The Safe Routes to School Program (SR2S) is a Federal Program being implemented by each State. Its purposes are:

• 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; and
• 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.

Communities wanting to make walking and bicycling safer and more appealing for children to get to school should participate. Participation is by applying to the New York State Department of Transportation for local projects that use a combination of strategies such as teaching pedestrian and bicycle safety, building sidewalks and bike paths, working with law enforcement to slow traffic and initiating walking clubs and contests to achieve positive change.

Funding and Administration for New York’s Safe Routes to School Program

In August 2005, Section 1404 of the federal transportation act, SAFETEA-LU authorized the Safe Routes to School Program. This program provides a total of $612 million over five years to State Transportation Departments to implement SR2S. The amount of funding per state is based on the number of school age children within the state. New York’s share of this program is over $32 million through Federal Fiscal Year 2009.

The Federal law says 70 to 90 percent of funding is to be used for infrastructure improvements located within a two-mile radius of an elementary or middle school. This could include installation of traffic signals or crosswalks, construction or rehabilitation of sidewalks and traffic mitigation measures.

Between 10 and 30 percent of funding will be provided to local municipalities, school districts, police agencies and non-profit organizations for non-infrastructure public education and outreach projects. This may include conducting police enforcement operations and developing education programs for parents and children on the benefits of walking or bicycling to school.

In New York the State Department of Transportation is administering the program. The program is overseen by the State Safe Routes to School Coordinator working through the NYSDOT’s eleven regional offices. (See below). The up to $9 million for SR2S non-infrastructure projects will be spent among projects resulting from a competitive application process.

Eligible Funding Recipients include State, local, and regional agencies, and nonprofit organizations. Any of these may apply for SR2S Non-infrastructure-related activities to encourage walking and bicycling to school, including public awareness campaigns and outreach to press and community leaders, traffic education and enforcement, student training, and funding for training volunteers, and managers of SR2S programs.

Applications

NYSDOT will make applications and guidebooks available to all municipalities in the state and will conduct regional information sessions. Applicants must submit projects to NYSDOT for approval by early 2008, with project selection announcements made in the summer of 2008.

Anyone interested in applying should contact the NYSDOT (see map and chart below) for an application. When contacting NYSDOT be sure to ask about the current status of the application and application guidelines, which were still in a state of flux as of the fall of 2007.

While applications are for non-infrastructure projects only, communities interested in infrastructure projects should also contact NYSDOT to discuss their needs. In creating its program of SR2S infrastructure improvements the agency needs local input from school districts, municipalities and others.

When proposing a project, consider the SR2S project components and the program objectives. The components are summarized as the Five E’s. They and the objectives are described below.

The Five E’s of Safe Routes to School

Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) recommends SR2S efforts incorporate – directly or indirectly – five components, often referred to as the “5 E’s”. They are:

Engineering – Creating operational and physical improvements to the infrastructure surrounding schools that reduce speeds and potential conflicts with motor vehicle traffic, and establish safer and fully accessible crossings, walkways, trails and bikeways.

Education – Teaching children about the broad range of transportation choices, instructing them in important lifelong bicycling and walking safety skills, and launching driver safety campaigns in the vicinity of schools.

Encouragement – Using events and activities to promote walking and bicycling.

Enforcement – Partnering with local law enforcement to ensure traffic laws are obeyed in the vicinity of schools (this includes enforcement of speeds, yielding to pedestrians in crossings, and proper walking and bicycling behaviors), and initiating community enforcement such as crossing guard programs.

Evaluation – Monitoring and documenting outcomes and trends through the collection of data, including the collection of data before and after the intervention(s).

Safe Routes to School Program Objectives

The goals are having a physical environment that enhances the ability to walk and bicycle to and from schools and a community environment that encourages it with activities that make this ability safe and pleasant. Specifically, the objectives include:

• More children walking and bicycling to and from schools
• Improved childhood health
• Reduced childhood obesity
• Encouragement of healthy and active lifestyles
• Enhanced accessibility for the entire community
• Improved community safety
• Increased community security
• Decreased traffic congestion
• Reduced fuel consumption
• Improved air quality

NYSDOT Contacts

Contact the main office for generic and statewide program issues. Local issues and requests for applications should be directed to the Regional Bicycle and Pedestrian Coordinators. The counties covered by each region are indicated.

NYSDOT Main Office Contacts

New York DOT SRTS Coordinator

Dwight Cunningham

(518) 457-8340 dcunningham@dot.state.ny.us

Eric L. Ophardt P.E.,

NYS Bicycle & Pedestrian Program Manager

(518) 457-8307 EOPHARDT@dot.state.ny.us

James M. Ercolano, M.S.,

Pedestrian Specialist

(518) 485-8291 JERCOLANO@dot.state.ny.us

Passenger Transportation Division

50 Wolf Road, Pod 54

Albany, NY 12232

NYSDOT Regional Bicycle & Pedestrian Contacts

Links to Safe Routes to School Resources

NYS Safe Routes to School Partnership:

http://www.saferoutespartnership.org/newyork

NYSDOT:

https://www.nysdot.gov/portal/page/portal/divisions/operating/opdm/local-programs-bureau/srts

Governor’s Press Release:

http://www.ny.gov/governor/press/0906072.html

NY City Press release:

http://www.innovations.harvard.edu/news/60881.html

Transportation Alternatives: http://www.transalt.org/campaigns/reclaiming/saferoutes.html#mag

Discussion of NY’s SR2S Legislation:

http://www.albany.edu/~ihi/2briefing.pdf

SR2S: 2007 State of the States Report:

http://www.ite.org/news/SRTSreport2007.pdf

Federal Highway Administration Safe Routes to School: http://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/saferoutes/

Florida Traffic and Bicycle Safety Education Program’s Safe Ways to School Toolkit:

http://www.dcp.ufl.edu/centers/trafficSafetyEd/

Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, KidsWalk-To-School: http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/kidswalk/

Federal Highway Administration, Good Practices Guide for Bicycle Safety Education: http://www.bicyclinginfo.org/ee/bestguidedoc.html

International Walk to School Day in the US:

http://www.walktoschool.org/

League of American Bicyclists & 4-minute SRTS video intro: http://www.bikeleague.org/programs/saferoutes/video.php

National Center for Bicycling and Walking:

http://www.bikewalk.org/

National Center for Safe Routes to School (SRTS Clearinghouse): http://www.saferoutesinfo.org/

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Walk to School Day Campaign Planner: http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/portal/site/nhtsa/menuitem.5928da45f99592381601031046108a0c/

Safe Routes to School National Partnership: http://bikesbelong.org/page.cfm?PageID=249

Walking School Bus Information:

http://www.walkingschoolbus.org/