Bicycle Friendly Communities

Palo Alto, CA | Gold Level

Education: Palo Alto offers youth and adult bicycle education programs in the Palo Alto Community Recreation Education program (Kids I and Kids II) as well as throughout the Palo Alto Adult School (Street Skills, and optional Road I). Fifteen of the 17 public schools in the Palo Alto Unified School District participate in a bicycle safety education program, including all elementary and middle schools. The city and school district provide for a part-time coordinator to organize the third, fifth and sixth grade bicycle curriculum in the schools. The fire department participates with PTA and school volunteers to implement classroom teaching sessions in the third, fifth and sixth grades as well as an on-bike session with several stations in the third grade.

Encouragement: Palo Alto has had a long-standing commitment to being a city that is a great place to ride a bicycle for fun, transportation and for exercise. Palo Alto continues to strive to be more bicycle friendly and has embodied a vision for the future that includes continuing to transition auto trips to bicycle trips whenever possible. The city is continually working on programs and infrastructure that will encourage bicycling including the Safe Routes to School Task Force, Education and Enforcement Programs as well as capital projects.

Engineering: Recently, Palo Alto has completed two major new bicycle facilities, including a rail line undercrossing and a new path and bridge over Embarcadero Road. In December 2004, Palo Alto completed the $5.1 million Homer Undercrossing, a pedestrian/bicycle undercrossing of the Caltrain Commuter Rail line. The Homer Avenue Undercrossing enables bicyclists and pedestrians to cross under the Caltrain tracks (86 commuter trains a day). The tunnel is located 800 feet south of the Palo Alto Caltrain station and Bikestation facility. The tunnel is connected to the station platform via the Urban Lane bike path. Bikestation Palo Alto, located at the Palo Alto Caltrain station, has re-opened after a major refurbishment. The City of Palo Alto secured funding from the Caltrans Bicycle Transportation Account to equip the facility with round-the-clock electronic key access and a double-tier bicycle rack that can accommodate 96 bicycles. Joseph Bellomo Architects designed and built the new facility, which allows cyclists to park or retrieve their bikes at any time, rather than just during staffed hours.