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Safe Routes to School

Please be aware that the Safe Routes to School program was not continued as a stand-alone program under the new federal transportation program, MAP-21 (Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century), and we do not anticipate additional funding rounds for SRTS. The new Transportation Alternatives The preceding external link opens a new browser window program includes Safe Routes to School activities as an eligible funding category. Please visit the NYSDOT TAP website for information about this new program.

 


The National Center for Safe Routes to School announced on-line audio/video training for planning a Walking School Bus Program The preceding external link opens a new browser window. A previously released study, Shifting Modes: A Comparative Analysis of Safe Routes to School Program Elements and Travel Mode Outcomes The preceding external link opens a new browser window, is also on their site, identifying four key strategies for successful Safe Routes to School program. Walk and Bike to School days may jump start local Safe Routes to School programs.


Overview

Safe Routes to School image, @Andersen Ross/Blend Images/Corbis Safe Routes to School (SRTS) is a federal, state and local effort to enable and encourage children, including those with disabilities, to walk and bicycle to school and to make walking and bicycling to school safe and appealing.

In New York, as in other parts of this country, travel to school by walking and bicycling has declined dramatically over the past several decades. The adverse impacts of this trend on air quality, traffic congestion and childhood health are alarming.

The goal of New York's Safe Routes to School Program is to assist New York communities in developing and implementing projects and programs that encourage walking and bicycling to school while enhancing the safety of these trips. Safe Routes to school Logo

These programs can bring a wide range of benefits to students and the community. These include an easy way for children to get the regular physical activity they need for good health and even to ease traffic jams and reduce pollution around schools.

A major goal of the program is to increase bicycle, pedestrian and traffic safety. Successful Safe Routes to School programs in the United States usually includes one or more of these approaches engineering, enforcement, education, encouragement.

Local and regional government, schools and community non-profit organizations ready, willing and able to implement SRTS initiatives are eligible to apply for funding.

The program is open to all New York municipalities and school districts to improve the health and safety of New York children who bike or walk to school.