Jan. 9, 2000
Council member Manuel Valerio
City of Sunnyvale
PO Box 3707
Sunnyvale CA 94088-3707
Subject: Anti-Pedestrian actions and ordinance in Sunnyvale need correction.
Dear Council member Valerio,
As a member of the VTA Board, I am hopeful that you will give this issue its due attention.
Light Rail Transit patrons working near Java Drive have to walk in
the lane of automobile traffic to get to or from the LRT stations,
and the speed limit is 45 mph. This includes myself, as I work on
Bordeaux Drive one block from the Borregas Ave. station. The
situation is not only unsafe, it discourages transit use as it scares
potential transit patrons. I and co-workers cannot even walk to the
nearest deli during lunch without walking in the traffic lane of Java
Drive.
The Modern Transit Society wrote a letter
to Mayor Patricia Castillo dated May 27, 1992 requesting that the
shoulder lines be painted on Java Drive to change the above situation
because this road is also used by many bus routes. The response we
obtained from staff was that sidewalks would be constructed
concurrent with light rail construction, so nothing was done.
Unfortunately, this did not happen.
For a simple low-cost interim solution, paint shoulder lines as we
requested in 1992. This would result in a 4 foot shoulder or
bike/ped. lane and a 10 foot car lane, both meeting minimum State
requirements for width.
Ordinance 10.44.010 is anti-pedestrian
and we ask its repeal or major revision. It prohibits people from
using bus stops, pedestrian paths, and safe shoulders on Lawrence and
Central expressways. This ordinance was revised in 1993 at our
request but did not go far enough, as it only allows using sidewalks.
Before, sidewalks were also prohibited. The ordinance causes major
disruptions for pedestrians, as there is no parallel route in most
cases. I enclose maps for these two examples:
Last year, I worked at the corner of Central and Middlefield Road, but the #32 bus going along Mary Ave. dropped me off one block away. Pedestrians do not walk in the traffic lane of Central, as indeed most of the way is totally removed from traffic. Yet, you still have the signs stating pedestrians prohibited. See map.The most frequently used expressway section in Sunnyvale by pedestrians is Lawrence Expressway between Palamos Ave. and Tasman Dr. People use the pedestrian path to get to or from the light rail station and buses on Tasman as there is no alternative route. Your ordinance prohibits them. I make the important point that people were living here before the road was renamed from Lawrence Station Road and before your unjust ordinance was enacted. See map.
Forcing people into detours by prohibiting pedestrian paths forces
unnecessary crossings of intersections, which actually increases
danger to walkers compared to just walking on the pedestrian path.
This is because crossing the road is the most dangerous action by
pedestrians. Walking along the road is relatively safe unless one is
walking in the lane of traffic as on Java Drive.
The only part of any expressway within Sunnyvale that does not have
shoulders or pedestrian paths or sidewalks is on Lawrence between
Lakewood/Bridgewood and Lakebird/Palamos. Fortunately, there is a
paralleling route here. We ask either the repeal of the ordinance,
or only prohibiting pedestrians from this section. With repeal of
the ordinance, signs can still be posted advising pedestrians
approaching the section without shoulders to use the parallel
route.
All bicycle prohibitions and most pedestrian prohibitions have
been repealed by other cities in this County. In particular, as a
result of our efforts, all pedestrians prohibited signs
were removed on Central Expressway and Lawrence Expressway in the
City of Santa Clara by 1991. Central does not have sidewalks in most
places. People walk on the safe shoulders. Lawrence in Santa Clara
has sidewalks only because the signs were first removed, and highway
engineers wanted to add more auto lanes, thus necessitating
sidewalks. This was one of the political reasons for prohibiting
bicycles and pedestrians: The highway engineers wanted to spend all
transportation money on automobiles-only facilities. To do that, they
even claimed shoulders, which are identical to bike
lanes, are dangerous for bicyclists. After repeal, signs
on three expressways were changed from bicycles
prohibited to bike lane. The signs in Sunnyvale
likewise need to be removed.
The ordinances prohibiting bicycles and pedestrians were never
enacted for safety as the highway engineers claimed but for political
reasons. A history of the prohibitions is on our web site at
http://moderntransit.org/ctc
Staff has opposed allowing even bicycle use on expressway shoulders,
and it took two years of fighting before that prohibition was
repealed by the City Council in 1987. This was despite repeated
testimony that expressways are much safer than alternate routes
because they have 1/5 as many intersections (the main cause of
accidents), few driveways, no parked cars, and a safe shoulder, as
opposed to walking or bicycling in the traffic lane. The prohibitions
greatly increased danger for both bicyclists and pedestrians.
Sincerely,
Akos Szoboszlay
President
Also see Sunnyvale
Campaign page which includes
illustrations.