Safe Routes to School is a federal and state funded program to develop infrastructure and non-infrastructure improvements to promote students to walk and bike to and from school. By creating a Safe Routes to School Committee with specified groups represented alongside a School Travel Plan created within the past 5 years, communities can become eligible for funding from the Ohio Department of Transportation.
(Image Source: Talawanda School District)
Idea
What does Safe Routes to School do?
Traffic fatalities and serious injuries, while small in numbers, are a major concern among parents. As a result in real and/or perceived pedestrian traffic safety, fewer than 15 percent of all school trips are made by walking or bicycling, compared to about half of students in 1969. The effect of this change means that more cars are causing road congestion, more students lack enough physical exercise, and air quality near schools has declined. By empowering communities to develop a variety of programs, such as safer street crossings or community programs that employ volunteers to safely escort students to school, Safe Routes to School addresses these issues directly.
Developing a Safe Routes to School program also has numerous implied benefits. Beside the benefit of allowing safer transit for students to school, it also encourages a more healthy lifestyle for these students by making the healthy choice the easy choice. Additionally, infrastructure improvements such as sidewalk enhancements can encourage active transportation of all community members and lead to increased use of local parks, trails, and greenways. Non-infrastructure components of the plan such as the creation of the Safe Routes to School Committee can lead to new community investment in creating safe active transit for the general public.
Does Whitehall have a Safe Routes to School Program?
In 2012, Whitehall developed a school travel plan that covered all schools K-8. Momentum was difficult to maintain, and the program has since been in need of support. The Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT), Franklin County, and Parks and Recreation are all examples of entities that can provide guidance or collaborative support. In fact, John Bishop Park is near Kae Avenue Elementary School, Etna Road Elementary School, and Rosemore Middle School, making it an ideal local asset to focus Safe Routes to School programming around.
How can a Safe Routes to School Program be implemented?
ODOT receives about $4 million from the Federal Highway Administration for Safe Routes to School. There are a few requirements to obtain funding from ODOT for Safe Routes to School. Once these requirements are met, schools can apply from January to March and expect to implement their programming in May.
Expenditures can be made on infrastructure and non-infrastructure components of safe transit for students within 2 mile radius of the school(s), with a cap on infrastructure components and no cap on non-infrastructure components. These funds are typically managed by the city in which the schools are located. This is because cities often are more apt to be the fiscal manager of ODOT funding.
Requirements to obtain funding for Safe Routes to School include:
- Addressing “the 5 Es” of Safe Routes to School
- Education: the schools that will benefit from safer student transit and programs that educate pedestrians and drivers about safe transit practices
- Encouragement: parents and community members near the school that may help or participate in events and contests
- Enforcement: local police and other applicable safe driving enforcement officers
- Engineering: the local engineering department representing the city and infrastructure components
- Evaluation: the entity responsible for evaluating community progress before and after implementation of infrastructure and non-infrastructure projects
- Development of a School Travel Plan within the past 5 years that addresses “the 5 Es” of Safe Routes to School for individual or up to four schools at a time. This is an important priority for a effective Safe Routes to School program! This document should lay out the strategies and actions that address current barriers, programming, and opportunities.
- Maintain a School Travel Committee with representation from “the 5 Es” of Safe Routes to School
Generally speaking, the local city engineering department submits the grant since they would manage the funding for the infrastructure portion. In Whitehall, this may take some extra effort due to the engineering department under current contract with EMH&T in Gahanna.
Funding can be used for two types of projects as defined by ODOT
- “Infrastructure projects, or engineering projects, include operational and physical improvements that establish safer and fully accessible pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure, such as crossings, walkways, trails and bikeways. All infrastructure projects must improve conditions for students walking or bicycling within two miles of the target school.”
- “Non-infrastructure projects include education, encouragement, and enforcement activities intended to affect student or driver behavior, and evaluation activities to monitor impacts of the SRTS program.”
Strategies
ODOT has a detailed guide that can be found here. It identifies 7 steps to complete the necessary components
- Identify target schools and organize Safe Routes to School Team
- Hold a kick-off meeting and set a vision
- Gather information on current student travel
- Identify key issues
- Develop countermeasure recommendations
- Gather public input
Examples
Upper Arlington has implemented Safe Routes to School that has led to other benefits, including the adoption of a Complete Streets policy that favors good streetscape design for all modes of transportation and the following Tremont Road reconstruction. This progression can be partially attributed to the momentum gathered by community members who convened for better transportation and accessibility in the built environment.
Connection to Other Plans
This idea potentially addresses the following elements of the MORPC Regional Sustainability Agenda:
| Element | Description | Rationale |
|---|---|---|
| 1.2 | Reduce the percentage of commuters driving alone and increase the percentage of commuters riding transit, biking, or walking. | Increases availability for active transit for students |
| 4.1 | Encourage MORPC member communities to adopt complete streets policies or policies that contain those elements. | Safe Routes to School encourages safe transit for all modes of transit |
| 4.2 | Target infrastructure development to serve a higher number of people and jobs, and increase sidewalk coverage of arterials and collectors | Infrastructure components of Safe Routes to School can be used for sidewalk construction |
| 4.3 | Reduce the number of fatalities and serious injuries from crashes | One of Safe Routes to School's primary goal is to increase safety for students who must walk near vehicular corridors and other transit risks |
| 4.4 | Target transit and bikeway infrastructure development to serve a higher number of people | Safe Routes to School can be used to improve bikeways for students or can be used to reduce conflict points of other transit modes for students with infrastructure components |
Sources:
ODOT Safe Routes to School page http://www.dot.state.oh.us/Divisions/Planning/ProgramManagement/HighwaySafety/ActiveTransportation/Pages/SRTS.aspx
Upper Arlington Tremont Road Project Presentation https://www.dot.state.oh.us/engineering/OTEC/2015_OTEC_Presentations/Tuesday_Oct.27/09/Thiel_Rosepiler%20-%20Session%209.pdf
Upper Arlington School Travel Plan example https://www.dot.state.oh.us/Divisions/Planning/ProgramManagement/HighwaySafety/ActiveTransportation/STP%20Examples/UA%20STP.pdf