2010-2011 final report on the state network project, srts national partnership
TRANSCRIPT
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aPhase II: Successes and Lessons Learned
Sae Routes to School State Network ProjectPhase II: Successes and Lessons Learned
2010 2011 Final Report
Changing the Habits o
an Entire Generation November 2011
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b Sae Routes to School State Network Project
Table o Contents 2 Childhood Obesity and Sae Routes to School
4 Federal Legislation or Sae Routes to School
5 Background on the State Network Project
8 Helping Those Most in Need and Improving
Saety or All
9 Accomplishments o the State Network Project
9 Bringing Everyone to the Table
10 Leveraging Funding
The2010-2011 Sae Routes to School State Network
Project Final Report was written by Robert Ping, state
network director, or the Sae Routes to School National
Partnership (National Partnership) with support rom Deb
Hubsmith, director, Stephanie Weber Smith and David
Janis, state network managers, Kathy Cooke, state
network associate and state network organizers in 19
states and the District o Columbia.
This report was written to inorm state and local
advocates, policymakers and partners o the state
network projects policy successesthose that have
resulted in changes to the built environment and
increases in physical activityand to share lessons
learned between January 2010 and August 2011.
The Sae Routes to School National Partnership is a
ast-growing network o more than 500 organizations
and proessional groups working to set goals, share best
practices, leverage inrastructure and program unding
and advance policy change to help agencies that
implement Sae Routes to School programs across the
nation. The National Partnerships mission is to advocate
or sae walking and bicycling to and rom schools and
in daily lie, to improve the health and well-being o
Americas children and to oster the creation o livable,
sustainable communities. The National Partnership is
hosted by the Bikes Belong Foundation, a 501(c)(3)
nonprot which is a sister organization to Bikes
Belong Coalition.
For more inormation, visit
www.saeroutespartnership.org.
Acknowledgements
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1Phase II: Successes and Lessons Learned
11 Policy Change
12 State Sae Routes to School Programs
16 Complete Streets
22 School Siting and Joint Use
26 Supporting Lower-Income Communities
31 Personal Saety
34 Other Policy Successes
38 Lessons Learned
43 Next Steps
45 Conclusion
46 Resources
47 Endnotes
Support or this document was provided by the Robert
Wood Johnson Foundation, based in Princeton, New
Jersey. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF)
ocuses on the pressing health and health care issues
acing our country. As the nations largest philanthropy
devoted exclusively to improving health and health
care, the Foundation works with a diverse group o
organizations and individuals to identiy solutions and
achieve comprehensive, measurable and timely change.
In 2007, RWJF committed $500 million toward its goal
o reversing the childhood obesity epidemic by 2015.
This is the largest commitment any oundation has
made to the issue. For nearly 40 years the Foundation
has brought experience, commitment and a rigorous,
balanced approach to the problems that aect the
health and health care o those it serves. When it comes
to helping Americans lead healthier lives and get the
care they need, the Foundation expects to make a
dierence in your lietime.
For more inormation, visit
www.rwj.org/childhoodobesity.
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2 Sae Routes to School State Network Project
Today, more than 23 million children and adolescents in
the United Statesnearly one in three young people
are either obese or overweight, putting them at higher
risk or serious, even lie-threatening health problems.1
The obesity rate today remains more than our times
higher among children ages 6 to 11 than it was a
generation ago. During the same period, the rate has
more than tripled or adolescents ages 12 to 19.2 Only
one-third o children are getting the U.S. Department
o Health and Human Services recommended level o
60 minutes o moderate-to-vigorous physical activityper day.3 In 1969, approximately 42 percent o U.S.
children walked or bicycled to school and 87 percent o
those who lived within one mile o the school walked or
bicycled.4 By 2009, these percentages had plummeted
to 13 percent5 and 48 percent,6 respectively.
Many actors related to physical activity and nutrition
have infuenced the dramatic increase in childhood
obesity, including the decline in children walking and
bicycling to school. Communities oten lack sae and
separate inrastructure like sidewalks, pathways and
crosswalks or bicyclists and pedestrians. Schools are
more requently located on the outskirts o communities
instead o the center o a neighborhood, increasing the
distance to school.7 Many parents are concerned about
trac dangers and personal saety, leading them to
limit unsupervised outside play and walking and bicycling
to school.8,9
In The Surgeon Generals Vision or a Healthy and Fit
Nation 2010, U.S. Surgeon General Regina Benjamin
emphasized, physical activity plays several important
roles in the prevention and control o obesity and
it is essential or health at any weight. Increased
physical activity and decreased sedentary behavior are
associated with lower rates o obesity, and it reduces the
risk or many o the diseases associated with obesity,
such as diabetes and heart disease.
Eorts to reverse the childhood obesity epidemic mustbe multi-aceted, and Sae Routes to School is a critical
part o the solution. Evidence shows that Sae Routes to
School programs make the trip to and rom school saer,
increase the number o children who get to school by
walking and bicycling, and promote the health o children
and their communities.10 Using Sae Routes to School
as a way to create environment, policy and behavioral
changes is one way to increase physical activity and
promote the health o both children and adults.
The Surgeon General recommends that, when
possible, parents should walk with children to and
rom school, and children should have scheduled
time to play. Because saety is a real concern in many
neighborhoods, citizens should talk with their local
elected ocials and members o law enorcement to
nd ways to improve saety so everyone can walk or
play outdoors. She also recommends that schools
implement and promote walk- and bike-to-school
Childhood Obesity and Sae Routes to School
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3Phase II: Successes and Lessons Learned
programs and establish joint use agreements with local
government agencies to allow use o school acilities or
physical activity programs oered by the school
or community-based organizations outside o
school hours.11
In its annual report Health, United States, 2008, the
Centers or Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
recommended the ollowing policy strategies to help
Americans become more active:
improve access to outdoor recreational acilities;
build or enhance inrastructure to support more walk-
ing and bicycling;
support locating schools within easy walking distance
o residential areas;
improve access to public transportation;
support mixed-use development;
enhance personal and trac saety in areas where
people are or could be physically active.12
The Aordable Care Act, the landmark health legislation
passed in 2010, created the National Prevention Council
and called or the development o the National Strategy
to utilize prevention-based strategies to benet all
Americans health. The National Prevention Strategy
was released in June 2011 and highlights Sae Routes
to School as an active living strategy: Communityleaders, schools, and parents across the United States
are encouraging more children, including children with
disabilities, to walk and bicycle to school. Sae Routes
to School programs improve saety and accessibility as
well as reduce trac and air pollution in the vicinity o
schools. As a result, these programs help make bicycling
and walking to school a saer and more appealing
transportation choice, thus encouraging a healthy and
active liestyle rom an early age.13
The above recommendations show that Sae Routes
to School programs and projects are well-acceptedstrategies or increasing physical activity. Policy
changes and collaboration between agencies and local
communities, through eorts such as the state network
project, reduce barriers to physical activity and make
Sae Routes to School a highly eective tool in the ght
against childhood obesity.
