Metro Regional Safe Routes to School Framework now available for download

Now available! Metro Regional Safe Routes to School Framework, a project that collected data about current and historic funding and programming for school travel initiatives; identified the schools with the greatest need for safety improvements, the greatest potential impact, and equity needs; produced School Area Maps for each school in the Portland Metro region; identified best practices for regional Safe Routes to School programs; and proposed next steps for Metro regional government to support local jurisdictions’ efforts around Safe Routes to School and school transportation.

The final report, as well as School Area Maps for each district, can be found and downloaded here.

Register now! Oregon Safe Routes to School Conference

Where: Eugene, Oregon
When: June 20-21, 2016++
Earlybird Cost: $20/day (Scholarships available) ~ register today!

The Safe Routes to School Conference will be held on June 20 and June 21 and will include speakers and sessions for new and veteran Safe Routes to School (SRTS) practitioners, staff, volunteers, and partners.

+ Trainings will be held on June 22 and June 23 and will include sessions on the Oregon Bicycle Safety Education and Pedestrian Safety Education curriculum for youth as well as adult traffic skills for bicyclists.

+ On June 18 and 19, you are invited to a family friendly bike ride, camp out, and other networking events!

During the conference we will dig into all aspects of Safe Routes to School, how each “E” (Equity, Education, Encouragement, Evaluation, Enforcement, and Engineering) applies to work in Oregon and to your community. Join us for:

• Inspiring speakers
• Presentations to learn how to get more kids using active transportation
• Networking opportunities
• Opportunities to strengthen our statewide SRTS Network
• Social events including a pre-conference social gathering and a fun ride after the first day’s events

Learn more about the conference, including the agenda and scholarship information. Full session information will be posted in mid-April. Register now!

Oregon Safe Routes: A Statewide Snapshot

Now available!

The Oregon Safe Routes to School Network has released the first-ever Annual Snapshot Report focused on Safe Routes to School activities in Oregon. Read up on what types of successful programs are happening around the state, and find out what’s next on our “to-do” list. Includes numbers from statewide programs, success stories, and the roll-out of a new statewide awards and recognition program.

Download the report (PDF)

Oregon Bicycle & Pedestrian Plan Opens for Public Comment

The Public Comment period for the Oregon Bicycle & Pedestrian Plan is open until February 18th, 2016, and you are strongly encouraged to review the plan and submit comments.

This is the first time the plan has been updated since 1995, and much work has been put into it. Together with a coalition of transportation, health, and safety advocates, Kari Schlosshauer, the PNW Regional Policy Manager, submitted a letter of comments and concerns (pdf) to be addressed in the Oregon Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan prior to final adoption, including:

• Programs such as Safe Routes to School, which should be closely referenced and supported in this Plan, are only given brief mention.
• There is a missed opportunity in not more strongly linking such education/ encouragement programs with infrastructure built by state and local partners.
• The Plan needs a better assessment of existing conditions. ODOT’s Region 1 Active Transportation Needs Inventory and Assessment provides an excellent process and example, and should be replicated statewide.
• Updates to the functional classifications of ODOT facilities incorporating 2015 conditions is required in order to accurately reflect Oregon’s commitment to improved bicycle access on specific streets.
• Include a true Multimodal Level of Service performance measures in the context of the Oregon Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan

ODOT will present the Draft Plan to a variety of different stakeholder groups & will also hold an online open house available mid-December.

For more information, visit the Plan website, attend a presentation or the online open house, and be sure submit your comments before February 18, 2016. The next 20 years of walking, bicycling, and safe routes to everywhere depend on it.

Four Different Regional Approaches to Safe Routes to School

In 2012, Congress made changes to Federal funding for Safe Routes to School that gave some metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs), which are regional transportation planning authorities, decision-making authority over which projects to fund. Given these changes, it is important to examine the impact of the role of MPOs on the availability of funding for Safe Routes to School initiatives and to identify best practices.

Nearly 200 MPOs around the country control more than $200 million in Transportation Alternatives Program (TAP) funding each year. A new information brief, issued today by the National Center for Safe Routes to School and written by the Safe Routes to School National Partnership, demonstrates how regional transportation planning authorities or MPOs can advance Safe Routes to School priorities using the relatively new Transportation Alternatives Program (TAP).

Download the brief (pdf).

The brief profiles four MPOs, each of which used a thoughtful and innovative approach to TAP that was ultimately beneficial to the safety of children and families on the trip to and from school.

Two new National Partnership reports explore equity & violence prevention

We all need transportation to get to school and work, buy food, find housing, and live our daily lives. But low-income people and people of color in the United States face transportation hurdles, based on historical and ongoing inequities in transportation and community investments, that can mean that just accessing basic needs is time consuming, dangerous, and almost impossible – and that can include the trip to school.

The Safe Routes to School National Partnership has released two new reports that explore the issues that arise when social inequities and the threat of violence create barriers to active transportation and opportunity for low-income communities and people of color. These publications were made possible through a cooperative agreement between the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Public Health Association.

At the Intersection of Active Transportation and Equity: Joining Forces to Make Communities Healthier and Fairer (pdf) explores the complexities of equitable active transportation and the issues that arise at the junction of efforts to advance walking and bicycling and work to increase health, fairness, and opportunity for all communities.

Taking Back the Streets and Sidewalks: How Safe Routes to School and Community Safety Initiatives Can Overcome Violence and Crime (pdf) provides a primer for Safe Routes to School professionals looking to address community safety threats that may discourage or endanger students walking or bicycling to school, explains the relevance of Safe Routes to School to violence prevention proponents, and sets out strategies for collaborating to reduce violence and crime, and increase safety and health for children and youth.

Report: Healthy Students, Thriving Districts

When students participate in Safe Routes to School programs, they arrive at school safely, on time, and ready to learn. These programs help to develop healthy students with good attendance, and they support schools in achieving their mission of educating children

and youth.

Check out our new resource and learn about how School Districts, students, and the surrounding community all benefit from including Safe Routes to School in their district policies.

Healthy Students, Thriving Districts: Including Safe Routes to School in District Policies