By Khalida Sarwari
Cupertino is taking the next big step toward becoming a more walkable city.
The City Council adopted a pedestrian transportation plan Feb. 20 that establishes three objectives: reduce the number and severity of pedestrian-related collisions, injuries and fatalities; increase and improve access to destinations throughout the city for people of all abilities and ages; and continue to develop a connected pedestrian network.
The document will address Cupertino’s current and future pedestrian needs, in part by laying the groundwork for grant applications, according to a city staff report. The ultimate aim will be to get more people walking instead of driving.
Developed by city staff with the help of Toole Design Group, the plan will replace an iteration adopted 16 years ago that’s now considered outdated. The new plan will likely incorporate improved tools and metrics to determine what significant changes can and should be made to improve the safety and appeal of walking.
An entire chapter of the plan includes a priority list of infrastructure improvements ranging from small, low-cost items such as filling sidewalk gaps to large-scale projects such as separating the grades of bicycle and pedestrian crossings.
“The general gist of the high-priority projects is a lot of sidewalk in-filled projects along popular corridors like McClellan Road, grade-separated crossings of Highway 85, the Carmen Road Bridge, Stevens Creek at McClellan Road and then the Junipero Serra and Regnart Creek trails,” said David Stillman, a senior civil engineer who worked on the plan. “Those are some of the major items that fell into the first tier.”
Vice Mayor Rod Sinks questioned some of the more expensive projects, such as the estimated $10 million price tag for the Carmen Road Bridge project.
“This is another project where our costs are so far out of reality it seems that we have a hard time stomaching actually making progress,” Sinks said. “This is a lot of money.”
Timm Borden, the city’s public works director, responded that the estimates are preliminary and will be modified later.
“We figure it’s going to be well beyond $1 million, but it’s probably going to be well below $10 million,” he said. “But until we do this study and determine how, you know, what the bridge is going to look like or the landings are going to be, we really don’t know.”
The public had a chance to weigh in on the plan several times last year, at workshops and through an online WikiMap, an informational table at Cupertino’s Earth Day, and walk audits around the city’s 14 public schools.
Larry Dean, a member of the advocacy group Walk-Bike Cupertino, shared his views at the Feb. 20 meeting about the city’s pedestrian and bike plans, which may be combined in the future.
“Our group is fully supportive of this plan,” he said. “You all deserve a great pat on the back for developing these two sets of plans and moving the city forward over the next few years, implementing the high-priority items. It’s going to make our communities safer, healthier, and property values will be better. People will want to be here.”
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