Childhood Obesity and Sae Routes to School
Sae Routes to School is an evidence-basedstrategy that can help to reverse the epidemic
o childhood obesity. Some relevant ndings arecited below:
Sae Routes to School programs can increase
walking and bicycling by 20% to 200%.19
Children traveling through pedestrian-riendly
environments are more likely to walk or bicycle
to and rom school.20
Children who walk to school are signifcantly
more physically active throughout the day as
compared to children who travel to school
by car.21
Children who walk or bicycle to school havebetter cardiovascular ftness compared with
children who do not actively commute to
school.22
In a study o adolescents, 100% o the
children who walked both to and rom school
averaged at least 60 minutes o moderate-to-
vigorous physical activity on weekdays.23
A 5% increase in neighborhood walkability
which looks at the completeness o the sidewalk
network, saety o street crossings, directness
o routes and other measureswas associated
with 32.1% more minutes devoted to physically
active travel.24
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4 Sae Routes to School State Network Project
Concerned by the long-term health and trac
consequences o the decline in walking and bicycling
to school, Congress created the ederal Sae Routes
to School program as part o the $286.5 billion
SAFETEA-LU transportation bill in August 2005.
Congress appropriated $612 million or Sae Routesto School rom scal years 2005 through 2009, unds
that were allocated through state Departments o
Transportation (DOTs). Each time the law has been
extended since 2009, Sae Routes to School unding
has been included, such that $948 million has been
allocated to all ty states and the District o Columbia
through September 2011. The bulk o these unds
are allocated to schools and communities or building
sidewalks, bicycle lanes, sae crossings and other
pathways that enable children to more saely walk and
bicycle to school and in their neighborhoods. A smaller
portion o the unding supports non-inrastructureactivities, including walking and bicycling saety
education, driver awareness campaigns, more robust
enorcement o speed limits and trac saety rules and
promotional events and programs to encourage more
children and amilies to walk and bicycle.
In September 2011, Congress extended the current
transportation law through March 31, 2012. Further
temporary extensions, or a ull reauthorization, remain
possible down the road. Regardless, the gravity o the
childhood obesity epidemic and its related costs and
health consequences makes it increasingly importantthat states improve the built environment in ways that
promote bicycling and walking. It is certainly possible
that uture iterations o the transportation law will give
states more discretion over how to spend ederal
transportation dollars. Such a shit would make the
state network project an even more important policy
tool, to ensure that state DOTs continue to dedicate
unding or Sae Routes to School and other street-scale
improvements. These initiatives will increase physical
activity and improve saety or children walking and
bicycling to school and in daily lie.
Federal Legislation or Sae Routes to School
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5Phase II: Successes and Lessons Learned
The state network project launched in 2007, and was
supported in 10 states rom January 2007 through
December 2009 with initial unding rom the Robert
Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF). For 2008 and 2009,
Kaiser Permanente and the CDC also provided support.
In January 2010, 20 states, including eight o theoriginal states, were unded to participate rom January
2010 to December 2011, with RWJF unding 15 states
(Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana,
Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana,
Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Wisconsin),
and Kaiser Permanente unding our states (Caliornia,
Georgia, Maryland and Virginia) and the District o
Columbia.
For the 2007-2009 project, the National Partnership
proactively approached existing organizations in nine
states and the District o Columbia to participate inthe project based on the number and percentage o
overweight and obese children in the state; the number
and percentage o minority children in the state; the
number o amilies living in poverty; the capacity o
the state to leverage critical partnerships and make a
national impact; and the amount o ederal Sae Routes
to School unding available in the state. In all 2009, the
National Partnership held an open call or applications
inviting all 50 states and the District o Columbia to apply
or inclusion in the 2010-2011 state network project,
and nineteen states and the District o Columbia were
selected. Contracts were signed with lead organizationsin each state, and state network organizers began
working 16 to 20 hours per week in January 2010.
The state network projects goals include:
Reducing childhood obesity by linking existing leaders
and stakeholders rom a variety o disciplines
including health, transportation, bicycle and
pedestrian advocacy, youth engagement, education
and smart growthto identiy viable projects or
unding and to help Sae Routes to School succeed.
Leveraging additional resources or Sae Routes toSchool and removing barriers to walking and bicycling
to schools.
Institutionalizing state-level Sae Routes to School
programs so that programs are not dependent on
(and do not end ater) one short burst o unding.
Background on the State Network Project
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6 Sae Routes to School State Network Project
The primary goal o the state network eort is to remove
policy barriers to walking and bicycling to schools. This
can be accomplished by implementing and improving
state-level Sae Routes to School programs, enacting
policies that create street-scale improvements orwalking and bicycling, changing statewide school
siting policies to encourage school placement near
residential areas and implementing any other existing
legislation that would make it easier or children to
actively commute. The 20102011 phase o the state
network project also included two new ocus areas:
serving lower-income communities and promoting
personal saety. The specic policy priorities or each
state were determined by the state network, and were
based on the locally available opportunities to improve
the built environment, and the capacity o state network
leadership and the partnering organizations.
Each part-time contracted state network organizer
managed the networks daily operations and
collaboration with partners rom around the state who
are involved in health, equity, transportation, youth,
environmental and smart-growth issues to develop,
implement and regularly update a state-level policy
action plan. By convening stakeholder coalitions in
each state, the networks were able to bring perspectives
and expertise rom various policy sectors to conduct
initial research and to set the state networks policypriorities within the ollowing policy categories:
Getting Sae Routes to School unding or local street-
scale improvements that will encourage walking
and bicycling.
Increasing the number o Sae Routes to School
applications unded or lower-income communities.
Ensuring sae, convenient and accessible streets or
all transportation users, to provide built environment
benets that support walking and bicycling.
Protecting and promoting community-centered
schools and supporting joint use o schools and
city acilities.
Developing and securing state-level unding or
bicycle and pedestrian trac saety curricula and
training programs.
SRTS Coordinators
State Departments
o Transportation
Federal Highway
Administration
State Network
Management Team
State Network
Organizers
Sae Routes to School
One ull-time DOT employee or
contractor in each o the 50 USstates and D.C.
Federal SRTS unding goes to
local communities through StateDOTs and SRTS Coordinators.
SRTS Coordinators
FederalTransportationFunding
State Network Project
Non-prot organizations with 900partner aliates that advance Sae
Routes to School through advocacy,
promotions and policy change.
One part-time National Partnershipemployee or contracted organization
in each o the 20 network project
jurisdictions.
State NetworkOrganizers
State Network Partners:agencies, organizations
and individuals.
State PolicyChange and
Sae Routes toSchool Success
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7Phase II: Successes and Lessons Learned
Background on the State Network Project
Implementing Sae Routes to School-related state
legislation that supports improvements to the built
environment and increases in physical activity.
Including bicycling and walking in state strategic
highway saety plans to leverage additional undingto make street-scale improvements.
Adding Sae Routes to School into school
wellness policies.
Promoting personal saety policies to ensure sae
walking and bicycling.
Advancing other policies that state networks identied
as critical or achieving project goals.
The eight returning state networks rom the 20072009
project (Caliornia, District o Columbia, Georgia, Illinois,
Kentucky, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Virginia) began by
reviewing their action plans and researching the new
policy targets: lower-income communities and personalsaety. The 12 new states (Colorado, Florida, Hawaii,
Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Mississippi,
Montana, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Wisconsin)
began by undertaking a multi-step process that included
recruiting partners, researching the policy categories,
ranking policies in priority order and creating an action
plan to identiy leaders and guide the policy work. State
networks also created or sustained action teams
smaller groups o network partners with interest and
expertise in a particular policy categoryto work on
implementation o the highest-ranked policies.
