to navigate around them. Worse, you may have crashed into an entry barrier and sustained serious injury. In fact, just this month, a Sunnyvale cyclist crashed into the rigid steel bollard at the entrance to the Fremont Avenue bridge over Stevens Creek, resulting in a complex fracture of her thumb.  She now has 5 screws and a plate holding it together and 12 months of rehabilitation to look forward to.

You may ask yourself, why do these entry barriers exist?  Perhaps you assumed they’re there to keep cyclists in check. But that assumption is wrong — and surprisingly, it's explicitly contradicted by state requirements.

According to the Caltrans Highway Design Manual (HDM), obstacle posts or gates must not be used to force bicyclists to slow down, stop, or dismount. This isn’t a vague recommendation — it’s a clear prohibition. Caltrans doesn’t issue these kinds of statements lightly. The HDM goes on to explain that the only legitimate reason for these barriers is to stop unauthorized motor vehicles — and even then, only after three specific conditions are met:

Violating the Caltrans Highway Design Manual, this barrier at the east end of Yorktown creates an asymmetric single-lane passage.

1. There’s an actual, ongoing problem with unauthorized motor vehicle entry;

2. Other measures have already been tried and failed to solve the problem;

3. The safety risks posed by unauthorized vehicles are greater than the safety risks created by installing the barriers.

Since most of these barriers are installed when the paths are first built — long before any pattern of unauthorized vehicle use could have been observed — it's clear that the required evaluation procedure was not followed.

The bollard at this Borregas bridge entrance causes cyclists to swerve and knock it over.

Despite clear state standards, entry barriers exist all over Sunnyvale.  For example, the popular Borregas Avenue bridges over Highways 101 and 237 have a bollard at every entrance.  These bollards, although flexible, are a hazard because they cause cyclists to swerve.  People riding with trailers or wider bikes regularly hit the bollards and knock them over.

The HDM outlines specific design requirements to minimize hazards of these barriers, among them:

• Yielding materials to reduce injury if struck

• Removable or moveable, leaving a flush surface when not in place

• Highly visible with reflective surfaces and bright colors

• Spaced to allow at least 5 feet of clear paved path between obstacles

• An even number of symmetric travel lanes (to avoid head-on collisions)

• Minimum 2-foot offset from the pavement edge

• Advanced signage if visibility is limited

• Proper placement in relation to intersections and bridges

• Breakaway design if within a highway clear zone

This gate leading into Las Palmas Park is too narrow for a bike trailer to fit through and forces cyclists to dismount.

Unfortunately, most of these standards are violated in various locations around Sunnyvale.

Even compliant barriers create access problems for people using tandems, bike trailers, or mobility devices such as wheelchairs — groups that are already underserved in transportation planning.

To be fair, many of these facilities were built decades ago, before current standards were in place. But that’s exactly why we should remove non-compliant barriers. Removing these barriers is one of the easiest and most cost-effective improvements we can make. When the Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Commission (BPAC) looked into using Transportation Development Act (TDA) funding for barrier removal, the city estimated the cost at $15–20K per location. That includes removing the barrier, adding curb ramps, and painting red curbs to prevent cars from blocking entrances.

The passage at Peach leading to Cumberland School is a rare good example of how an entry should be designed -- no barrier and a curb ramp aligned with the path of travel. Before, it had chicanes that made entry nearly impossible. Once removed, student usage dramatically increased.

While not a complete fix for every design flaw,

removing barriers offers a big safety and usability boost. And they're cost effective and quick to make. By removing unnecessary and hazardous barriers, we make it easier for people to choose walking or biking — and that means fewer car trips, less traffic, and a healthier, more connected community.

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About the Author

Kevin Jackson is a long-time active transportation advocate. He served on the Sunnyvale Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Commission for many years and is currently on the Board of Sunnyvale Safe Streets.