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 and public right-of-way graffiti abatement.

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 system is used to store the condition data of 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 keep it looking and riding, as much as possible, in like-new condition. The treatments we use in the preventive maintenance program are called chip seal and slurry seal. Their primary purpose is to stop water from entering the roadway that could otherwise cause early breakdown of the street surface. The useful life of the streets can be extended from 20 to as much as 100 years if, on a regular basis, small breaks are fixed and a seal coat or resurfacing is done before more severe damage occurs. That is why maintenance work is sometimes done on streets that appear to be in good condition.

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 Parks and Recreation 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.  For more information on Street Sweeping and Street Sweeping Schedule click here.

The street maintenance schedule, as well as the various treatments used, are listed below.  To see descriptions of these processes, please click on the corresponding link:

Current Street Maintenance Schedule

Chip Seal

Slurry Seal

Resurfacing

Pavement Reconstruction

Petromat

Frequently Asked Questions