Safe Routes to School in Arkansas

Safe Routes to School (SRTS) is a national (and international) movement to create safe, convenient, and fun opportunities for children to bicycle and walk to and from their schools. The program is intended to reverse the decline in children walking and bicycling to schools. Safe Routes to School can also play a critical role in reversing the alarming nationwide trend toward childhood obesity and inactivity. As an additional benefit, neighborhoods with upgraded cycling and pedestrian facilities under the SRTS program are safer and more attractive to the elderly, disabled, and other pedestrians as well.

BACA's role in supporting the Safe Routes to School program is to provide a community resource in education, outreach, and advocacy.  Our League Cycling Instructors (LCIs) are trained, insured, and certified in presenting the Safe Routes to School safety curricula, as well as in assisting schools with developing customized bicycle safety classes, outreach to community leaders, parents, faculty, and volunteers (the Cycling Skills for Parents classes) and in outreach to bus drivers, neighbors and other drivers near the school through the "Sharing the Road" motorist education classes.  BACA volunteers can also assist in planning and developing SRTS action and community plans, developing and implementing complete streets campaigns, as well as in assisting in the development of SRTS grant applications to ensure that the school and community achieve the best results possible with the resources available, whether grant-funded or using the community's own existing resources.  BACA is a supporting member of the Safe Routes to School National Partnership, and our methods and curricula reflect the best management practices recommended by the National Partnership and the National Center for Safe Routes to School.  For more information, e-mail info@bacar.org.

Our page here in meant to serve as a convenient reference and resource for proven methods of presenting bicycle and pedestrian safety in our communities.


Background
In 1969, approximately 50% of children walked or bicycled to school, with approximately 87% of children living within one mile of school walking or bicycling. Today, fewer than 15% of schoolchildren walk or bicycle to school. That trend is even lower in Arkansas.

As a result, kids today are less active, less independent, and less healthy. As much as 20 to 30% of morning traffic is generated by parents driving their children to schools (increasing congestion for all drivers), and nearly one-third of all children’s traffic deaths happen when children are walking and bicycling and are struck by a car. The most dangerous place for children on the school grounds is the parking lot, and the vast majority of that risk is created by other parents driving their children to the school.

Federal Safe Routes to School Program
Concerned by the long-term health and traffic consequences of this trend, in 2005, the U.S. Congress approved $612 million in funding for five years of state implementation of SRTS programs in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Congress has extended the program at $183 million per year through the end of FY2011 until a long-term transportation reauthorization is completed.

The purpose of this funding, available through the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department, is to allow and encourage more children to safely walk and bicycle to school. The bulk of these grants allow schools and communities to retrofit and build roads, sidewalks, bike lanes and pathways to allow children to more safely walk and bicycle to school. A smaller percentage of funding (10 to 30%) supports non-infrastructure activities, including walking and bicycling safety education, driver awareness campaigns, more robust enforcement of speed limits and traffic safety rules, promotional events to encourage more children to walk and bicycle, and "startup" grants for the development of school travel safety plans. Under current Federal law, SRTS programs apply to all schools serving students from kindergarten through the 8th grade (K-8).
 
   
An Introduction to the Safe Routes To School program:

 

 

AHTD ANNOUNCES AVAILABILITY OF APPLICATIONS FEDERAL FUNDING
FOR SAFE ROUTES TO SCHOOLS PROGRAM 

LITTLE ROCK (3-11-11) – The Arkansas State Highway and Transportation Department (AHTD) has announced the availability of applications for “Safe Routes to School Program” funding in Arkansas, according to AHTD Director Dan Flowers. The program is a Federally-funded initiative of the 2005 Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU).

“This program is specifically directed toward enabling and encouraging students in Kindergarten through 8th grade to walk or bicycle to school.” Areas within two miles of a K-8th grade school are eligible for 100 percent Federal funds to be disbursed in two categories – infrastructure improvements and educational programs. Improvement projects can include planning grants, sidewalks, school crossings, bicycle facilities, as well as traffic diversion and speed reduction improvements. Educational programs can include walking school bus programs, public awareness campaigns and traffic education and enforcement activities.

The deadline for applications to be received by the AHTD is 3:30 P.M., Wednesday, June 1, 2011. Applications can be downloaded from:

 http://arkansashighways.com/safe_route/safe_route.aspx

For further information please contact:
Arkansas State Highway and Transportation Department
10324 Interstate 30
Little Rock, AR 72209
Tel:  501-569-2020
e-mail:  Kim.Sanders@arkansashighways.com
 

   
Why Safe Routes To School is Important:

 

 
Resources:

 
 

 
Safe Routes to School Curricula
       
  Safe Routes Implementation in the Fayetteville School District:

    
       
Colorado SRTS: Sharing the Road:

 

 
  Pedestrian Safety & Traffic Skills:

BACA uses, and has had great success with the following methods for teaching pedestrian safety and traffic awareness with these lesson plans:

 

    
Pedestrian Safety in Rural and Surburban Areas

 

 

 
       
       
       

 
 

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