Making the case

Introduction

Introduction

Bluffton Elementary, H. E. McCracken Middle and Bluffton High Schools are located in a complex in Bluffton, South Carolina, bordered by a heavily traveled county road and surrounded by residential neighborhoods. Of the more than 1,000 students living within 1.5 miles of the complex, many are bussed to school because the lack of infrastructure prevents them from walking.

Introduction

Eugene, OR, is home to Roosevelt Middle School, which was constructed in 1942. The combination of the school’s small parking lot and high volume of car traffic created safety hazards for student pedestrians and bicyclists. Parents and teachers at Roosevelt recognized that promoting bicycle and pedestrian safety must occur alongside addressing car traffic concerns.

Introduction

Introduction

Cleveland Elementary School is located in urban Oklahoma City, OK. The kindergarten through fifth grade school has more than 300 students. Wanting to increase the amount of physical activity among the students, school staff and community leaders organized an event in fall 2007 to encourage walking and bicycling to school.

Introduction

Two Lawton, Oklahoma, schools have begun walking school buses to address different challenges, and both schools have seen unexpected benefits from their efforts.

Principal Brenda Hatch has been instrumental in Safe Routes to School programs at both schools in the pilot project: she was principal at Howell Elementary School when the program started in 2007, and now she is principal at Whittier Elementary School.

Introduction

Nine elementary and middle schools in Mansfield, OH, received funding for Safe Routes to School (SRTS) infrastructure and non-infrastructure projects through the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT). As a result, more than 1,000 students will benefit from sidewalk improvements and installations, as well as from various education and encouragement activities.

Introduction

Introduction

The Riverside County Department of Public Health Injury Prevention Services (IPS) developed a Safe Routes to School (SRTS) program at several priority schools, which it identified by mapping youth pedestrian and bicycle injuries and deaths in the county. The mapping process “enables us to strategically map where the SRTS efforts might be beneficial,” says Gail Carlson, Program Coordinator, IPS.

Introduction

Thomas Elementary School was one of three schools that benefited from the $39,000 federal SRTS noninfrastructure award that the Coconino County Health Department received in 2007 from the Arizona  Department of Transportation for its “Walk, Bike Get Fit” program.