Who is funding Safe Routes to School programs?

A large source of funding of Safe Routes to School programs is the Federal Highway Administration. In August 2005, federal transportation legislation devoted $612 million for The National SRTS Program from 2005 through 2009. These funds will be distributed to states based on student enrollment, with no state receiving less than $1 million per year. The SRTS funds are administered by each state's Department of Transportation (DOT). Each state DOT has a Safe Routes to School Coordinator that serves as a central point of contact for the state. Find the coordinator for your state. SRTS funds can be used for both infrastructure projects and non-infrastructure activities.

 In July 2012, Congress passed a new transportation bill: Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century (MAP-21). Beginning in October 2012, Safe Routes to School (SRTS) activities will be eligible to compete for funding alongside other programs, including the Transportation Enhancements program and Recreational Trails program, as part of a new program called Transportation Alternatives. The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is charged with putting the legislation into practice, and it provides information about MAP-21 on its website.

State SRTS programs are also in the process of determining how to arrange their activities to best respond to the new legislation. As the States provide information about how they will proceed with Safe Routes to School, the information  will be available on our State SRTS pages.

In October 2012, the Federal Highway Administration released Interim Guidance on how Transportation Alternatives funding will be allocated, which activities and projects are eligible to receive funding, among other information. Please note that this is interim Guidance, which means that more comprehensive Guidance on administering the MAP-21's Transportation Alternatives program is still forthcoming.