Kaiser Permanente States
California
District of Columbia
Georgia
Maryland
Virginia
Mississippi
Missouri
Montana
Oklahoma
Pennsylvania
Tennessee
Wisconsin
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation States
Colorado
Florida
Hawaii
Illinois
Kentucky
Louisiana
Michigan
Minnesota
Kaiser Permanente Regions
The Atlanta Region
The Greater Washington D.C. Region
The Southern California Region
State and Regional Network Project:Serving 20 States and Three Regions
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8 Sae Routes to School State Network Project
State networks also began looking at what state-level
policy work would help improve personal saety or
children walking and bicycling to schools. Networks
researched various programs, policies and unding
streams in their state in order to nd ways to improve
saety in neighborhoods. Eective strategies included
developing partnerships with police organizations, such
as the District o Columbias Sae Passages program,
and working to improve crossing guard and student
saety patrol trainings and unding, such as Oklahomas
saety patrol unding and training program in partnershipwith AAA, and Virginia and the District o Columbias
crossing guard training programs.
Helping Those Most in Need and Improving Saety or All
In 2010 and 2011 the state network project increased
its eorts to assist lower-income communities and
schools in the 20 network states. The state networks
rst analyzed whether their state DOT Sae Routes to
School programs had already given any o the ollowing
types o direct assistance to lower-income communities:
mini grants or developing local Sae Routes to School
action plans; assistance with completing applications or
unding; outreach, training and technical assistance or
local leaders to assist them in understanding the state
process and Sae Routes to School best practices; andwhether the state had given a proportionate amount
o awards to lower-income applicant schools and
communities. State networks then established an action
team to begin working with the state Sae Routes to
School coordinator to improve outreach and assistance
to communities most in need.
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9Phase II: Successes and Lessons Learned
Collectively, the 20 state networks engaged more
than 900 partner organizations and agencies as active
participants in improving the built environment and
increasing physical activity or children, with a ocus
on serving lower-income communities. The networks
set dierent priorities in their action plans based on the
unique policy opportunities and challenges that each
state aced, and chose approaches suitable to the
states situation. Networks built productive relationships
with state Sae Routes to School coordinators and
assisted state DOTs in creating and running ecientSae Routes to School programs through stakeholder
outreach, technical assistance, sharing advice and
creating and distributing supportive resources. In the
policy realm, networks were oten the rst statewide
group to address particular policy issues within the
states. The 20 state networks have made substantial
improvements to transportation policies and unding
allocations, saety, land use, the environment and public
health. These types o changes have been shown to
increase physical activity or children in their daily lives,
thereby contributing to the eventual reversal o the
childhood obesity epidemic.14,15
Bringing Everyone to the Table
The oundation o the state network project is the
partnerships created between stakeholders. With
cooperation between government agency sta,
corporations, advocacy groups, elected ocials and
more, the power o the state coalition is at the heart
o policy achievements in all 20 participating states.
Partners were invited to participate in the monthly
meetings in each state, in addition to whichever policy
action team activities and meetings that aligned with
their interest and expertise. Network organizers working
under contract or the Sae Routes to School National
Partnership organized the primary monthly meetings,
and whenever possible, let partners lead the eorts o
the action teams, especially i the partners were alreadyleaders on the topic in the state.
The state network organizers refected the growing
diversity o the networks themselves, expanding well
beyond the bicycle and pedestrian advocacy groups that
have traditionally dominated the Sae Routes to School
movement, with a specic ocus on including more
health organizations. For example, 1,000 Friends o
Maryland, Blue Cross Blue Shield (Minnesota), Childrens
Hospital o Colorado, Kentucky Youth Advocates,
Michigan Fitness Foundation, National Association
o Chronic Disease Directors (Georgia and Florida),University o New Orleans (Louisiana), Prevention
Connections (Virginia) and YMCA o Middle Tennessee
led the state networks in their respective states.
Accomplishments o the State Network Project
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10 Sae Routes to School State Network Project
This growing diversity was also refected within the state network partners
themselves, as new types o stakeholders were identied and recruited
through the activities and outreach o state networks. Here is a selected
example o the participating partners in the Florida state network:
1000 Friends o Florida
All Childrens Hospital
Alliance or a Healthier Generation
American Planning Association, Florida
Bicycle/Pedestrian Advocates o Sarasota
Bike Walk Lee
Broward County MetropolitanPlanning Organization
The Corrandino Group
Center or Urban TransportationResearch University o South Florida
East Central Florida RegionalPlanning Council
Florida A & M University, School oArchitecture
Florida Bicycle Association
Florida Department o Community AairsDivision o Community Planning
Florida Department o EducationOce oHealthy Schools
Florida Department o EducationOce oEducational Facilities
Florida Department o EducationSchoolTransportation Management
Florida Department o Environmental
ProtectionOce o Greenways and TrailsFlorida Department o Health Division oEnvironmental Health
Florida Department o HealthDivision oFamily Health Services, Bureau o ChronicDisease Prevention and Health Promotion
Florida Department o HealthOce oInjury Prevention
Florida Department o TransportationRoadway Design Oce
Florida Department o TransportationStateSaety Oce
Florida Division o Federal HighwayAdministration
Florida Metropolitan Planning OrganizationAdvisory Council
Florida Parent-Teacher Association
Florida Police Chies Association
Florida Public Health AssociationFlorida School Boards Association
Florida Sheris Association
Florida State University, College o SocialSciences, Urban and Regional Planning
Florida Trac and Bicycle SaetyEducation Program
Get Active Orlando
Green Mobility Network
Healthy Jacksonville
Health Masters Club, Inc.
Hoke Design, Inc.
Jackson Memorial Hospital
MORE Health, Inc.
Naples Pathways Coalition
National Association o Chronic DiseaseDirectorsACHIEVE Initiative
Orange County (Planning, Public Schoolsand School Saety Departments)
Palm Beach County Parks and Recreation
Pinellas County Health Department, Oce oHealth Promotion and School Health
Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, Florida
Sarasota County Health Department,Community Health Improvement Partnership
St. Josephs Childrens Hospital
St. Lucie County School Board
Sprinkle Consulting
Tallahassee-Leon County
Planning Department
TranSystems
University o Florida, Department oUrban and Regional Planning
University o Florida, Florida TransportationTechnology Transer Center
University o Miami School o Medicine,WalkSae and BikeSae Programs
Volusia County Health Department, Oce oChronic Disease Prevention and Wellness
Volusia County Schools
Volusia Transportation Planning Organization
Walkable and Liveable
Communities Institute, Inc.Winter Park Health Foundation
Leveraging Funding
State networks infuenced the distribution o more than
$100 million in Sae Routes to School unds within the
20 states. By replicating the best practices o other
successul state programs; consulting evidence-basedresearch; conducting outreach; and collaborating with
other agencies, advocates and experts; state networks
worked to ensure that these critical unds were spent
on inrastructure and programs with signicant and
lasting benets to children, especially in lower-income
communities. In addition, many networks were able to
leverage dollars rom other ederal, state or local unding
sources, such as the CDC, state and local departments
o health, and oundations.
