Indiana

Indiana SRTS Program

Managed by the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT), Indiana’s federally funded Safe Routes to School (SRTS) program is the source for state coordinator contact information, federal SRTS funding amounts, SRTS applications and guidelines, and state SRTS program information.

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Indiana SRTS Federal Funding  |  Application Guidelines
State Advisory Committee  |  State Outreach Programs
Evaluation Methods  |  Indiana Partner Affiliates

Indiana SRTS Federal Funding

Indiana’s SRTS funding from FY2005-2009* totals $12,007,810* and includes the following annual apportionments.

* Funding for SRTS is being continued into FY2010 and FY2011 at FY2009 levels.

SPECIAL INDIANA NOTE: Please note that it cannot be guaranteed that the full amount of apportionments will be available for distribution. Due to spending limitations for the 2006 application cycle, which also included funds from 2005, just over $2 million was available for worthy activities and projects. In 2008, due to limitations in spending authorization, $2.7 million was used as the ceiling figure for available SRTS funding.

Application Guidelines

During Indiana’s 2010 SRTS application cycle, 32 applications were submitted seeking almost $5.7 million. From this field fourteen infrastructure and seven non-infrastructure proposals totaling over $3.4 million were selected for funding. See the link below for a complete listing of the 2010 awards. Click here to read INDOT's award announcement. Click here to view a map of the Indiana's SRTS Awards from 2006-2010.

For more information, please see Indiana’s SRTS Program Webpage: http://saferoutes.in.gov.

State Advisory Committee

The Indiana SRTS Advisory Committee was formed in April of 2006 to review and deliberate over applications for federal SRTS funds. The committee also serves as a sounding board for possible modifications to the Indiana SRTS program. The SRTS Advisory Committee includes seven members from INDOT, the Federal Highway Administration, the Indiana Department of Health, the Indiana Department of Education, and Indiana’s metropolitan planning organizations. The Committee normally meets three or four times a year. Recommendations from the Advisory Committee are forwarded to the Department of Transportation Commissioner who makes the final project selections.

State Outreach Programs

The principal vehicle for outreach to Indiana residents is INDOT’s SRTS Webpage. The webpage is frequently updated and features information about procedures, survey instruments, photos, specific guidelines for particular tactics and important program announcements. Supplementing this web presence are personal visits to interested communities and notification to DOT district Local Public Agency Coordinators and Indiana’s 14 MPOs who disseminate relevant information to schools, school districts and local officials. The Indiana Department of Education and the Indiana State Department of Health are also vital partners for disseminating notifications about Indiana’s SRTS application cycles. The Department of Transportation also issues press releases announcing application periods and program awards.

Evaluation Methods

For evaluation purposes all schools applying for funding for Safe Routes to School activities and projects are required to conduct parent and student surveys. These surveys collect base information about how children travel to and from school and measure the parent’s attitudes about student travel. The surveys help generate interest and participation in the Safe Routes program while yielding useful information for schools. Ideally, surveys should be administered during September or May when weather conditions are most favorable for bicycling and walking to school. A school may also elect to collect survey information at any other time, but it is not required under current INDOT rules.

Beginning with the spring 2011 application cycle, non-infrastructure applicants will not need to survey students and parents to apply for funds to conduct planning, education, promotion, enforcement, encouragement, professional route evaluation activities or to purchase equipment or incentives. Only when the proposal is selected for SRTS funding will applicants need to survey the students and parents. The reason for this change is to encourage more non-infrastructure activity applications. A community or school may choose instead to prepare student tally and parent surveys before applying if it is more convenient. Applicants seeking funding for infrastructure projects still need to conduct the student tally surveys and parent surveys prior to submitting an application. In addition, if a school prepared student tally and parent surveys in spring 2010, the surveys do not need to be repeated to apply for SRTS support in 2011.

Indiana does not require end-of-years surveys, however, following implementation of infrastructure projects or non-infrastructure activities, both surveys must be repeated to measure differences in the number of children walking, bicycling and using other modes of transportation, and to examine any changes in parent’s attitudes toward these activities. Parent and student surveys should be not be repeated immediately but rather several months after completion of the activity or project to allow time for users to recognize and try the new facilities or to permit training, encouragement, planning and enforcement actions or equipment purchases to have an effect. Again, September and May are the best months for these surveys.

Student tally forms, completed by teachers in all classrooms of each participating school, are available below for download, as are the surveys to be completed by the students’ parents in both English and Spanish. An overview of the survey procedures and more detailed instructions are also provided to help parents and school officials better understand the process.

Beginning in 2011, Indiana schools have a third option for collecting parent survey information. The National Center now offers an online method for parents to respond directly into the online data system. Schools determine if the online option is appropriate. The online parent survey option is available in English or Spanish and is a free service. The online option works best for schools that normally communicate with parents primarily through email, electronic newsletters or other digital media.

Indiana Partner Affiliates

Find out which organizations in your state have pledged their support for the Safe Routes to School movement.