New Crosswalk Adds Shortcut to School Route

One crosswalk can make a huge difference for students walking and biking to school.

Students traveling across Lawrence Expressway in west San Jose to get to Archbishop Mitty High School or Cupertino High School used to have to cross at either Stevens Creek Boulevard or Bollinger Road. Using either crossing could add 30 minutes or more to a student’s route to school.

I was proud to open a new crosswalk this morning for pedestrians and bicyclists at the intersection of Lawrence Expressway and Mitty Way. This allows students to travel through quieter side streets rather than heading down busy roads.

The crosswalk can also lead residents directly to the San Tomas Aquino/Saratoga Creek Trail, rather than taking an indirect route far out of the way.

The crosswalk was a cooperative project between the county’s Roads and Airports Department and the City of Cupertino. But many of the advocates pushing to get the project completed were community bicyclist and pedestrian groups, including the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition. Thanks to a grant obtained by the county, bicyclists and pedestrians now have a faster and safer way to get across Lawrence Expressway.

Working Out During the Commute Hour

Sometimes, Jerri-Ann Meyer is so busy that the only way for her to exercise is to turn her workday commute into a workout.

Jerri-Ann, the captain of my Bike Challenge team, rides 20 miles every day from her home in Mountain View to her office in Menlo Park and back again.

To complete her commute, Jerri-Ann follows the Ellen Fletcher Bike Boulevard along Bryant Street in Palo Alto. The street is blocked off to only allow bicycles through in some places so that cars don’t drive the entire length of the route.

“It reduces auto traffic and makes it more friendly to bikes,” Jerri-Ann says.

A route such as this can help local commuters realize that riding a bike can be a pleasant experience and less stressful than driving a car.

“People think of the freeway experience in a car as a commute,” she says. “But on a bike, there are safe and comfortable routes that make it a good experience.”

The Bike Boulevard also helps turn biking into a social activity, she says.

“A lot of times, I will strike up conversations and talk to everyone about where they’re riding,” she says. “It’s like a little community.”

During the past six years that Jerri-Ann has been commuting, she has gotten more involved in promoting bicycling as an everyday mode of transportation.

As a member of Silicon Valley Bike Coalition’s Board of Directors, she has worked to improve the safety of bicyclists on the road. On Bike to Work Day a couple weeks ago, she inflated tires, tuned-up bikes, and encouraged bicyclists at the downtown Mountain View Energizer Station.

For five years, Jerri-Ann has served on the City of Mountain View’s Bicycle/Pedestrian Advisory Committee. The committee recently released a new map of bike routes in Mountain View, and Jerri-Ann and her fellow committee members are currently working to update the city’s bicycle transportation plan.

Jerri-Ann has even taken her love of bicycling to the small screen. With other bicycle advocates from the Peninsula and South Bay, she appeared in a 30-minute television program titled “Try Bicycling!” to show how easy it is for local commuters to find quick, safe bike routes in their neighborhood.

“Silicon Valley is pretty flat and the distance from home to work is usually not far,” she says. “A lot of times, people can travel just as fast or faster than in a car.”

Jerri-Ann says one of the big rewards of biking to work is reducing stress.

“When I was sick in January, I had to drive, and it’s so stressful being in a car,” she says. “I couldn’t wait to get back on my bike, because it’s such a pleasant ride.”

Using the Bus for Bike Trips

I decided to take my bike on a Valley Transportation Authority bus today, the first time I have taken advantage of this transit option. I was surprised at how simple it was to use the bike rack. As a member of the VTA board, I thought I’d see how the bike racks work.

I can see the advantage of knowing how to use the VTA bike racks, especially when planning longer bike trips. VTA buses and light rail trains run throughout Santa Clara County, with numerous connections to other transit systems, such as Caltrain, SamTrans, and Santa Cruz Metro.

I had always thought that using the rack on the front of the bus would take a long time, irritating my fellow passengers. But I was able to get my bicycle on and off the rack in a matter of seconds.

An important thing to remember when using the bike rack is to make eye contact with the driver so he or she knows that you will be loading your bicycle. This way the driver is not surprised to find you in front of the bus if he or she is distracted with other passengers boarding.

The bike is held on the rack with a spring-loaded hook, which pins the front tire down. This keeps the bike perfectly steady during the ride.

Make sure to get off the bus using the front entrance, rather than the rear exit. My bus driver appreciated that I let him know that I would be retrieving my bike at the next stop so he didn’t pull away too early.

The rack has two slots for passengers’ bikes. If the rack is full, up to two bicyclists may bring their bikes on board if there is space.