By changing the way that transportation planners
and engineers prioritized their substantial
transportation-related unds, networks were able to
leverage transportation unding rom ederal programs
much larger than the Sae Routes to School program,
including Transportation Enhancements and the
Highway Saety Improvement Program.
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11Phase II: Successes and Lessons Learned
Policy Change
This section o the report details the policies that the state networks worked on,
including key policy wins rom each o the 19 network states and the District o
Columbia. Each section begins with an overview o a policy category (including state
Sae Routes to School programs, policies creating street-scale improvements orwalking and bicycling, school siting and joint use agreements, supporting lower-income
communities and improving personal saety), ollowed by several examples o state
network successes to improve or create that type o policy in their state. In addition,
a local success story is listed below many policy examples, to illustrate the local eects
o state-level policy work.
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12 Sae Routes to School State Network Project
Hawaii was ranked last among all 50 states or the
percentage o ederal Sae Routes to School unds
awarded to local applicants. Two statewide requests
or proposals were issued between 2007 and 2009,
but as o April 2011, only ve local non-inrastructure
projects had been awarded unds. In April 2011, the
Hawaii network worked with Senator Daniel Akakas
oce to crat a letter signed by all members o the
Hawaii congressional delegation, which was delivered
to Governor Neil Abercrombie on May 10, 2011, asking
him to take urgent action to spend these valuable ederal
unds to improve the health and saety o children. TheHawaii network also got a similar letter signed by all our
Hawaii mayors representing the our island counties
(Hawaii, Honolulu, Kauai and Maui). At a subsequent
meeting on May 12, 2011 organized by the Hawaii
network, the Hawaii Department o Transportation
(HDOT) announced that it would award contracts or
nine inrastructure projects to improve street-scale saety
or children walking and bicycling, hire a ull-time state
Sae Routes to School coordinator and release a call or
applications in early 2012 or the remaining Sae Routes
to School unds. Local contracts or the nine Sae
Routes to School inrastructure projects were reviewed
in summer 2011 by the attorney generals oce and the
HDOT contracts oce, and these projects should soon
advance to the construction phase.
The Hawaii network was also asked by the GovernorsHighway Saety Council to become the Sae Routes to
School Statewide Advisory Committee to help provide
third party review o Sae Routes to School projects.
Local Success:
In June 2011, HDOT announced an award o $608,000 in ederal
unds or our Maui Sae Routes to School projects. The work
will include sidewalks, crosswalks and street signs in areas near
Kamalii Elementary in Kihei and Princess Nahienaena Elementary
School in Lahaina.
Hawaii
Lahaina & Kihei, Maui
The ederal unds or Sae Routes to School ow rom the
Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) to the state DOTs.
How the state DOTs administer the ederal unding has a
proound impact on the quality o local inrastructure and
programs and whether the unding reaches underserved
communities. This is critical because o the potential or the
Sae Routes to School unding to increase physical activity
among children, especially those most aected by or at the
greatest risk or childhood obesity. Networks worked with
state DOTs to make sure that the saety and convenience
o bicyclists and pedestrians was prioritized within their
unding and policy decisions. Networks provided guidance
on application guidelines, outreach and implementation
processes and raised awareness o the program among
potential applicants, especially in lower-income communities.
State Sae Routes to School Programs
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13Phase II: Successes and Lessons Learned
In order to better support the processing o inrastructure
project applications through the state Sae Routes
to School program, the Maryland network successully
pushed or and continues to support better coordination
between the Maryland Highway Saety Oce and
the Oce o Highway Development, and wrote to the
State Highway Administration expressing support
or this collaboration and the intent to monitor its
implementation. The Maryland network also advocated
that the Saety Oce ocus the Sae Routes to School
program on lower-income communities and engage
groups working with those communities to providenancial support and technical assistance. In September
2010, the state Sae Routes to School program hosted
a pre-application workshop. The network was
instrumental in providing outreach and promotion
or the workshop and subsequently every county in
Maryland sent a representative to participate. The
network presented at the seminar and created an e-mail
listserv or Sae Routes to School grant recipients to
communicate with each other about challenges, best
practices and upcoming events. The impact o these
eorts became clear with an award o nearly $3.5 million
in Sae Routes to School unding in spring 2011, when
two o the states largest jurisdictions received major
grants or inrastructure improvements that will benet
schools serving mostly lower-income students.
Local Successes:
An award o $897,800the largest grant in the Maryland programs historyto
Prince Georges county in suburban Washington, D.C., marked the culmination o
collaborative eorts by the Maryland network and the Maryland Highway Saety
Oce to build contacts and encourage the jurisdiction to apply or Sae Routes
to School unding. The county will build 17,220 eet o s idewalksas well ascrosswalks, wheelchair ramps and signageor elementary schools where the
majority o students come rom lower-income amilies.
Baltimore City, Md. received $473,400 in Sae Routes to School unding or
crosswalks and pedestrian countdown signals and to implement a large-scale
walking school bus program set to be rolled out in all 2011 at multiple schools.
Maryland
Washington, D.C.
Policy Change: State Sae Routes to School Program
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Minnesota
Cottonwood
Local Success:
Lakeview School is a public pre-k through 12th grade school in Cottonwood,
Minn. Cottonwood Lake separates the school and the town, and the students
who walked or biked to school were only able to use a busy country road
around the lake, which made the trip dicult and unsae. As a result, only
about 25 students walked or biked to and rom school each day. In 2008, the
town o Cottonwood received $87,575 in Sae Routes to School unds rom
the Minnesota DOT; $3,000 was be used or educational and promotional
activities, and the remainder was to be used to construct a path around the
lake, which was completed in 2009. Beore the construction o the path, only
about ve percent o Lakeview students walked or biked to school. Today
11 percent o students use the path at least once per week and an additional
13 percent use the path at least once per month to walk or bike to school
and or other recreational purposes. Students are not the only ones to take
advantage o the path: In the evenings, large numbers o individuals and
amilies use the path or jogging, walking or bicycling.
In 2010 the Minnesota network worked closely with thetransportation coordinator at the Minnesota Department
o Health to review state policies impacting Sae Routes
to School. The coordinator is unded through the CDC
and the coordinators scope o work specically ocuses
on a long-term policy strategy to make Sae Routes
to School unding and programming more sustainable
and less reliant upon ederal dollars. Since Minnesotas
obligation o Sae Routes to School unds was only
at 41 percent as o all 2010, the Minnesota network
identied the timely and eective obligation o Sae
Routes to School unds as a state strategy to improve
getting unding to local Sae Routes to School programs.The network was invited to meet with the Minnesota
DOT commissioner in early January 2011. During this
meeting the commissioner agreed to review the Sae
Routes to School program process and structure to
get more projects constructed quickly. The Minnesota
network was asked to provide strategic planning
recommendations or improvement o the states Sae
Routes to School unding program.
During Minnesotas spring 2011 Sae Routes to Schoolunding application cycle, the Minnesota network
conducted statewide outreach and consulted and
advised ve communities and one regional development
commission regarding the application process. By
June 2011, the state reported receiving more than 80
unding applications.
