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Virginia
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Virginia Bike and Walk Day | Virginia SRTS State Network
Virginia is one of ten jurisdictions participating in the SRTS National Partnership Network Project. This initiative creates state networks that bring together advocacy groups, government agencies, and other leaders.
Virginia SRTS Program
Managed by the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT), Virginia’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.
Success Stories and Best Practices
Other Statewide and Regional Programs
Virginia Partner Affiliates
Find out which organizations in your state have pledged their support as partner affiliates of the Safe Routes to School National Partnership.
Legislation and Policies
Virginia SRTS State Network
Virginia is one of the ten jurisdictions participating in the SRTS National Partnership State Network Project. The Virginia SRTS State Network Organizer works for a sponsoring organization, which is under contract with the SRTS National Partnership.
*Technical Service Provider Needed to Implement Two Safe Routes to School Programs in Northern Virginia and DC. Applications Due April 28, 2008. Click here for more information.*
Virginia State Network Organizer
Stephanie Smith
BikeWalk Virginia
(757) 229-0507
stephanie@saferoutespartnership.org
www.bikewalkvirginia.org
Virginia State Network Chair
To be announced.
Virginia State Network Partners
Alliance for Community Choice in Transportation
BikeWalk Virginia
The Harvest Foundation
Kubilins Transportation
SafeKids Virginia
Virginia Department of Education
Virginia Department of Health
Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles
Virginia Department of Transportation
Virginia Parent Teacher Association
Virginia SRTS Program
Virginia’s Safe Routes to School program is managed by the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT).
Virginia DOT SRTS Coordinator
Sarah Weisiger
804-371-4868
Sarah.Weisiger@vdot.virginia.gov
www.vdot.virginia.gov/programs/ted_Rt2_school_pro.asp
Virginia SRTS Federal Funding
Virginia’s SRTS funding totals $13,329,111 and includes the following annual apportionments:
| 2005 Actual |
2006 Actual |
2007 Actual |
2008 Actual |
2009 Projected |
| $1,000,000 |
$2,024,830 |
$2,717,436 |
$3,370,807 |
$4,216,038 |
Application Guidelines
VDOT is anticipating having their third call for applications in the spring of 2008 with a filing deadline for fall of 2008.
Virginia completed its second call for applications in June 2007. Grant awards were announced in September 2007.
VDOT has developed two types of grants—program and project grants. Program grants are used to develop documented SRTS plans and programs. Project grants provide infrastructure improvements within a two-mile radius of targeted schools. An approved SRTS plan must be in place and documented before an applicant is eligible to apply for project grants.
Find out more about Virginia’s grant applications.
State Advisory Committee
Created in September 2006, Virginia’s State Advisory Committee is comprised of state-level stakeholders in order to avoid conflict of interest with any local applications for funding. It meets twice a year and is comprised of representatives from: VDOT (Bicycle and Pedestrian and SRTS Coordinators), Departments of Health, Education, Motor Vehicles, Conservation & Recreation, as well as BikeWalk Virginia and the Virginian Association of Elementary School Principals.
State Outreach Programs
The Virginia program provides training as requested and attempts to provide free training for all applicants.
Evaluation Methods
Evaluation is required and includes parent and student surveys, crash data when relevant, and anecdotal data indicating safety improvements. Actual evaluation requirements depend on the nature of the actual project proposal.
Success Stories and Best Practices
Martinsville/Henry County: 2007 International Walk to School Day
More than 2,500 students from eight school in the Martinsville/Henry County area participated in the “2007 International Walk to School Day.”
In Henry County, Magna Vista High School as well as Irisburg, Sanville, Stanleytown, and John Redd Smith elementaries and Collinsville Primary held events at their schools. At Irisburg Elementary, students celebrated walking all week long. Irisburg kindergarten teacher, Vicki Huffman, kicked off the weeklong celebration by walking 12 miles from her home to the rural school!
In Martinsville, Martinsville High School students walked around their track while students from Patrick Henry Elementary School met at nearby J. Frank Wilson Park and walked with parents, teachers and school administrators to their school.
Greenbrier Elementary School: Walking School Buses
Greenbrier was the first school in Charlottesville to initiate a Safe Routes to School program. In 2003, they started weekly Walking Wednesdays events, where families are encouraged to walk to school, and buses drop kids off a few blocks from school allowing them to walk the rest of the way. Greenbrier also introduced Walking School Buses, where one or more families “picks up” other neighborhood kids on their walk to school.
Burnley-Moran Elementary School: Walking Fridays
At Burnley-Moran, parents, teachers, and students have joined forces to make walking a regular part of the school’s culture. Burnley-Moran celebrates Walking Friday events where even kids who must ride to school get a chance to participate in walking by taking a lap around the track before entering the school for the day. In the school’s "Walk to Hawaii" program, each lap around the track earns classes "miles across the country," as they race to see who can make it to Hawaii by the end of the year. Along their route, classes stop to learn about important historic landmarks across the U.S.
Woodbrook Elementary School: Walk and Bike to School Day
Woodbrook was the first school in Albemarle County to initiate a Safe Routes to School program. Beginning with a celebration of International Walk to School Day in October 2005, the school continues to explore safe walking and biking opportunities at their school.
Other Statewide and Regional Programs
Alliance for Community Choice SRTS Local Program
Since 2002, the Alliance for Community Choice in Transportation (ACCT) has been working on Safe Routes to School in the greater Charlottesville and Albemarle County area.
ACCT’s local programs, made possible with funds from the Virginia DMV, include:
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Providing in-school pedestrian and bicycle safety lessons for thousands of area students.
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Facilitating walk-to-school events at elementary schools in both the City of Charlottesville and Albemarle County.
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Working with school administrators, public officials, and local organizations to promote fitness and safety opportunities for the children of our community.
Harvest Foundation Martinsville/Henry County: Healthier Community
The Harvest Foundation and BikeWalk Virginia have officially announced an innovative three-year initiative designed to improve the quality of life and economic vitality in Martinsville/Henry County, Virginia. The $1.56-million initiative represents the largest investment by a foundation for this type of initiative, and it will begin to transform this southern Virginia community into a place with complete streets that encourages and supports a livable, healthy, and sustainable community.
BikeWalk Virginia will partner with several local and national organizations to re-engineer the community into a place where bicycling and walking are deeply valued and integral features of a vibrant and healthy life in the region. Partners in this project include the National Complete Streets Coalition, the Safe Routes to School National Partnership, the League of American Bicyclists, the University of North Carolina, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Legislation and Policies
Virginia’s Complete Streets Policy
The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) adopted the Policy for Integrating Bicycle and Pedestrian Accommodations on March 18, 2004. It established bicycling and walking in Virginia as "fundamental travel modes and integral components of an efficient transportation network."
In late 2005, VDOT initiated two processes to ensure that the many aspects of that wide-ranging, six-page policy statement are actually realized: 1) an internal audit of VDOT’s bicycle and pedestrian programs and how the new policy statement has been interpreted and implemented to date and 2) the creation of a department-wide policy implementation team tasked with writing a detailed policy implementation plan by mid 2006.
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