Resources – Regional Safe Routes To School


HomePedestrian Safety (WisDOT link)Bicycle Safety (WisDOT link)SRTS PSAs

Keep Going! Walk & Bike Year-Round

Here is additional advice on how to sustain enthusiasm from walk-bike events to create year-round walking and biking to school:

Low-cost strategies for successful walk & bike to school rates (CDC, 2014)
Full CDC study

FOR KIDS: NHTSA–Kids Walking Guide

FOR PARENTS (Walking): Nat’l SRTS–Teaching Kids To Walk Safely (by age)

FOR PARENTS (Biking): Portland’s Family Biking Guide (all stages of riding)

Bike Parking Guidelines

NCWRPC Walking/Biking Club Toolkit

Railroad crossing signs for SRTS in Wauwatosa, WI

School Success Story – Omro, WI (2020 population: 3,600)
    – Annual bicycle field trip;
    – bicycle mechanics program; and
    – other successes.

Rural Communities: Making Safe Routes Work (PDF)

Rural Communities: A Two-Pronged Approach for Improving Walking & Biking (PDF)

Walking School Buses
Walking school buses are a great way to offer children a supervised walk to school on a regular basis.

Bicycle Trains and Bicycle Skills Clinics
Bicycle trains allow students to bicycle to school together on a designated route under supervision. Bicycle Skills Clinics or “bicycle rodeos” are hands-on bicycle safety lesson with bike inspections, safety talks and bicycle skills practice.

Youth Education – available for a nominal fee [Wisconsin Bike Fed].

Adult Education – available for a nominal fee [Wisconsin Bike Fed].

Mileage Tracking
Providing a way for students to track the miles that they have walked or ridden a bicycle is a tangible way to chart progress toward a walking or biking goal.


Links to SRTS surveys:
 
Class Tally Sheet
 
Parent Survey (English)
Parent Survey (Español)
Parent Survey (Hmoob)

Public Service Announcements – Regional Safe Routes To School

HomePedestrian SafetyResourcesBicycle Safety

Safe Routes To School (SRTS) advocacy video that briefly describes what this program is all about. Created by East Central Florida Regional Planning Council with a SRTS grant.
32 second PSA “A”
32 second PSA “B”

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3.57 minute video
The League of American Cyclists promotes Safe Routes to School programs. Share this video with your local school board, PTA, or city council.

1:23 minute PSA
A PSA from the National Safety Council and First Student featuring safety tips to share the road with school buses. Visit nsc.org/back2school for more information and downloadable materials on back to school safety issues.

Vilas County Land and Water Resource Management, 2025

The Vilas County Land and Water Resource Management (LWRM) Plan is a 10-year plan (2025-2034) that provides an assessment of county water quality and soil erosion conditions, identifies local conservation priorities, and establishes conservation goals in a Work Plan.

The Vilas County Land and Water Resource Management (LWRM) Plan is a 10-year plan (2025-2034) that provides an assessment of county water quality and soil erosion conditions, identifies local conservation priorities, and establishes conservation goals in a Work Plan.

Adopted LWRM plans ensure county eligibility for grant funding of county conservation staff and cost sharing for conservation practices.

Land and Water Resource Management (LWRM) Plans provide counties an opportunity to explain how they will meet the state performance standards and prohibitions (NR 151 and ATCP 50) to reduce runoff and protect water quality, as well as address other local land and water resource management concerns. The LWRM Plan provides the counties with the ability to develop local strategies to address the concerns; budget the limited staff and cost share dollars toward these concerns; provide for integration of programs and funding from all sources; and develop a variety of implementation tools.

Portage County Outdoor Recreation Plan 2025-2029

Portage County’s Parks Department updates its Outdoor Recreation Plan every 5 years to identify essential outdoor recreation needs that affect the future of outdoor recreation in the County.

This Outdoor Recreation Plan (ORP) focuses upon County managed outdoor recreation facilities, and also list projects within the towns and villages. The City of Stevens Point and Village of Plover both have ORPs which will both be referenced in this plan. All listed nature based and active recreation based projects become eligible for competitive federal and state outdoor recreation grant money when this plan is adopted by County or local municipality by resolution.

All communities that want to use this plan to apply for grants, must adopt it by resolution.

Non-profit groups, foundations, and the general public may also use this document to coordinate their own private efforts for developing outdoor recreation facilities.

2024 Portage County Outdoor Recreation Survey Results with Comments (128 page PDF)

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Wausau Safe Routes To School

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.

Regional SRTS HomePedestrian SafetyResourcesBicycle SafetySRTS PSAs

Planning Process and Schedule

In 2018, the City of Wausau and the Wausau School District won a WisDOT SRTS planning grant to create a SRTS Plan.

In the fall of 2021, the City of Wausau and the Wausau School District began SRTS Planning with the assistance of the North Central Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission (NCWRPC). The NCWRPC is guiding the Wausau SRTS Task Force through the planning process.

Data collection occurred in spring & summer 2022. Further analysis with the SRTS Task Force will occur throughout the 2022-2023 school year.

Plan development occurred in 2023.

Plan review and revision will occur throughout the 2023-2024 school year.

Plan adoption is anticipated in spring/summer 2024.

Implementation of the Wausau SRTS Plan can begin anytime thereafter into many years later.

Schools in Wausau SRTS Plan:

John Muir Middle School
Thomas Jefferson Elementary
Grant Elementary
G.D. Jones Elementary
Lincoln Elementary
Horace Mann Middle School
Riverview Elementary
Franklin Elementary
Hawthorn Hills Elementary
John Marshall Elementary

Make questions or comments about the planning here.
(Email link to submit comments on this plan.)

Athens Elementary Safe Routes To School

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.

Regional SRTS HomePedestrian SafetyResourcesBicycle SafetySRTS PSAs

Planning Process
In 2022, the North Central Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission and School District of Athens won a WisDOT SRTS planning grant to create a SRTS Plan for Athens Elementary. In the fall of 2023, the Village and Athens Elementary began SRTS Planning with the assistance of the North Central Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission (NCWRPC). The NCWRPC guided the Athens Elementary SRTS Task Force through the planning process.

Athens Elementary SRTS Task Force
Joy Redmann, Athens Elementary Principal
Jamey Handschke, Buildings and Grounds Supervisor
Andrea Sheridan, Superintendent
Tanner Nowacki, Evening Custodian
Julie Weideman, Parent
Carla Nowak, Kindergarten Teacher
Kathy Luther, Grade 2 Teacher
Beth Steinke, Business Office Manager
Bridget Kottke, Parent
Officer Aaron Stencil, Athens Police Department
Lisa Czech, Clerk, Village of Athens
Fred Heider, Planner, North Central Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission

School Data
Athens Elementary
-Parent Survey Results
Map 3 – Site Assessment (Not available yet.)
Map 4 – Transportation (Not available yet.)
Map 5 – School Routes (Not available yet.)
Map 6 – Recommendations (Not available yet.)

Make questions or comments about the planning here.
(Email link to submit comments on this plan.)