Anticipating Caltrain ridership growth, the City of Sunnyvale is improving bike-pedestrian access around the Sunnyvale Caltrain Station. A survey of the public indicated that 38% of respondents would walk or bike to the Station more instead of drive if safety improvements were made. At the Bicycle Pedestrian Advisory Commission (BPAC) meeting this month, staff unveiled concept plans of these improvements. There were many street and intersection improvements proposed. Some of these proposals truly improve safety while some don’t, and some areas should but did not get addressed.
I’ve divided the proposals into three: those that likely will improve safety, those that likely aren’t worth the money, and those that are already underway.
Proposals likely to improve safety
- The flagship proposal is a raised bike-pedestrian scramble intersection at the main entrance to the Caltrain station, located at Evelyn and Frances. The raised intersection will slow down cars while simultaneously make the pedestrians and cyclists in the intersection more visible to drivers. The scramble light phase will allow pedestrians and cyclists to cross in all directions at once while cars remain still in all directions. A scramble allows safe efficient transfer of pedestrians and cyclists.
- To be fair, the north side of the station also gets a raised intersection, located at Hendy and Frances.
- Protected bike lanes on both sides of Evelyn.
- Protected 2-way bike-ped path on Hendy.
- Improved crossing of Evelyn at Murphy.
- Removal of street parking along Hendy and California to fit in bike lanes.
- Curb extensions to shorten crossing distance and slow cars were proposed at various locations.
Proposals that are probably not worth the money
The following proposals may not improve safety enough to warrant spending funds for them.
8. Shared bike-car route (Class 3 bikeway) on Washington and Pastoria. According to the National Association of City Transportation Officials, an All Ages and Abilities shared bike-car route should have very low car speed and volume, however Washington and Pastoria are faster and busier roads, so should not be treated with Class 3 bikeways. Traffic calming measures like chokers, bulbouts, and speed bumps would need to be applied before a shared bike-car lane can be made safe.
9. Traffic circles on Frances at California and Beemer. These traffic circles are too small in diameter to slow down cars. Staff indicated that they were designed small because fire trucks needed to get through.
Proposals that are already underway
In addition to the proposals above, existing projects in the Caltrain study area are already underway and will further improve safety. These are:
10. Protected left turns at California Ave and Sunnyvale Ave.
11. Evelyn Two-Way Separated Bike-Ped Path connecting Sunnyvale Caltrain Station to Mountain View Caltrain Station.
12. Sunnyvale Ave Bike-Ped Undercrossing of the Caltrain tracks.
The Council meeting to finalize the concept plan is scheduled for January 27, 2026. If you have input to Council about this plan, set a reminder for yourself to email Council (council@sunnyvale.ca.gov) a few days before the meeting. For more information, visit Sunnyvale’s Transportation Projects, and expand “Sunnyvale Caltrain Bike-Ped Study”.