UPCOMING - September 14th 1pm EST
Bicycle Fleets Webinar Funding, Organizing and Maintaining Bicycle Fleets

Presenters:
Jessica Binder, Education Director, Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin
Shane Rhodes, Program Coordinator, Eugene 4J School District
Mallory Burda, US Advocacy Coordinator, Specialized Bicycle Dealer Grant Program   Delivering a comprehensive traffic safety lesson often includes the use of bicycles, yet most bicycle educators know that allowing students to use their own, often malfunctioning bicycles can interfere with valuable class time. Safe Routes to School programs that have funded, organized and maintained their own bicycle fleets have experienced unprecedented success through continued access to a functional fleet of bicycles.
 
Join us for presentations from advocates, schools and a bicycle manufacturer's grant program that built their individual programs through strategically funding, thoughtfully organizing and systematically maintaining fleets of bicycles for use in the classroom. This webinar will be an excellent resource for those who have not yet attained a bicycle fleet to those who are looking for pointers on how to better organize and upkeep their existing fleets. REGISTER TODAY!

UPCOMING - September 20th 1pm EST

Creating BUZZ Around Your SRTS Event

 

Presenters:

Caroline Dickson, National Center for Safe Routes to School
Rosie Stern, Michigan Fitness Foundation
Katy Jones, UNC Highway Safety Research Center
  
Each year students from schools in more than 40 countries join together to celebrate walking and bicycling during Walk to School Month in October. Organizing your students for Walk to School Day (WTS) or another walking event is a great way to invigorate an existing Safe Routes to School program or kick off a new one.  This webinar will highlight a unique and fun WTS event and provide tips on how to get the word out, involve media, and bring attention to your WTS activities. After a brief introduction by Caroline Dickson from the National Center, Rosie Stern will highlight the "Ped Safety Dance", a great Walk to School Day event that encourages students and parents to 'bust a move' and cheer for pedestrian safety. Following her presentation, Katy Jones will provide an overview of how to raise awareness of your WTS event and how to work with the media.

This webinar is part of the Safe Routes to School Coaching Action Network Webinar Series, developed by America Walks and the National Center for Safe Routes to School.

For more information please contact Michelle Gulley at mgulley@americawalks.org REGISTER NOW 

 

Community Resiliency and the Built Environment: Innovations and Policy Issues in Montana

We have three co-editors of the Montana Policy Review all working together on this issue titled, Community
Resiliency and the Built Environment: Innovations and Policy Issues in Montana. W ith so many exciting
community resiliency and built environment policies, programs and projects, we felt it important to highlight the many innovative initiatives currently being designed and implemented across Montana.

The built environment refers to the human-made physical structures and supporting infrastructure that provide the setting for human activity. In Montana, these surroundings shape our economic, social, environmental,
and public health outcomes. Citizens and local government leaders from all types of communities-from urban to rural to tribal-want to achieve the best possible outcomes while making the most effective use of limited
resources. Policy decisions regarding transportation, land use, and community design influence many aspects of daily living: the distances people travel to work, school, parks, shops, and other destinations; the choice of transportation and housing options; the convenience of purchasing (or growing) healthy foods; the safety and attractiveness of neighborhoods for active living; and the economic and environmental resiliency of the local economy and place.

In Montana, there are many unique case studies that showcase how the built environment influences quality of life and economic prosperity. This issue of the Montana Policy Review presents a series of articles on this topic and identifies best practices, policies and strategies to help communities build safe, healthy and resilient places. More importantly, we offer this issue on-line so that readers can click web links, view and download maps and pictures, and disseminate the publication to a far-wider audience than possible in the past. Read more here.

The goal of the FHWA is to continually improve highway safety by reducing highway fatalities and injuries by 20 percent in ten years. Ensuring safe travel on highways is the guiding principle throughout the FHWA. Pedestrian fatalities account for about 12 percent of all traffic fatalities and are one of the focus areas of the Safety Office. FHWA has taken the position that walking and bicycling are legitimate modes of transportation.