In June 2011, the Minnesota network was asked to
partner with the Minnesota Elementary School Principals
Association during their upcoming February 2012
conerence with the theme o health and its connection
to improved academic achievement. The network willprovide expertise on Sae Routes to School and will
identiy opportunities and resources or school principals.
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15Phase II: Successes and Lessons Learned
In early 2011, the Pennsylvania network calculatedthat it would take until 2018 or all o the states
current Sae Routes to School unding to get into the
hands o local communities at the slow rate that the
Pennsylvania Department o Transportation (PennDOT)
was proceeding with grant awards and obligation. The
Pennsylvania network also learned that the state Sae
Routes to School coordinator was only working on
an interim basis, had been working only part-time or
nearly a year and also served as the interim coordinator
or the larger Transportation Enhancements program.
Yet according to the ederal law authorizing the Sae
Routes to School program, Each State receiving anapportionment under this section or a scal year shall
use a sucient amount o the apportionment to und a
ull-time position o coordinatoro the States sae routes
to school program. (emphasis added)16
Armed with this knowledge, the Pennsylvania network
began a campaign to speed up the unding processes
and to make the coordinator a ull-time position. Prior to
a scheduled February 2011 meeting, a letter was sent
by the Pennsylvania network to the PennDOT deputy
director citing the ederal law that requires a ull-time
Pennsylvania
state Sae Routes to School coordinator. At theFebruary meeting the deputy director committed to
making that happen. The Pennsylvania network met with
the PennDOT director in August 2011 to ollow up on
its previous commitments. The job o the Sae Routes
to School coordinator is now a ull-time position. The
network anticipates that a non-inrastructure call or
applications will take place in all 2011, and a call or
inrastructure applications will take place in spring 2012.
The Pennsylvania network also reached out to members
o the Pennsylvania General Assembly during the annual
Pennsylvania Walks and Bikes conerence on May 5,2011, and educated the leadership about the delayed
status o Sae Routes to School unding in Pennsylvania
and the importance o this critical program. Outreach to
the Pedestrian and Pedalcycle Advisory Committee, the
ocial state advisory committee on bike and pedestrian
issues, resulted in a resolution passed by the committee
on June 2, 2011, requesting that PennDOT prioritize the
obligation o existing Sae Routes to School projects and
oer another application cycle to local communities.
Venango County
Local Success:
Utica Elementary School in Venango County, Pennsylvania, was awarded $385,300
in 2009 to build sidewalks and curb ramps leading to this small, community-based
school. The project, which was completed on time and under budget, was the rst
ederally-unded Sae Routes to School inrastructure project built in Pennsylvania.
Policy Change: State Sae Routes to School Program
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16 Sae Routes to School State Network Project
Complete streets policies encourage or require local and/or
state jurisdictions to consider and address the needs o
bicyclists, pedestrians and transit users in the planning,
design, construction and maintenance o all roadway and
transit acilities. These policies ensure that bicycle and
pedestrian saety is considered rom the inception o a
transportation project, rather than something to be added
later through more expensive retroftting projects. The end
result is more street-scale acilities or sae and healthy
physical activity in neighborhoods and on routes to school.
Networks work to get complete streets policies into state
and regional transportation agency policies and procedures,
and to ensure implementation.
Florida Statute 335.065 states that, bicycle and
pedestrian ways shall be given ull consideration in theplanning and development o transportation acilities,
including the incorporation o such ways into state,
regional and local transportation plans and programs
In order to acilitate implementation o this law, the
Florida network worked with Floridas Regional Planning
Councils, with the East Central Florida Regional
Planning Council taking the lead, to incorporate policies
that support street scale improvements around
schools. The Florida networks complete streets action
team convened in December 2010, and met with
representatives rom the Florida Regional Planning
Councils on January 10, 2011, to promote the inclusion
o street-scale improvements and Sae Routes to School
policies into the Strategic Regional Policy Plans.
The Florida network also identied Floridas Metropolitan
Planning Councils as another powerul governmententity that can implement the statute, and began
working with the Florida Metropolitan Planning
Organization Advisory Council in 2010. The Councils
Governing Board approved a resolution in July 2010
that supports the due consideration o bicycle and
pedestrian accommodation on all transportation projects
built or maintained in the State o Florida.
The Florida Metropolitan Planning Organization Advisory
Council invited the East Central Florida Regional
Planning Council, representing the Florida network, to
present on Sae Routes to School and complete streets
at their meeting on July 28, 2011.
Florida
Local Success:
The East Central Florida Regional Planning Council, in 2011, is the rst
planning council in Florida to include objectives in their Strategic Regional
Policy Plan that ocus on Sae Routes to School and complete streets,
while encouraging local municipalities to include Sae Routes to School and
complete streets strategies into their Comprehensive Plans. This landmark
plan will ensure that bicyclists and pedestrians will be considered when local
transportation projects are planned and constructed.
East Central Florida
Complete Streets
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17Phase II: Successes and Lessons Learned
In 2007, just prior to the ormation o the Illinois
network, soon-to-be network partners led the way ona successul complete streets bill (S.B. 314),
and negotiated wording that requires that bicycle
and pedestrian ways will be established as part
o all major Illinois Department o Transportation (IDOT)
road construction projects within one mile o an
urban area. The law went into eect immediately or
project planning and was required or all applicable
construction beginning July 1, 2008. Following its
enactment, the Illinois network and the two lead co-
sponsors, Representative Elaine Nekritz and Senator
Edward Maloney, sent a letter to IDOT Secretary Milton
Sees requesting expeditious creation o a completestreets implementation plan. IDOTs drat complete
streets policy was rst released in 2009; the drat
contained IDOTs rst-ever Bikeways Table, which
includes a list
o appropriate types o bicycle acilities that can be
installed in Illinois, but did not address important issuessuch as the local communitys cost share. In 2010 the
Illinois network met with IDOT ocials three times and
provided comments on the policy. IDOT then released
a second drat o its design manual that now included
new ratios or cost sharing and bikeway improvements.
Prior to the networks guidance on the design manual,
IDOT only allowed or paved shoulders on roads to
accommodate bikes. Now there are also warrants or
installing bicycle lanes and side paths. IDOT also agreed
to increase its sidewalk unding ormula rom 50/50 to
80/20local communities now only pay 20 percent
o the cost o sidewalk installation. The Illinois networkcontinues to monitor implementation o the IDOT
complete streets policy.
Illinois
Local Success:
Blue Island, Ill. has a nearly completed sidewalk network connecting people to
transit, and the city has had a long history o providing accommodations or
bicyclists in their municipal code. Blue Island also has worked to encourage
more students to walk and bike to and rom school and has received SaeRoutes to School grants to create better connections. In July 2010, the city
council voted to make Blue Island the rst community in Illinois to enact a
complete streets policy as an ordinance, as opposed to an executive order,
resolution or part o a plan, making complete streets a legal requirement.
The ordinance will help Blue Is land support work they are already doing,
like Sae Routes to School. It also will help them work with state and county
transportation departments to encourage connectivity and create a network o
truly complete streets.
