Sunnyvale residents press council on Hollenbeck bike‑lane options; advocates urge full parking removal for safety

A group of Sunnyvale residents and transportation professionals used the Oct. 28 oral‑communications period to urge the City Council to choose Option 1 for the Hollenbeck project: buffered, no‑parking bike lanes that advocates say improve safety and encourage mode shift.

Charlene Liu, speaking for Sunnyvale Safe Streets, summarized a short course of presentations arguing Option 1 is safer, notes a door‑zone hazard in Option 2 and reported canvass results showing 58% local support for Option 1 in the surrounding area. She said the group’s crash analysis found monthly crash rates on comparable streets with Option 2‑style designs.

A transportation engineer (Ari) said Option 1 narrows travel lanes and enables low‑cost traffic‑calming devices such as chokers and bollards to be placed in a buffer, calling them effective tools to reduce vehicle speeds; he said Option 2’s unbuffered, narrow lanes would create door zones and hazards for children and other vulnerable riders.

In remote public comment, Susan S. asked staff to clarify how service‑vehicle parking, handicap visitor access and contractor staging would be handled if curbside parking were removed.

Council members and staff replied in subsequent agenda discussion (and in follow‑up meetings). Staff noted common trade‑offs in corridor design: a narrower roadway can slow speeds but may cause concerns about vehicle circulation; they will present engineering alternatives and project data as part of the ATP process.

This session was public comment and did not produce a council vote on the Hollenbeck project at the Oct. 28 meeting.