Safe Routes to School is on a roll in Washington, DC! The District of Columbia Safe Routes to School program continues to offer Safe Routes to School planning assistance to any school that requests it. Eight schools are currently receiving this assistance, for a total of 30 schools since the start of the program. DC schools are also able to request in-classroom pedestrian safety education for students in grades K-2 and bicycle safety education for students in grades 3-8.
Greetings Safe Routes Champions! Welcome to “Blog BLF!”
The seven states that comprise the state network project are all moving at a fast pace. Since the state advocacy organizers began in early March, they continue to make many very key contacts throughout their states.
After growing up playing on the school playground, I was dismayed to start seeing fences and locked gates at schools. The whole community feeling changed to a prison atmosphere, but to keep people out. John O.
Since 2017, the Safe Routes Partnership has partnered with community-based organizations, government agencies, and other national partners to improve local park access via walking and biking. In those seven years, we have shown that there is significant demand to unlock the full potential of neighborhood parks for health and community building by activating the routes to them. Along the way, this movement has highlighted the power of engaging parks and recreation stakeholders in creating safer, more equitable streets, ensuring that parks are integral to connected, thriving communities.
Last week I was in a communications training with other nonprofit groups - a really good one, by the way, from Spitfire Communications, sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. We were tasked throughout the week with writing stories, creating elevator speeches and developing communications plans. I learned a lot.
While all states have a SRTS coordinator, few, if any, have been at it as long as Pat Pieratte with the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT). She just retired after 35 years with the department, serving six years as the SRTS coordinator. Before she left to go folk dancing in Croatia and Slovenia, there was a gathering to talk about her successes and wish her well.
Answering this is easy. The Safe Routes Partnership works to make changes to the built environment so that generations of children can bicycle and walk to school. Not only is it a great way to improve children’s lives, but it reminds adults about the simple joys of walking and bicycling with their family, friends and neighbors.
Since the passage of the new federal Transportation bill (MAP-21) on July 6, I have heard “Oh, isn’t Safe Routes to School dead?”
The answer is a resounding NO!
IT’S ALIVE!
By now, you’ve likely heard that the new transportation bill, MAP-21, consolidated bicycling and walking programs into a new program called Transportation Alternatives, and that overall funding was cut by approximately 30 percent. However, the details vary quite a bit state by state.
“I always loved running...it was something you could do by yourself, and under your own power. You could go in any direction, fast or slow as you wanted, fighting the wind if you felt like it, seeking out new sights just on the strength of your feet and the courage of your lungs."
- Jesse Owens
The Washington State Safe Routes to School program has strong state support. In 2005, the state legislature made a 16 year commitment towards the safety of children walking and bicycling to school. Since that time there have been: four complete funding cycles; $31 million awarded – about $21 million in federal funds and $10 million in state funds; a 21 percent increase in children walking and bicycling to school; Washington State Safe Routes to School was codified into state law RCW 47.04.300 in 2009; and 95 projects – 39 complete and 56 underway.
On the heels of our Greater Washington, DC area regional Complete Streets policy, the National Complete Streets Coalition (NCSC) released their
During the opening plenary session at ProWalk/ProBike in Long Beach, Suja Lowenthal, PhD, a council member from Long Beach, addressed the attendees. She’s a passionate advocate, sharing many ideals so many of us do, but I strongly agreed when she declared that our communities are not bike-friendly until mothers with children feel comfortable taking to the streets. That is such an importa
October is such a great time of year.Everywhere I look lately, no matter what city or town I am visiting, I see more children and families walking and bicycling to school, the park, other destinations and just for fun.
The Alliance for a Healthier Generation, founded by the American Heart Association and the William J. Clinton Foundation, was formed in 2005 as a response to the dramatic increase in prevalence of childhood obesity across the nation.
GIS mapping examples of poor siting decisions are used to help the reader understand the importance of making better school site decisions using a collaborative, data informed, objective process.
The Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) is a region’s approved list of specific transportation projects mandated by federal law. It serves as a multi-year financial schedule for obligating federal funds to state and local transportation projects. The TIP contains funding information for all modes of transportation including bicycle and pedestrian projects.
To facilitate conversations between peer cities, NACTO holds roundtables, workshops, and webinars and conducts research on best practices and challenges for the growing bike share movement.
I recently had the privilege of speaking at the Fairfax County Bike Summit. It was the first Bike Summit in the county. Fairfax County has come a long way through the work of the Fairfax Advocates for Better Bicycling.