Blue Island
Policy Change: Complete Streets
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18 Sae Routes to School State Network Project
The Louisiana network participated in a legislativelymandated (S.C.R.110) workgroup resulting in
the Louisiana Department o Transportation and
Development (DOTD) adopting, in June 2010, a
statewide complete streets policy. The purpose o the
workgroup was to develop a complete streets policy
on the design and construction o thoroughares that
maximize use by all Louisianans whether they choose
to bike, walk, ride transit, or drive a car, to identiy
implementation strategies both internal to DOTD and
external, and to build on the on-going eorts o the
Department o Transportation to create a complete
and multi-modal transportation system or the Stateo Louisiana.
Ater meeting our times, the workgroup presented their
drat ndings to the Secretary o Transportation or his
consideration and presentation to legislative committees.
According to a statement by the Louisiana chapter o
the American Planning Association, The StatewideBicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan was able to identiy
shortcomings in existing practices and bring these
concepts in Louisiana to the oreront. The complete
streets workgroup quickly moved this eective plan
through theprocess, and will now institutionalize a
multi-model aspect to all state transportation projects.
The DOTD-adopted complete streets policy aims
to create a comprehensive, integrated, connected
transportation network or Louisiana that balances
access, mobility, health and saety needs o motorists,
transit users, bicyclists and pedestrians o all ages
and abilities, which includes users o wheelchairs andmobility aids. All projects using state or ederal unding
will be subject to the policy, with ve dened exceptions.
The policy has been ranked the second best o its kind
in the nation by the National Complete Streets Coalition.
Louisiana
New Orleans
Local Success:
The Louisiana network also developed a complete streets advisory committee
or the Greater New Orleans Metropolitan Region through the Regional PlanningCommission. The committee is working on drating a complete streets policy or
adoption by the Metropolitan Planning Oce in late 2011. In August 2011 the
New Orleans City Council passed Resolution R-11-338 directing the Councils
Transportation Committee to drat a complete streets ordinance, thereby
institutionalizing complete streets in New Orleans at local, regional and state levels.
District C Councilmember Gisleson Palmer said, As Chair o the Transportation
Committee, I am committed to the development o a Comprehensive Streets Policy
that ully integrates all aspects o transportation and inrastructure development.
This policy initiative will ensure that the Citys transportation system is ecient,
innovative and works today, tomorrow and in the uture.
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19Phase II: Successes and Lessons Learned
In January 2010, there was only one complete streetsordinance and three resolutions that had been adopted
by communities in the state. Beginning in February
2010, the Michigan network became a prominent part
o an active coalition o organizations successul in
signicantly increasing the number o complete streets
ordinances around the state. By April 13, 2011, 32
communities in Michigan had adopted an ordinance
or a resolution, and as o May 15, 2011, there were 39
complete streets ordinances and resolutions, which will
result in many more street-scale improvements within
communities. This gives Michigan one o the highest
numbers o local complete streets policies in the nation.
In August 2010, Governor Jennier Granholm signed
Public Act 135, which amends Public Act 51 o 1951
governing the expenditure o state transportation
unding, and Public Act 134, which amends the
Michigan Planning Enabling Act, making Michigan the
14th
state to pass complete streets legislation. In a letterto department sta the Michigan DOT director wrote
that, The transportation world is changing. We can
ace this change earully, or with condence. In my
ve years as director, we have aced many challenges,
adapted to change and are a better organization or
doing so. I am condent we can rise to the challenge o
implementing the new complete streets lawin letter
and spiritand emerge a stronger organization and
ultimately, a better state.
Michigan
Lansing
Local Success:
Lansing, Mich., adopted the rst complete streets ordinance in
Michigan, and in the summer o 2012, a $2.28 million Complete StreetsTransormation will begin. Washington Avenue, a ve-lane roadway
that runs through Lansings historic REO Town commercial corridor,
will be converted into a three-lane roadway, with dedicated bike lanes,
wider sidewalks, landscaped medians, pedestrian bump-outs and
mid-block crossings (trac calming measures), other pedestrian-based
enhancements and the installation o extensive green inrastructure or
storm water management. The project is a showcase item or the city,
which is hoping that a complete streets-oriented reconstruction will help
spur investment in this economically distressed corridor.
Policy Change: Complete Streets
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20 Sae Routes to School State Network Project
In 2010, the Mississippi network created a completestreets act sheet and distributed it to municipalities
and advocates throughout the state. This eort was
accompanied by extensive outreach to build support or
complete streets street-scale improvements. Since then,
the cities o Oxord, Hernando, Columbus, Pascagoula
and Tupelo all passed complete streets ordinances. The
Mississippi Transportation Commission, ollowing the
lead o these cities, unanimously passed a resolution in
April 2011 that requires the Mississippi DOT to create
a policy to consider the development o multipurpose
trails and/or wide-paved shoulders during the planning
phases o all new highways and the re-constructiono existing highways in or near communities with
areas o high demand or recreational acilities. This
resolution will help move Mississippi toward a more
integrated bicycling and walking network and, in turn,
allow more children to walk and bicycle to schooland in their daily lives. Dick Hall, Central Mississippi
Transportation Commission chairman and Mississippi
network partner, stated in a press release, our
sta will now be required to evaluate the possibility o
incorporating construction o either a multi-purpose trail
or dedicated pathway adjacent to new road construction
or reconstruction o existing highways. This is a big
step or cyclists, runners and walkers in Mississippi.
Currently our state is not as well equipped as some
others in catering to the needs o pedestrian and cycling
transportationwith this resolution uture generations
o Mississippians will benet rom the policy we put inplace, and Im proud to take part in establishing this
initiative. The Mississippi network will continue to ensure
the implementation o the resolution.
Mississippi
Local Success:
Upon passage o a complete streets ordinance in 2010, the city o Oxord,
Miss., constructed a median and three raised crosswalks. The median was
built to calm trac around the citys middle school and the crosswalks were
constructed to allow children to saely cross the street rom the middleschool to the Boys and Girls Club.
Oxord
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21Phase II: Successes and Lessons Learned
The Tennessee networks complete streets actionteam developed a presentation about the important
connection between Sae Routes to School and
complete streets policies. In the summer o 2010,
the Tennessee network launched a series o hour-
long lunch and learn workshop sessions to educate
policymakers and other leaders throughout the state on
the benets o complete streets policies at local,
regional and state levels. They are now looking into using
this model or educating decision-makers on
other Sae Routes to School-related topic areas.
Currently in Tennessee, the ollowing cities and regions
have complete streets policies, most o which werecreated since the Tennessee network began its eorts
in January 2010:
Tennessee Department o Transportation
Knoxville Regional Transportation Planning Organization
City o Knoxville
Chattanooga-Hamilton County Transportation
Planning Organization
City o Hendersonville
Sumner County
City o Nashville
Nashville Metropolitan Planning Organization
Tennessee
Policy Change: Complete Streets
Local Success:
Thompsons Station, Tenn., a rural community o about 1,500 citizens, received
a Sae Routes to School grant rom the Tennessee state program or installation
o a sidewalk between Heritage Elementary School and adjoining Heritage Middle
School. The neighboring town o Spring Hill, which has a population o about
30,000 and is a ast-growing city in Tennessee, wanted to connect to Thompsons
Station through a raised pathway since many Spring Hill children attend the schools
in Thompsons Station, but dangerous road conditions prohibited children rom
walking or bicycling to school. Spring Hill applied or a $69,000 state Transportation
Enhancement grant to build a connection rom Thompsons Stations new sidewalk
to a neighborhood in Spring Hill. Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam visited Spring Hill
to award them with the grant and recognized their eorts to connect their schools
and communities. In addition, a local nonprot organization, Outdoor Encounter,
raised money through grants and private donations to build a pathway thatconnects two nearby parks to the schools. The pathway was completed and the
grand opening celebration was held on August 15, 2011.