VTA’s light rail trains also have bike racks to make commuting easier. These racks are inside the passenger cars, and a bicyclist lifts the bike into a vertical position to hang it from a hook.

Keeping Up With the Team Bike Challenge No Matter What

My Team Bike Challenge teammate, Leslee Hamilton, found a way to hop on a bicycle even when she visited Washington, D.C., on a business trip this month.

While visiting the nation’s capital, Leslee rented a bike to explore the city’s sites.

“It’s a good alternative to taking a cab to get to the Franklin Roosevelt Memorial,” she says.

Leslee has been biking to work every day this month as a member of my team for the Team Bike Challenge. Leslee, myself and three other teammates have been biking as much as possible to show how easy it is to make the bicycle a primary mode of transportation.

For Leslee, however, biking to work is a much more serious endeavor. For about six years now, she has ridden the 3.5-mile roundtrip from her house near Cahill Park in San Jose to the Mineta Transportation Institute downtown. She parks her bike in her office on the fourth floor.

“The only downside is that I have to take the elevator,” she says. “Without the bike, I used to take the stairs.”

Although the ride from home to work is pretty much a straight shot for Leslee, she says she encounters a lot of traffic.

“That’s why I love to ride the Guadalupe River Park Trail,” she says. “I’ve never had a serious problem with cars, but I’d just as soon not share the road.”

As current president of the Board of Directors for the Friends of the Guadalupe River Park & Gardens, Leslee has worked to improve and extend the trail running through downtown San Jose. She and I both look forward to the day that the trail goes from Alviso to Almaden Valley without interruptions.

For people who don’t regularly bike to work, Leslee says all you need is a little inspiration.

“Six years ago, I saw someone from my neighborhood bike to work, and it took the same amount of time as driving,” she says. “At that moment, I knew I could ride my bike to work every day.”

A Vision of Integrated Trails throughout Santa Clara County

The Friends of the Guadalupe River Park and Gardens had a lot to celebrate last night at their annual Window on the River Park event. Executive Director Kathy Muller and hundreds of volunteers could all be proud to hold the event in the River Street Historic Park for the first time.

I have worked with the organization for 10 years now to extend trails throughout our entire valley, and I was pleased to announce that the Guadalupe River Park’s trails will connect to Alviso by November.

The trail will also extend south to connect to Almaden Lake and eventually to the Los Alamitos Trail, allowing anyone to hike, jog, or bike the trail from north San Jose to Almaden Valley.

The grand vision I have is an integrated trail network that connects together the Guadalupe River Trail, the Los Gatos Creek Trail, the Penitencia Creek Trail, the Coyote Creek Trail, the Willow Glen Spur and many others.

I also got a chance to catch up with Leslee Hamilton, president of the Friends’ board of directors and a member of my Team Bike Challenge team, the Rainbow Riders. Our team is eighth out of more than 40 teams competing in Santa Clara County. Leslee and I took a short walk along the Guadalupe River Trail to talk about how bicyclists can incorporate trails into their daily commutes.
Corinne Winter, executive director of the Silicon Valley Bikes Coalition, joined us and reminded us about the official Bike to Work Day festivities on May 17. Energizer stations with free beverages and giveaways will help bicyclists in the morning, and the Silicon Valley Bikes Coalition is throwing a Bike Away from Work Bash from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. that evening at Gordon Biersch in downtown San Jose. I hope to see many of you there.

City Hall Promotes Biking through Safe Storage

Blue and gold streamers decorated the doorway of the San Jose City Hall Rotunda today in honor of San Jose State University’s 150th anniversary. As an alumnus and professor of SJSU, I was pleased to see so many people celebrate the university’s history.

I rode my bike the approximately 2 miles down Sixth Street from the County Government Center to City Hall, luckily avoiding the light rain we had earlier this morning.

City Hall promotes biking to work by offering a locking bike cage. Rather than leaving bicycles where they might be stolen or bringing them up the elevators to offices, city employees can receive the access code to the bike cage and store them in a covered environment.

I was glad to have a roof over my bike to shield it against the rain so I could have a dry ride back to the office.

When I got to City Hall, I was greeted by John Brazil, coordinator for the City of San Jose’s Bicyclist and Pedestrian Program. As part of the city’s Department of Transportation, the program offers bicycle safety classes and coordinates installing new bike racks around the city.


To help plot bike routes for Bike to Work Day, the program offers a great map of bikeways. This map is in addition to maps of the city’s extensive trail network. I know from experience that these can help plan a beautiful off-road commute.