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Sample SRTS Programs
Safe Routes to School (SRTS) programs nationwide are continuing to set new standards and develop best practices. Here is a small sample of outstanding SRTS programs:
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Peoria, Arizona, Walk to School Day | Peoria, Arizona: City and School Collaboration
The City of Peoria and the Peoria Unified School District (PUSD) have built on their long-standing collaborative relationship to develop a comprehensive SRTS program with the overall goal of improving the quality of life for everyone in the community.
Several years ago, the two entities formed a dedicated School Traffic Safety Committee to address bigger traffic safety concerns that could not be tackled by the City’s Traffic Control Committee. Peoria’s SRTS program currently involves three schools with dedicated SRTS coordinators and encouragement and education programs. The City of Peoria is also funding infrastructure improvements and providing additional police enforcement.
Contact:
Brandon Forrey
Transportation Planning Engineer
City of Peoria
(623) 773-7201
brandon.forrey@peoriaaz.gov
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Marin County, CA, Walk to School | Marin County, California: State Funding Model
The Transportation Authority of Marin’s Safe Routes to Schools (SR2S) program is currently in 43 schools in Marin County, California, serving 18,000 students including almost all public elementary schools, middle schools, and high schools, as well as a few private schools. There are team leaders in each school run by either parents or students, with a teacher advisor who organizes encouragement programs. Trained instructors teach pedestrian and bicycle safety curriculum as well as health and environmental lessons.
Organized community task forces develop travel plans and provide support for ongoing activities. Each travel plan incorporates encouragement, education, enforcement, and engineering recommendations provided by licensed transportation engineer through a walkabout process. The Travel plans also include an implementation plan and an evaluation plan.
In November of 2004, Marin County voters passed Measure A, a 20-year transportation sale tax which included 11% of the funding, or $36 million for Marin’s Safe Routes to School program. The funding is paying for crossing guards, programmatic activities in schools, and infrastructure improvements. Since Marin’s SRTS program was initiated in the year 2000 as one of the two NHTSA federal pilot programs, local jurisdictions have secured more than $4 million in capital grant funds through the Caltrans program to make the routes to school safer.
Contact:
Wendi Kallins
Program Director, Safe Routes to Schools
wendi@marinbike.org
(415) 488-4101
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Longmont, Colorado, Full Biking Lot | Longmont, Colorado: School Plan with 5Es
Five Longmont, Colorado schools are part of a community that has built its SRTS program on all 5 E and boasts participation rates as high as 96%. Evaluation methods include student and parent surveys by the schools and traffic counts by the City of Longmont Traffic Engineers.
Education efforts include an annual “Parent Night” information booth and safety instruction by League Cycling Instructors while encouragement activities include Walk or Wheel (WOW) Thursdays and a regular incentive program with raffle tickets for participation. Engineering and enforcement involve the City, which provides route maps, infrastructure improvements, and police assistance.
The results? At one elementary school, Columbine Elementary School, the total number of cars doing drop-offs has been reduced to fewer than 15 daily where once 189 children (out of a total enrollment of 401) were being driven to school.
Contact:
Buzz Feldman
High Gear Cyclery, Inc.
buzz@highgearbike.com
(303) 772-4372
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Mayor Daley’s Safe Routes Ambassadors, City of Chicago | Chicago, Illinois: Mayoral Outreach Support
In Chicago, Mayor Daley and the Chicago and Illinois Departments of Transportation (DOT) have teamed up to offer the children of the “windy city” several Safe Routes to School resources. The innovative Mayor Daley’s Safe Routes Ambassadors program provides free outreach and training on safe traffic behavior and the benefits of active transportation to elementary school children.
The Chicago DOT has also developed a SRTS toolkit for teachers, school administrators, and community members that includes planning materials, promotional flyers and letters, lesson plans, safety presentations, and other resources.
Contact:
Somilia Smith
Program Manager
Mayor Daley’s Safe Routes Ambassadors
somilia.smith@cityofchicago.org
(312) 744-3019
http://www.chicagowalks.org/sra.shtml
Safe Routes Ambassador photo album
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Wharton, New Jersey, MacKinnon Middle School students conducted walkability audits that involved questionable sidewalks like this. | Wharton, New Jersey: Innovative Student Involvement
One of the most outstanding aspects of the Wharton SRTS pilot program is how it involved the students of Duffy Elementary and MacKinnon Middle Schools. A collaboration of the Morris County Division of Transportation (MCDOT), the RBA Group consultant team of Morristown, and school and community representatives, the program utilized student participation in the development of a SRTS Travel Plan.
Seventh-grade pre-algebra students completed walkability audits, emissions calculations, and walking time-radius maps while fourth graders wrote poems or drew posters for use at the public visioning workshop. Based on the pilot program, MCDOT and the RBA Group are developing a narrated How-To Guide iMovie.
Contact:
Deena Cybulski
Assistant Director—Transportation
Morris County Division of Transportation
dcybulski@co.morris.nj.us
(973) 829-8101
http://www.mcdot.org/Accessories/Transportation-SafeRoutesToSchool.asp
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