Thompsons Station & Spring Hill
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22 Sae Routes to School State Network Project
In 1969, 41 percent o children lived within one mile o a
school; in 2009 only 31 percent lived that close.17 Statewide
policies on where schools are located, minimum campus
acreage requirements, joint use o acilities and unding
ormulas on renovation versus new construction, can
prooundly impact the percentage o students who live within
walking or bicycling distance o their school, or have access
to school acilities ater school hours.18 Networks educate
decision-makers and state agencies about the benefts
o community-centered schools, acilitate cross-agency
collaboration and work to change policies to protect and
encourage community-centered schools and to promote
joint use policies.
In all 2009 the Georgia network received unding rom
the Environmental Protection Agency and NationalTrust or Historic Preservations Helping Johnny Walk
to School Project to examine policies and practices
in Georgia that are barriers to community-centered
schools, and make recommendations or change.
The resulting Georgia School Siting White Paperwas
nalized in March 2011, and the Georgia network
subsequently met with the state Department o
Education to discuss the reports ndings. At around
the same time, the Atlanta Regional Commission
began planning an Atlanta-area regional workshop
on school siting issues. The Georgia network saw an
opportunity to bridge the two independent projectsand the two agencies partnered with the Georgia
network on a statewide workshop on October 14,
2011. Building Schools, Building CommunitiesA
School Siting Symposium brought together decision
makers, leaders and planners rom local school districts,
advocacy groups, and state and local governmentor a symposium on the actors that infuence school
siting decisions in Georgia. The workshop explored
alternatives or enhancing collaboration around school
siting through policies and actions on the local, regional
and state level; acilitated discussion about how schools
and communities can work together to create thriving,
vibrant places to live in the Atlanta region and throughout
the state; and explored strategies and best practices
including multi-modal access, environmental protection,
high-perormance buildings, schools as community
centers, and co-location and joint use. The Georgia
Department o Educations Facilities Services staexpressed an interest in including the Georgia networks
recommendations in its state guidelines or
school construction.
Georgia
School Siting and Joint Use
Local Success:
On August 3, 2011, the city o Johns Creek, Georgia, and the Fulton County Board
o Education approved a joint use agreement or River Trail Middle School and
Shakerag Park. River Trail Middle School will use the athletic elds, track and park
acilities located in Shakerag Park during school hours, and Fulton County will use
the sotball elds, tennis courts, outdoor basketball court, sidewalks, driveways
and parking areas located on the middle school property ater school hours. The
agreement lasts until July 5, 2050. Both parties agreed to maintain and clean up
ater use, with no ees charged, and both parties will maintain and repair
their own acilities. Johns Creek & Fulton County
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23Phase II: Successes and Lessons Learned
The Kentucky network is working to promote joint
use policies and agreements that allow schools andcommunities to partner together to share recreational
acilities, with a special ocus on how joint use
agreements benet urban and rural areas, especially
or lower-income communities that may not have
adequate recreational acilities. In 2009, the Kentucky
network jump-started the issue by developing a act
sheet calledJoint-use Policies in Kentucky, which it
distributed statewide through various e-mail listservs
and other channels. In March 2010, the Kentucky
network continued to conduct outreach and educate
policymakers by hosting a statewide webinar on joint
use agreements. In addition, the Kentucky networkspoke on joint use agreements to nearly 100 participants
at the Kentucky Coordinated School Health Institute in
July 2010.
Kentucky
Kentucky network partners, including Kentucky Youth
Advocates, the Kentucky Cancer Consortium and theKentucky chapter o the American Heart Association
collaborated in September 2010 to win a ve-year,
$175,000 grant to build on the joint use policy eorts o
the Kentucky network. A signicant portion o this grant
will und a statewide baseline assessment o joint use
agreements across Kentucky. The partners will then
gather input on joint use policy barriers and opportunities
and provide technical assistance to support schools in
developing their own agreements. Finally, the Kentucky
network will develop a set o recommendations on how
policymakers can encourage and ully take advantage o
joint use o schools and community acilities.
Policy Change: School Siting and Joint Use
Local Success:
William Wells Brown Elementary, which was built or joint use o its acilities, is
located in a lower-income area o Lexington, where 96 percent o the students
qualiy or ree or reduced-price meals. The county parks and recreation department
and public school district signed a joint use agreement, which protects the school
rom liability and allows community activities in the school acility, including classesabout nancial literacy, adult wellness and healthy cooking.
Lexington
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24 Sae Routes to School State Network Project
With passage o the 1997 Smart Growth andNeighborhood Conservation Act, Maryland began to
direct more o its school construction unding to the
rehabilitation or replacement o existing schools to
ensure that acilities in older neighborhoods were o
equal quality to new schools in new neighborhoods.
But unlike roads and other growth-related inrastructure,
which can only be built inside existing developments in
Maryland to discourage sprawl, schools didnt have to
be built within existing communities in order to secure
state unding. The Maryland network developed a multi-
pronged strategy in September 2010 to address this
issue, which began with a presentation to state andcounty acility planners. The presentation ocused on
supporting children walking and bicycling to school,
and the importance o ensuring that school district
acility planners and transportation oces coordinate
plans or school acilities. The Maryland network also
began working closely with partners who are members
o the states Interagency Committee on Public School
Construction, including the committees executive
director and key leadership sta o the aliated Maryland
Department o Planning and State Department o
Education. The Maryland network helped identiy ways
to improve school siting by providing input on metrics
used in evaluating school construction and renovation
sites and by encouraging inormation-sharing about the
transportation network surrounding potential school sites(including how students are expected to get to school
and the estimated school bus transportation costs or
all projectsnew schools and renovationsseeking
state capital unds). The network also engaged key state
agency sta to help research how school siting decisions
could increase physical activity and promote active living.
On July 6, 2011, the Maryland Board o Public Works
voted to launch a 30-day review o proposed school
siting regulations that require new and replacement
schools to meet the same smart growth criteria as
other state-unded inrastructure, closing the school
location loophole rom the 1997 Smart Growth Act.
The new rules would prohibit approval o school sites
and state unding or school construction outside
designated Primary Funding Areas, which are a type
o urban growth boundary, unless the project qualies
or a waiver. By requiring that schools be built within
existing communities, the state can use its unding as
an incentive to ensure that schools are located within
walking and bicycling distance o where students live.
A nal decision on the new regulations is expected in
October 2011.