 

There is no question that conditions for bicycling and walking need to be improved in every community in the United States; it is no longer acceptable that over 5,000 pedestrians and bicyclists are killed in traffic every year, that people with disabilities cannot travel without encountering barriers, and that two desirable and efficient modes of travel have been made difficult and uncomfortable. Every transportation agency has the responsibility and the opportunity to make a difference in the bicycle-friendliness and walkability of our communities. The design information to accommodate bicyclists and pedestrians is available, as is the funding. The United States Department of Transportation is committed to doing all it can to improve conditions for bicycling and walking and to make them safer ways to travel.

To learn more about FHWA or to subscribe to their newsletter click here. 

 

Biking is increasingly being recognized as a highly sustainable

form of transportation. Consequently, a growing number

of American cities have seen tremendous growth in

bicycle travel, in part because many cities are also investing

resources into improving bicycling infrastructure. Aside from

the environmental advantages, there is now growing evidence

to suggest that cities with higher bicycling rates also

have better road safety records. This study attempts to

better understand this phenomenon of lower fatality rates

in bike-oriented cities by examining 11 years of road safety

data (1997-2007) from 24 California cities.

Read more here

National Center for Safe Routes to School releases Progress Report documenting the federal program's achievements

Go to National Center News Room 
(Chapel Hill, N.C.) August 26, 2011 - The National Center for Safe Routes to School announced today the release of the Federal Safe Routes to School Program Progress Report, which examines the progress of the federal Safe Routes to School (SRTS) program and the implementation of the legislation which established SRTS - the Safe, Accountable, Flexible and Efficient Transportation Equity Act - a Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU, 2005). According to the Progress Report, since 2005, when the federal program was established, more than 10,400 U.S. schools across all income levels have participated in SRTS programs and all three main requirements of the law have been achieved.

"Progress of the SRTS program can be seen in a variety of ways. There are new and renovated sidewalks and bike paths, trained crossing guards and new bike racks, and students and families who are energized by participating in walking school buses and bicycle trains in communities across the country," said Lauren Marchetti, director of the National Center for Safe Routes to School. "Thanks to the federal SRTS program, many more American children and families have the opportunity to walk or bicycle to school in safer conditions."

SAFETEA-LU provided $612 million to establish the Federal SRTS Program to support projects to improve safety on walking and bicycling routes to school and to encourage children and families to travel by foot or by bike. Subsequent continuing resolutions increased the funding amount to $821 million through Dec 30, 2010. From the program's inception through December 2010, the reporting period for the Progress Report, nearly $584 million had been announced in funding for projects at more than 10,400 schools in 50 states and Washington, D.C., with the potential to reach approximately 4.8 million schoolchildren.

The National Center's Progress Report describes how state SRTS programs are set up, challenges to funding distribution, who is being reached, and what types of activities or projects are being implemented. Research findings include:

• State SRTS Programs are funding both infrastructure and non-infrastructure projects. The legislation requires a funding split between infrastructure and non-infrastructure projects, and up to 90 percent can be spent on infrastructure. Sidewalk improvements are the most common activity reported (19 percent), followed by traffic calming (14 percent), pedestrian/bicycle access (14 percent) and education (13 percent).
• SRTS funding is reaching low income schools. SRTS project distribution matched the proportion of schools with high, medium and low percentages of students who received free and reduced lunch assistance on a national level.
• SRTS funding is reaching diverse school populations. The racial/ethnic mix of students benefiting from the SRTS program reflected overall U.S. school populations.

In addition, the report examines how the three main requirements of the law (SAFETEA-LU) have been achieved:1) SRTS programs with designated State SRTS Coordinators have been established in each of the 50 states and Washington, D.C.; 2) an information clearinghouse for the federal program, the National Center for Safe Routes to School, has been established and is operating; and 3) the National SRTS Task Force developed a national strategy to advance SRTS programs nationwide.

"Whether it's establishing safer places to walk or bicycle or encouraging more families to take the trip to school by foot, it's important that communities have the funding they need to implement high quality SRTS projects to address their specific needs," Marchetti said. "The rising community-level interest in this effort, combined with knowledge and experience gained by states, communities, federal agencies and researchers working in SRTS, provides momentum for the federal program to continue to benefit communities nationwide."

To read the complete Federal Safe Routes to School Program Progress Report go to www.saferoutesinfo.org/program-tools/federal-safe-routes-school-program-progress-report.