Great news to share with our Walk-Bike community in Cupertino! Both Kennedy Middle School (KMS) PTA and Monta Vista High School (MVHS) PTSA have officially endorsed the Carmen Bridge project. Many thanks to MVHS PTSA President Kathy Jacques and KMS PTA President Xi Cheng for arranging the time for our Advisory Board members to present this project for their school community. Special thanks to Kelly Tung, our Student Executive Board Member and the President of Youth Environmental Power Initiative (YEPI) for her great effort to advocate this project at MVHS and through her leadership in YEPI.
In 2015, the Carmen Bridge project emerged as a grass-roots community-based project. Several hundreds of local school students were driven to school daily because of the difficulty crossing Stevens Creek Blvd while walking or biking. This situation caused traffic congestion and safety issues around our schools and neighborhoods. Hundreds of local residents signed a petition to support the proposed Carmen Bridge project, that will provide a safer route for students to walk or bike to school and allow easier access to nearby parks on foot or wheels, thus significantly reducing the car traffic and improving air quality for a greener Cupertino.
In the following two years, the city council approved the project as a Tier 2 Bike Plan and a Tier 1 Pedestrian Plan. The project officially kicked off in Nov 2018 and its feasibility study was completed and accepted in Nov 2019. The next phase is to include a budget in the city’s CIP (Capital Improvement Plan) for 2021-2022. The city council will vote on this agenda item in May.
Many thanks to the Cupertino Safe Routes to School Working Group for voting Yes to endorse the Carmen Bridge project!
Many thanks to Arthi Rajan, President of Stevens Creek Elementary PTO for sending us the great news that their PTO board has officially endorsed the Carmen Bridge project on behalf of their PTO community in April.