Cupertino to Hold “Bike Boulevard” Workshops

The City of Cupertino is best known as the corporate headquarters of a boutique hardware developer called Apple. But if the city moves forward with a plan to add seven “bicycle boulevards” to its bike network, it could also become one of the more bike friendly cities in Silicon Valley.

Cupertino will hold a series of workshops tomorrow to inform and solicit feedback from the general public for its proposed network of bicycle boulevards. For more information about the meetings, click here to visit the project’s webpage and follow the link to download the flyer pictured at the top of the article. The flyer explains what time the various workshops begin for each of the boulevards

An article in the San Jose Mercury-News previewing the meetings notes that many of the boulevards will be on streets that connect with schools, providing safe routes for children. As with most bike boulevards, there aren’t plans to add bicycle lanes. Instead, the city is planning from a buffet of options for traffic calming including traffic circles, speed bumps, curb bulb-outs, and parking aprons.

Once this weekend’s meetings are over, the city will decide which boulevards to focus on first. “The next steps will depend on the feedback we receive; if we need to make substantial changes based upon the public input, we will regroup and hold a second public workshop to present the updated plans,” explained Jennifer Chu, an associate engineer with the city. “If the proposals are well-received, we will proceed towards construction.”

Of course, too many plans go through a public process but are never built do to a lack of money. However, in this case the city is ready. Chu promises the city has set aside funds so that once the plan is approved, it can move quickly to implementation.