Planning boards and public works officials in other cities have begun getting the message and are making it easier for people to walk around. Several large metropolitan cities have budgeted millions of dollars to install sidewalks. Priorities for sidewalks will go to areas around schools. A study released by the Surface Transportation Policy Project, a research and advocacy group in Washington, found that 71% of parents with school-age children walked to school themselves as children, but only 18% of their own children walk to school.
The Partnership for a Walkable America is a national coalition working to improve the conditions for walking in America and to increase the number of Americans who walk regularly. The members are national governmental agencies and non-profit organizations concerned about health, safety, and the environment. Visit the Web site at www.walkableamerica.org.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has developed a program named KidsWalk-to-School. This is a community-based program that aims to increase opportunities for daily physical activity by encouraging children to walk to and from school in groups accompanied by adults. At the same time, the program advocates for communities to build partnerships with the school, PTA, local police department, department of public works, civic associations, local politicians, and businesses to create an environment that is supportive of walking and bicycling to school safely. By creating active and safe routes to school, walking to school can once again be a safe, fun, and pleasant part of children’s daily routine. The benefits of KidsWalk – to – School are:
- Increased levels of daily physical activity for children
- Increased likelihood that children and adults will choose to walk and bike for other short-distance trips
- Improved neighborhood safety
- Fewer cars traveling through the neighborhood
- Fewer cars congesting the pickup and drop-off points at the school.
- Friendlier neighborhoods as people get out and about, interacting with one another
Walking school bus
A walking school bus, an idea developed by the CDC and US Department of Transportation, is a group of children walking to school with one or more adults. If that sounds simple, it is, and that’s part of the beauty of the walking school bus. It can be as informal as two families taking turns walking their children to school or as structured as a route with meeting points, a timetable and a regularly rotated schedule of trained volunteers.
A variation on the walking school bus is the bicycle train, in which adults supervise children riding their bikes to school. The flexibility of the walking school bus makes it appealing to communities of all sizes. The CDC recommends one adult for every six children. If children are aged ten or older, fewer adults may be needed. If children are ages four to six, one adult per three children is recommended. Walking school bus guidelines may be found at the Web site www.walkingschoolbus.org.
Congress approved $612 million for a new Safe Routes to School program as part of the federal transportation bill that was adopted on 2005. The federal legislation was designed to benefit children in primary and middle schools. Funds will be distributed over a five-year period. The purposes of the program, as stated in the bill are as follows:
- To enable and encourage children, including those with disabilities, to walk and bicycle to school
- 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
- 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.
Safe Routes to School program
Funding will be provided to each state’s department of transportation on a formula basis calculated from school enrollment. Eligible activities for funding under Safe Routes to School include both infrastructure projects and non-infrastructure-related projects, including sidewalk improvement, on-street bicycle facilities, off-street bicycle and pedestrian facilities, secure bicycle parking, and traffic diversion improvements in the vicinity of schools.
The federal Safe Routes to School program further establishes a National Safe Routes to School Clearinghouse to develop information and educational programs on Safe Routes to School and to provide technical assistance and disseminate techniques and strategies used for successful Safe Routes to School programs. Each state is also required to create a full-time position for a Safe Routes to School coordinator, which will establish a point person for Safe Routes to School within each department of transportation in all 50 states. Amen!
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