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Safe Routes to School (SRTS) programs are an opportunity to make walking and bicycling to school safer for children in grades K-8, and to increase the number of children who choose to walk and bicycle. On a broader level, SRTS programs can enhance children’s health and well-being, ease traffic congestion near the school, and improve community members’ overall quality of life.
Why promote walking and bicycling?
Communities are using the walk or bike to school as the first step to change community culture and create environments that are more inviting for everyone, young and old. Here are some reasons to support walking and biking to school:
To enhance the health of kids
Increased physical activity can combat a host of health problems facing kids today.
To improve air quality and the environment
Replacing car trips to school with walking or bicycling can help reduce air pollution.
To create safer routes for walking and bicycling
Sidewalks, education programs and traffic calming measures are some of the ways to improve conditions.
These programs are funded through the revised federal transportation act (SAFETEA-LU) that was signed into law on August 10, 2005. This legislation provides funding to state departments of transportation to create and administer SRTS Programs.
The goals of SRTS are:
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To enable and encourage children, including those with disabilities, to walk and bike to school;
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To make bicycling and walking to school a safer and more appealing transportation alternative, thereby encouraging a healthy and active lifestyle from an early age; and
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To facilitate the planning, development, and implementation of projects and activities that will improve safety and reduce traffic, fuel consumption, and air pollution in the vicinity of schools.
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Links to SRTS surveys: |
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Cover Sheet Instructions - Read this document first. |
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Class Tally Sheet - Print at 400 dots per inch or higher. |
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Parent Survey - Print at 400 dots per inch or higher, and print double-sided. |
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Next National Event: October 5, 2011 Walk To School website - Materials to start a local progam, and to register your program. |
Link to SRTS Toolkit (current for 2011):
SRTS Toolkit 4.90 MB - Includes an overview of SRTS, Walk to School Day,
SRTS Planning, Evaluation, & Related Programs.
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National SRTS Guide (jump to guide) |
This guide is a comprehensive online reference manual designed to support the development of Safe Routes to School (SRTS) programs. It provides links to other SRTS publications and training resources. Readers of the online guide can pick and choose specific topics based on their interests and needs, such as guidelines for adult school crossing guards, tools to create school route maps, and ways to include children with disabilities in SRTS initiatives.
SRTS Planning Process
While every community is unique, the basic steps to starting a Safe Routes to School program include:
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Bring together the right people who want to make walking and bicycling to school safe and appealing for children.
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Hold a Community SRTS Task Force kick-off meeting to create a vision and generate next steps.
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Gather information and identify issues. Collecting information can help to identify needed program elements and provide a means to measure the impact of the program later.
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Identify solutions. The Task Force will review the issues, and include a combination of education, encouragement, engineering, and enforcement strategies to help resolve the issues of why children are not walking or biking to school.
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Make a plan. The SRTS plan does not need to be lengthy but should include education, encouragement, engineering, and enforcement strategies, a time schedule, a map of the area covered by the plan, and an explanation of how the program will be evaluated.
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Get the plan and people moving. There are strategies that can be done right away without major funding, while waiting on other parts.
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Evaluate, adjust, and keep going. After the program begins, carefully monitor which strategies are working well and which are not going as planned.
A Safe Routes To School (SRTS) Task Force consists of administrators or teachers from each of the elementary and middle schools, parents, police, health department, recreation department, local businesses, and interested residents.
Contact NCWRPC as soon as you have interest in SRTS for more assistance.
After a SRTS Task Force is formed and a planning grant is awarded, then NCWRPC will assist the SRTS Task Force with the remaining tasks listed below.
Education—includes teaching pedestrians, bicyclists, and drivers about traffic safety and creating awareness of the benefits and goals of SRTS.
Encouragement—strategies are about having fun; they generate excitement and interest in walking and bicycling.
Engineering—focuses on tools that work to create safe routes by improving paths, creating safer crossings, and slowing down traffic. At the same time, it recognizes the importance of a balanced roadway environment that can accommodate the needs of all modes of transportation, be it foot, bicycle, or motor vehicle.
Enforcement—strategies are used to deter unsafe behaviors of drivers, pedestrians, & bicyclists, and to encourage all road users to obey traffic laws and share the road safely.
Other information on SRTS is available on the DOT website at: http://www.dot.wisconsin.gov/localgov/aid/saferoutes.htm