South Carolina

South Carolina SRTS Program

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

Quick Links

In the News  |  South Carolina SRTS Federal Funding
Application Guidelines  |  State Advisory Committee
State Outreach Programs  |  Evaluation Methods
Success Stories  |  South Carolina Partner Affiliates
Legislation and Policies

In the News

South Carolina Moving Safe Routes to School Projects Forward

Collaborating with Eat Smart Move More to combat obesity epidemic

South Carolina’s Safe Routes to School program is busy helping to move their non-infrastructure and infrastructure projects forward. Two motivations for South Carolina’s efforts are childhood obesity and air quality.

On the health front, South Carolina DOT is collaborating with Eat Smart Move More Coalition of South Carolina. This coalition helps advance healthy eating and physical activity in school and community settings where South Carolinians live, learn, work and play. This partnership brings health professionals into the Safe Routes to School movement, and helps embed Safe Routes to School within broader student health initiatives.

With regard to air quality, one local program has attained national recognition for its efforts — serving as an example not just for South Carolina but for the nation. Greenville County was designated as a non-attainment area, meaning that its air quality did not meet federal standards. To cut down on air pollution, Greenville County set a goal of implementing Safe Routes to School in 100 schools. Building off a project called B², Breathe Better at School, Greenville County staff worked with the Bureau of Air Quality of the SC Department of Health and Environmental Control to implement the program in a large countywide school district. The first step was to implement the program at a pilot school, Fountain Inn Elementary School. More than 500 vehicles idled around the school during arrival and dismissal, so they decided to start by reducing idling in an effort to cut down on air pollution. Some of the ways the school did this was by enacting anti-idling policies; collecting data on the number of idling vehicles on campus; and creating an Air Quality Patrol made up of fourth- and fifth-graders. The school team was pleased to learn through their data collection that the number of idling vehicles had been reduced due to their efforts.

Additionally, the school has turned to Safe Routes to School as a key tool in reducing air pollution surrounding the school. They even received a grant from SCDOT to improve the infrastructure surrounding the school so that more children can walk and bicycle to school. The number of children walking and bicycling to school has already started to increase, even before the multi-use path and new sidewalks were completed (expected in 2010), helping to fulfill the vision of a safe, walkable, bicycle-friendly and clean air community.

Fountain Inn Elementary School has led the way in these efforts, and is a testimonial to the county’s successful Air Quality Public Awareness campaign. For all of these efforts, the county won the U.S. EPA 2007 Clean Air Excellence Award, 2008 Spare the Air Award from the SCDHEC and the National Association of Counties Achievement Award in 2009. To learn more about B², Breathe Better at School, including the results in reducing idling both at Fountain Inn Elementary School and the other schools implementing it in South Carolina, please visit http://www.scdhec.gov/environment/baq/b2/whatisb2.asp.

South Carolina SRTS Federal Funding

South Carolina’s SRTS funding from FY2005-2009* totals $8,152,897 and includes the following annual apportionments:

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

Application Guidelines

South Carolina’s first round of applications were due June 29, 2007, and second round funding cycle applications were due June 13, 2008. The 2009 Application for Funding Cycle has been postponed until further notice while the currently funded programs implement plans. Please check their website often for updates.

Currently, 25 programs have been selected for funding. SC DOT and SRTS partners aid and guide schools as the local SRTS Committee determines the best use of the limited funding for implementing projects that address all five E’s and work to develop a comprehensive SRTS plan.

SC DOT expects to be able to fund up to 12 programs a year. Each selected school has normally been allocated up to $200,000 to budget during the planning phase. Plans must include non-infrastructure and infrastructure projects and programs. A workshop is held at each selected school to aid in the planning process. The workshops bring together all of the necessary stakeholders. Plans are submitted to SCDOT for review. Once all concerns are met, participation agreements are drafted and signed. Work may begin only after participation agreements signing. Work must begin within 6 months of participation agreements signing and must be complete within 24 months of participation agreements signing.

State Advisory Committee

South Carolina has an internal steering committee that includes SC DOT representatives from the safety office, preconstruction offices, planning and environment, bike and pedestrian accommodations, traffic engineering, administration, along with an advisory council from FHWA. The committee meets as needed. Funded programs are selected by a committee made up of representatives of SCDOT, SC Department of Health and Environmental Control, SC Department of Public Safety, and the SC Department of Education.

State Outreach Programs

South Carolina’s SRTS program is unique in the comprehensive and proactive partnership they have developed with the South Carolina Eat Smart Move More Coalition (formerly the Coalition for Promoting Physical Activity (SCCPPA).) With funding from Blue Cross Blue Shield, Eat Smart Move More sponsors and conducts “SRTS Trainers” and an innovative workshop series.

The Trainers represent public health, education, and planning stakeholders and conduct modified versions of the SRTS National Course. There is a preliminary workshop that educates the public about the SRTS program and prepares them for the application process. After grant awards are made, a second series of workshops are conducted to help selected schools plan the best use of the SRTS funds that are awarded. At that time, comprehensive SRTS plans are developed for the selected schools with the guidance of SRTS Trainers, the local SRTS Committee, and SC DOT.

SCDOT SRTS Program and Eat Smart Move More also provide schools that register for International Walk to School Day with materials and incentive items to assist the registered schools with their Walk to School events. Materials are sent out on a first-come-first-serve basis.

Evaluation Methods

Selected schools are required to submit baseline data and data after the project or activity is implemented. The required data is gathered using the National Center for Safe Routes to School Student Arrival and Departure Talley Sheet and Parent Survey.

Success Stories

Spartanburg, SC - Pine Street Elementary School - November 2009
The successes of Pine Street Elementary School’s Safe Routes to School (SRTS) program are being touted throughout the Palmetto state. To develop its comprehensive SRTS program, Pine Street Elementary built on eight years of successful Walk to School Day events and minor engineering improvements, along with federal funding and the support of a number of public and private partners. The school’s most successful program to date is W3 (Walking & Wheeling Wednesday). Despite an extremely rainy spring, more than 150 students participated each week in the first season of W3. Each Wednesday, students were encouraged to walk or bicycle from home or from a park-and-walk site. Every fourth week of participation, a student received an award.

Contact:

Laura Ringo, Executive Director
Partners for Active Living
Phone: 864.598.9638
Email: LRingo@active-living.org
Website: www.active-living.org

Click here for more success stories.

South Carolina Partner Affiliates

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

Legislation and Policies

The South Carolina “Safe Routes to School Act” (A307, R28, H4740)

The South Carolina Safe Routes to School Act amends the code of laws of South Carolina, 1976, by adding section 59-17-150 so as to provide that municipal and county governing bodies shall work with school districts located in their jurisdictions to identify barriers and hazards to children walking or bicycling to and from school, to provide that the municipalities, counties, and districts may develop a plan for the funding of improvements designed to reduce the barriers and hazards identified, to provide that any school district may form a coordinating committee and any school may form a Safe Routes to School team to perform specific functions in regard to safe pedestrian and bicycle routes to school, and to provide that the first Wednesday of October each year is designated as “walk or bicycle with your child to school day” in each school district of this state.

School Siting

South Carolina revoked acreage laws that prevented new schools from being built within populated areas. SC DOT does have traffic engineers who provide recommendations for new schools and schools being improved or expanded.