Walking & Biking News & Ideas
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We hope you are staying healthy!
We hope you are enjoying the weather by walking and biking! Many of us are off on vacation, so this is just a short update for you on what's been happening locally. Have a wonderful rest of the summer!
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Project News for Cupertino
City Council approves new bike infrastructure and studies in this year's CIP
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An example of Complete Streets, which allow for excellent throughput of walkers, cyclists, and vehicles.
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The Cupertino City Council approved one new biking project and two studies in the 2022-23 CIP (Capital Improvement Program) list. While this is much lighter on substantive projects than we had hoped, the word is that the understaffed departments of Cupertino need this year to catch up on some of the projects from previous years. Nonetheless, the two studies may lead to important and much needed new infrastructure in future years, which would be very welcome. |
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Lawson Middle School Safe Bike Lane Study |
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A group met multiple times for four years to create a fully funded (with an Apple grant) plan to address the dangerous conditions for students biking to Lawson Middle School.
This group included Cupertino's Transportation Staff, Safe Routes to School, CUSD staff, a Cupertino Bicycle Pedestrian Commissioner (now former), Lawson staff, Lawson PTA parents, and Lawson parent champions.
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The plan proposed a bike path along the perimeter of the school, modeled after a very successful similar path at Greene Middle School in Palo Alto. The path there has helped increase the number of kids biking to school from 30% to over 60% of students, and has even resulted in increased property values in the vicinity because so many families want their kids to go to that school due to the safer commuting option.
However, the new bike path would reduce parking along Lawson Middle School by 10 spaces. The City Council, at the request of the current Bike Ped Commission Chairman and two neighbors, stopped the plan to implement the bike lane to consider creating a study to look at this further. The City Council has now funded this study to review all available information again and make a recommendation.
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De Anza Boulevard separated bike lanes
De Anza Boulevard is one of the main arterial streets into and through Cupertino, and has the highest speed limits with the city limits. The CIP includes funding for the design and construction of separated bike lanes (Class IV, like along McClellan Road) along De Anza Boulevard from Homestead to Bollinger. This is a 1.73-mile corridor that stretches from Cupertino's southern border with San Jose to the northern edge of the City at Sunnyvale. Currently, De Anza has painted-stripe bike lanes, sometimes with green high-visibility paint (Class 2 lanes).
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Regional Transportation Study along Stevens Creek Boulevard
Cupertino will be contributing funds and staff time to join the City of Santa Clara, Santa Clara County, the City of San José, and VTA in a multi-jurisdictional corridor study of Stevens Creek Boulevard. The goal of the study is to envision a vibrant Complete Street design along Stevens Creek Boulevard with appealing bikeways, walkways, and public transit from Cupertino to Diridon Station in San José. The project is anticipated to kick off in September of this year.
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Wondering what "Complete Streets" means?
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Cupertino Bike Shop Closes
after 70 Years
After nearly 70 years of serving the Silicon Valley cycling community, Cupertino Bike Shop will close its doors on August 31, 2022. They had been searching for a new permanent home for the bike shop, but were unsuccessful in finding a long-term location that was economically viable. We will particularly miss their annual swap meets, which drew people from all over Northern California. The Cupertino Bike Shop has been a great community partner, volunteering their repair expertise at festivals, and more. They will be missed.
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The entire inventory from the Cupertino Bike Shop is on sale starting August 2 until they close. Their current address is 1510 S De Anza Blvd, San Jose, CA 95129. |
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Local Walk-Bike Events this month
❖ Sunday, August 7 | 9am-11am: WBC Cruiser Ride (more info). Meet at Quinlan Center. Enjoy an easy 1-2 hour ride on local streets, with a snack mid-ride at Philz Main Street. No RSVP needed.
❖ Wednesday, August 17 | 7pm: Cupertino Bicycle Pedestrian Commission Meeting (more info). Online meeting.
❖ Tuesday, August 24 | 4pm-5pm: Safe Routes to School Working Group meeting (more info). The first meeting of the school year! Join community members (even if you aren't a school parent) to make walking and biking safer for our local children. Online meeting.
❖ Wednesday, June 8 | 4pm-5pm: Western Wheelers Sierra Escape Ride (more info). Fun and sometimes challenging daily rides on a 9-day trip through some of the most beautiful scenery to be found anywhere.
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Stevens Creek Trail Trailblazer Race
is back in person
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After a two-year hiatus of being online only, the Stevens Creek Trail Trailblazer Race to support and encourage enjoyable use of the Trail is back as an in-person event on Sunday, September 25, 2022.
The whole family can enjoy the activities offered, including:
--10K & 5K races on scenic, fast and flat running courses (Races begin at Microsoft's Campus in Mountain View)
---Free kids’ activities for toddlers to age 10
---A festival area with snacks, exhibits and prize drawings.
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How to become a better cyclist |
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Here is a local resource to help you become a better, more confident and safer bicyclist: Almaden Cycling Touring Club’s Bike Training Academy. ACTC is a long standing and large volunteer bike organization in the Santa Clara Valley and does much to promote cycling in the region. You may know them from their sponsoring of the Tierra Bella bike event every Spring.
Several of our WBC members have taken the course and highly recommend it You''ll see that the course is focused on - but not limited to - adult cyclists of all skills.
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Local Road Safety Plan Moves Forward
Community Outreach portion is complete
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The City of Cupertino held their second and final community meeting in the creation of a Local Road Safety Plan on July 11, 2022 and is moving forward to plan completion in the next couple months.
The Local Road Safety Plan (LRSP) goals are to reduce traffic fatalities and severe injuries on our local roadways by analyzing and prioritizing roadway and intersection safety improvements. Creation of an LRSP is necessary for the city to receive grant funding from federal agencies (and likely state/local soon). Grant funding is a very significant contributor to building new infrastructure. Recent projects that were paid for by grant funding were the McClellan Road separated bike lanes open for several years; the Regnart Creek Trail opening this year; and the separated bike lanes coming on Stevens Creek Boulevard west of Wolfe.
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There are many improvements being considered. Click on the thumbnails below to read more and get to a larger image. |
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Changing School Start Times |
Starting this month, all local high schools will begin at 8:30am. Some local elementary schools are also adjusting their start times, such as Lincoln Elementary which will now be starting at 8:10am. You may need to adjust your commute times to allow for the increased traffic at these new times, and please, watch carefully for walking and biking students.
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We'd love to hear YOUR voice!
Do you know a great walk, ride, run or hike? Want to share an issue about walking, biking, city planning, or interesting idea?
Walk-Bike Cupertino would love to spotlight it in our newsletter and on our website! Articles should be 500 words or less, and should include a picture (at least 3 pictures for hikes). All submissions are subject to approval & editing, and can be used by Walk-Bike Cupertino in future publications. Contact us here.
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Happy Walking and Biking,
Your friends at Walk-Bike Cupertino
Find much more, including maps, safety data, and information on all the city projects at: walkbikecupertino.org
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