Community problems & solutions

Introduction

Lakeview School is the local kindergarten through twelfth grade school in the town of Cottonwood, MN. Cottonwood Lake separates the school and the town, and the students must walk around the lake and along a busy country road to walk or bicycle to school. The combination of the lake and the busy road make it difficult and unsafe for the children to walk to school, resulting in about 25 students walking or bicycling each day.

Introduction

Winans Elementary is a kindergarten through fourth grade school in Lansing, MI. A survey of the school’s parents revealed that safety concerns were a main reason for parents not wanting their children to walk to school. Working together, township officials, county police, parents and school staff applied for and received $456,000 in Safe Routes to School (SRTS) funding from the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) to create a SRTS program that improved student safety.

Introduction

Introduction

In May 2003, Michigan’s Department of Transportation (DOT), in partnership with other organizations, convened a mini-conference with the theme of Designing Healthy Communities to discuss the relationship between the built environment and the ability of community residents to embrace and engage in exercise. As a result of these discussions, the Safe Routes to School movement was identified as having the potential to improve this relationship.

Introduction

Falmouth, ME, is a suburban town with a low population density, no town center and limited infrastructure for walking to school. In this town, the majority of students ride the bus to school. The elementary school complex in Falmouth is home to two schools — the Lunt School, which serves kindergarten through second grade, and the Plummer Motz School, which serves the third and fourth grade.

Introduction

Maine initiated its Safe Routes to School (ME-SRTS) programming after the development of the national program in 2005. Housed within Maine’s Department of Transportation (MaineDOT), ME-SRTS is an established program, which has thrived amid tight financial restraints. Despite these restraints, MaineDOT successfully secured a $200,000 state bond to supplement the national Safe Routes to School funding.

Introduction

For several years the City of Rockville has coordinated Safe Routes to School programs in Rockville schools with an emphasis on education, enforcement, encouragement programs, and transportation improvements. The goal of the programs is to improve the safety of children walking and bicycling to school. In April 2007 the City’s Department of Public Works received $435,500 in federal grant funds to initiate a more comprehensive Safe Routes to School program, which the City will use to target six schools with speeding and pedestrian safety issues.

Introduction

In Maryland, the state Safe Routes to School (SRTS) program is administered by the Maryland Highway Safety Office (MHSO). The program began in May 2006 with the hiring of a full-time SRTS coordinator. In March 2006, the MHSO held the first of several grant application seminars and provided the 35 participants with information about the SRTS program and its funding. The program’s progress continued after the hiring of a full-time SRTS coordinator in May 2006.

Introduction

Introduction