Perhaps you, like I, have found that finding a comfortable, safe route to bike from Cupertino to Sunnyvale isn’t simple. You must leave the busy north-south streets, heading into a maze of residential streets and wending your way north with a lot of east and west detours.
The traffic intensifies in the morning and later in the afternoon, with substantial car traffic between commuters’ homes in Cupertino and their offices in north Sunnyvale, and between students’ homes and their schools, especially Homestead High School in Cupertino. I regularly bike from my home in Cupertino to the Fremont Union High School district office on Fremont Avenue; the most direct route is on Hollenbeck Avenue, but it can be an intimidating ride since there is little space for bikes between the parked cars and moving cars. Many people who might ride on Hollenbeck avoid it.
The City of Sunnyvale recognized this problem. During their December 2, 2025 meeting, the Sunnyvale City Council voted 6-1 to create dedicated bike lanes on Hollenbeck Avenue with a buffer between the lanes and car traffic. This will require removing on-street parking on a 1.6 mile stretch from cross streets Alberta Ave to Danforth Drive. When complete, this will yield buffered bike lanes for the entire 2.3 mile length of Hollenbeck Avenue, all the way from Cupertino to the heart of Sunnyvale at El Camino Real. You’ll be able to bike much more safely, for example, from Cupertino’s Quinlan Center along Stelling Road (which becomes Hollenbeck Avenue when you cross Homestead) straight north to the heart of Sunnyvale, where the downtown and Caltrain station are located.
At the December meeting, tensions ran high, with over 70 public speakers. A number of Hollenbeck residents asked the council to retain street parking for cars, but the majority of speakers, nearly 75%, asked the council to adopt the fully buffered bike lanes on the entire street. Thanks to this strong support from the broad community, the council chose this option, with a motion made by Councilmember Linda Sell. It was a courageous move given that her district includes most of the residents who live along Hollenbeck Avenue.
All of us who value safe biking past Cupertino’s northern border owe thanks to the Sunnyvale City Council and the strong advocacy of its residents, and we can look forward to additional safe routes as they pursue their Active Transportation Plan.