Sunnyvale’s 284 miles of streets provide an intricate mechanism for moving people and products smoothly through our city. This mechanism requires continuous upkeep to stay in top-notch working order.

Sunnyvale’s Street Section is multi-faceted in that it involves a variety of activities which include, but are not limited to pavement maintenance, traffic signing, traffic markings, street sweeping, public walkway maintenance, public right-of-way graffiti abatement, and reporting and disposing of abandoned shopping carts.

Pavement Maintenance:

Extensive field testing nationwide has proven that it is less costly to maintain streets in good condition with timely use of seal coats than to wait until extensive repairs are needed. Sunnyvale’s Pavement Management Program emphasizes aggressive preventive maintenance. By adhering to this aggressive plan, the City saves three dollars for every one dollar it spends on preventive street maintenance.

A computerized pavement condition database is used to store information on all streets and predict the proper time to perform preventive maintenance (chip seal and slurry seal) work. Maintenance personnel survey the condition of streets every two years to update the inventory. Based on the amount of funding available each year, the most cost effective pavement maintenance program is implemented.

Preventive Street Maintenance:

Preventive maintenance is most cost-effective if performed before the road begins to break up. Its purpose is to extend the life of the street and, as much as possible, to keep it looking and riding in like-new condition. The treatments we use in the preventive maintenance program are called chip seal and slurry seal.

Traffic Signs:

The Traffic and Transportation Division of the Public Works Department authorizes all new traffic signs. Street crews are then responsible to fabricate, install, and maintain all traffic signs for City streets. That includes an inventory of more than 13,000 signs. Signs are made according to Federal and State traffic sign specifications as detailed in the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices. All signs are visually inspected a minimum of three times per year to ensure that they deliver clear and legible guidance on City streets. Street crews also perform graffiti abatement on public property through out the City such as traffic signs, signal boxes, bus stops and public walkways. The Community Services Department is responsible for graffiti abatement within City Parks and Facilities.

Traffic Markings:

The Traffic and Transportation Division also authorizes all new traffic markings. Street crews are then responsible to install and maintain lane line striping, traffic reflectors, crosswalks, limit bars, and legends (words on the street such as "STOP"). There are 1,221,730 lineal feet of lane line striping and 4,069 legends on Sunnyvale Streets. Arterial streets receive maintenance work every year while less traveled roadways receive maintenance efforts every other year. In addition, Street crews remark all street-resurfacing projects.

Street Sweeping:

Street crews are responsible for the scheduled route sweeping as well as the extra leaf sweeping and storm debris pickups.