Volume III - City of Sunnyvale - State of California

Traffic and Transportation Long Range Plans
There are several Traffic & Transportation planning documents that will inform capital projects over the next
20 years. As funding opportunities present themselves, individual projects will be brought before the Council
for consideration and budget appropriation. Additionally, some projects are included in more then one of the
planning documents listed below, as these planning documents often overlap in scope and purpose in the
processes of long range planning for the City. The seven planning documents are detailed below.
Valley Transportation Plan 2035
The Valley Transportation Plan, or VTP 2035 (January 2009) is the long range vision for transportation in
Santa Clara County. The Valley Transportation Authority (VTA), in its role as the Congestion Management
Agency (CMA) for Santa Clara County, is responsible for preparing and periodically updating the VTP every 4-
5 years on a cycle coinciding with the update of the Bay Area’s Regional Transportation Plan (RTP). VTP 2035
identifies major regional transportation programs and projects for Santa Clara County, and presents priorities
for Federal and State transportation funding against funding constraints. Under guidelines by the Federal
government, long range transportation plans must be financially constrained. Constrained projected are those
funded with projected revenues from sources that currently exist, such as sales tax measures, Federal flexible
formula funds, or gas tax subventions, and sources that can be reasonably expected to be available during
the life of the plan. Unconstrained projects are those that do not have fund sources identified. The plan also
includes projects that do not meet the VTP criteria for constrained funding, but are considered to be
improvements of regional significance. These are identified in the plan as unconstrained projects. VTP 2035
projects $14.1B will be available over the next 25 years, primarily from federal and state sources. Projects
must appear in the VTP and RTP in order to be eligible for most federal, state and regional funding. The City
submits candidate projects which are subsequently ranked and determined to be constrained or
unconstrained. The VTA is currently producing a VTP update, to be titled VTP 2040.
It should be noted that the VTP is intended solely as a planning and policy framework, and the projects
identified for the City of Sunnyvale are not to be used as a programming document for which the City is
responsible for carrying out. Highway and expressway projects are shown here for informational purposes
only.