Planning commission backs ATP priorities, adds safety tech and school proximity changes

The Cupertino Planning Commission on Sept. 9 received an update on the city’s Active Transportation Plan and unanimously endorsed a set of commissioner amendments to the plan’s draft project prioritization criteria and implementation recommendations.

Staff and the consultant team from Alta Planning and Design presented findings from phase 1 outreach and technical analysis. Matthew Schrader and Alta consultant David Wasserman described an analysis that combined origin‑destination trip data with pedestrian and bicycle “level of traffic stress” (LTS) scoring to identify gaps where short car trips and high stress routes overlap. The team reported nearly 30% of trips that start or end in Cupertino are five miles or shorter — distances that could be served by walking, biking or e‑biking if low‑stress routes were available — and showed maps of “gap scores” that prioritize locations where demand is suppressed by stressful conditions on the roadway.

Petra Reyes and Matthew Schrader reviewed public outreach: about 3,000…