Erwaman's Personal Journal - January 2014

Sunnyvale/Mountain View Road Work

I don't have a car, so bicycle is my main form of transportation. I often bike to and from work, so I know this route very well and all its details, including the bumps and potholes in the road to watch out for.

I've been biking since I started work in September 2012, and since then, I've noticed several road improvements:

California Avenue used to be riddled with potholes. It was probably the worst street in my entire route to work. But last year, Sunnyvale did a major road renovation project, and California was one of the streets they repaved. It's now one of the smoothest roads on my route.

The Central Expressway to Middlefield Road off-ramp used to have many branches reaching out over it, and they were a big nuisance to me as a biker biking on the shoulder. Last year, a landscape maintenance crew went out and did some major pruning. Now the shoulder is clear of branches!

There used to be a half-inch ditch on Middlefield Road, next to an eHealth building, and I hated the slight bump you would feel biking over it, which probably wasn't good for my wheels either. They've since filled in the ditch and it's now smooth sailing across this section of the road.

In the last portion of my bike ride to work, I go on a pedestrian/bike trail. This trail includes the bridge you see here. The bridge (and the trail in general) is very smooth (probably because no cars drive on it), except for this one half-inch bump between the black asphalt and the white asphalt. I didn't think anyone would ever bother smoothing this bump out, but they did!

I must say I am very impressed at the quality of the road maintenance work done by Sunnyvale and Mountain View. It is clear that my tax dollars are being put to good use.