Maryland
Local Success:
One model school site lies in Prince Frederick, the county seat o Calvert
County in southern Maryland, where a new middle school opened in all
2010. The school is located on property adjacent to a high school thats being
renovated in stages. Both schools orm the heart o a planned town center,
within an easy walk to shops, a new county aquatic center, a library and
planned residential neighborhoods. Calvert Middle School earned Governor
Martin OMalleys designation as a Smart Site in 2009. And county planners,
the school districts director o construction and state plannersall active
Maryland network partnersregularly hold up this school siting
story as a model.
Prince Frederick
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25Phase II: Successes and Lessons Learned
School siting has been a priority o the Montana networksince its inception in January 2010. The network
worked diligently to bring the best national practices
and policies to Montana in an eort to modiy the
states current policies; the Montana state network
organizer is a Billings, Mont., school board member
who has been a strong advocate or school-based
health initiatives. Montana aces the issue o school
closure and consolidation, which negatively aects
the ability o children to walk or bicycle to school,
since school closures result in increasing the distance
that many students must travel to school. A Montana
network action team was established and worked witha university researcher, the Montana School Boards
Association and the School Administrators o Montana
to create and distribute a statewide survey about school
acilities planning, in order to assess current practices
in school siting. The Montana network orchestratedmeetings with key organizations to garner eedback
on a model school siting policy and to help school
districts make the connection between school location,
education, health, transportation and the environment.
The network also worked with the Montana Department
o Commerce, local city planning departments, health
departments, housing and urban development agencies
and local school districts to establish a model school/
city collaborative school siting planning process in order
to maximize school district resources and improve
outcomes or education, health, transportation and
the environment.
Montana
Policy Change: School Siting and Joint Use
Local Success:
In Billings, Mont., the Montana network conducted research on the
number o children living near schools being considered or closure.
The data showed that the town core had 353 students per mile, but
the proposed site or a new school only had 27.5 per mile. This dataprompted the school board to change its school siting policy. The
boards new policy requires partnering with the local health department
on completing health impact assessments o all their elementary school
sites; beginning to hold meetings o city, school district, transit and
housing ocials to plan collaboratively and nd ways to meet their
sustainability goals; conducting listening sessions; and reconsidering all
o the previously developed school acilities plans.
Billings
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26 Sae Routes to School State Network Project
Sae Routes to School provides unds or state DOTs to make
grants to schools and communities to increase walking and
bicycling and improve saety. However, not every community
has the leadership resources or expertise needed to take
advantage o this opportunity. The Sae Routes to School
National Partnership has been working with state agencies
to develop and implement methods to help lower-income
schools and communities secure inrastructure and program
grants through providing technical assistance, trainings,
engineering services, planning grants and by allowing local
paid Sae Routes to School coordinators to be eligible or
unding rom the state. Networks educate state DOTs on the
need or lower-income communities to receive fnancial and
technical assistance, analyze what steps, i any, the state
has taken to help lower-income communities and work with
agencies to ensure that lower-income communities are able
to successully and equitably secure grant awards to improve
built environments and community access to schools.
Early in 2010, the Caliornia network worked withActive Living Research, a national program o the
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the Caliornia
Department o Health to provide requested inormation
to Governor Arnold Schwarzeneggers oce about how
lower-income communities should be better served
through the state Sae Routes to School program.
In February 2010, as part o his childhood obesity
initiative, the governor issued a directive to the health
and transportation departments to produce a report
on how they would address the challenge o equal
unding distribution. The director o the Sae Routes
to School National Partnership, who serves as chair othe Caliornia network, was invited to attend a press
event in Los Angeles in February 2010 with Governor
Schwarzenegger and ormer President Bill Clinton,
where the governor spoke about reversing childhood
obesity and outlined policy actions to support this
eort, including Sae Routes to School. The Caliornia
network monitored the progress o the equity reportand encouraged its timely release. The report was
released on November 30, 2010, and shows that the
percentage o lower-income schools being unded is
in act higher than the percentage o schools being
unded overall. Even with that positive result, the report
pledged the states support to continue to increase the
percentage, and to provide more technical assistance to
lower-income schools and communities. The Caliornia
network has since been working with the Caliornia
Department o Public Health, which received a grant
rom the Caliornia Department o Transportation
(Caltrans) to provide Sae Routes to School technicalassistance to communities around the state, with a
distinct ocus on serving lower-income communities. The
Caliornia network has also been collaborating with the
Caliornia Pan-Ethnic Health Network and PolicyLink on
Sae Routes to School and equity issues.
Caliornia
Local Success:
The city o Chula Vista, Cali., a city near San Diego with a 58 percent Hispanic/
Latino population, won a $600,000 ederal Sae Routes to School inrastructure
grant or improvements in the neighborhoods surrounding Otay and Rice
elementary schools, including pedestrian medians, curb extensions, curb ramps,
fashing beacons, a mid-block crosswalk with zebra striping and school zone
signage. The Chula Vista Elementary School District was awarded a $499,025
Sae Routes to Schools non-inrastructure grant to promote walking or biking to
school at 17 elementary schools. By the end o the two-year grant period, the
district anticipates a ten percent increase in walking and bicycling to school at both
schools and or decreases in car trac volumes and childhood obesity rates.
Chula Vista
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27Phase II: Successes and Lessons Learned
In conjunction with the District Department o
Transportations Sae Routes to School program, the
District o Columbia (D.C.) network prepared a Sae
Routes to School requently-asked-questions document
or distribution in early 2010 to the school principals in
all o D.C.s lower-income communities, whose residents
make up a majority o D.C.s total population. The D.C.
network also met with the Department o Education
chancellors oce to garner their support or the Sae
Routes to School program, and conducted outreach
throughout the district to encourage school ocials
and parent volunteers to apply or unds. Due in part to
this outreach, 13 lower-income schools applied or and
received Sae Routes to School unds in 2010.
District o Columbia
Local Success:
Whittier Education Campus is a school located in Ward 4, a lower-income
neighborhood in Washington, D.C. Thanks to unds rom the citys pilot Sae
Routes to School program, new sidewalk sections were put in place on
streets that provide direct access to the school and or the high school
across the street. These new sections provided needed connectivity and
eliminated a number o trip hazards. The program also includes other
elements; or example, third grade students received hands-on pedestrianand bicycle saety education in their physical education classes, and
encouragement events were conducted to build participation in walking
and bicycling to school.
Washington, D.C.
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28 Sae Routes to School State Network Project
In the all o 2009 the Louisiana network conducteda review o the literature on best practices to assist
lower-income communities in acquiring project unding.
A brie on transportation equity and its application to
Sae Routes to School in lower-income communities
was prepared by the network and shared with the state
program; it identied our key practices to ensure that
Louisianas lower-income communities could better
access Sae Routes to School unding. In order to
demonstrate to the state the positive eect o providing
technical assistance to underserved communities,
especially those in coastal areas aected by Hurricane
Katrina and its atermath, the Louisiana networkprovided the brie to lower-income communities
throughout the state and began providing limited
technical assistance to prospective applicants beginning
in January 2010. The Louisiana network continues to
advocate or changes in the DOT policy.
Louisiana
New Orleans
Local Success:
The network ormed a diverse stakeholder team to assist a community
organization in a violent and impoverished neighborhood o New Orleans in
applying or Sae Routes to School unds or Harney School, where 96 percent
o the student population is eligible or ree or reduced lunch. The application
was successul and in March 2010 Harney School was awarded $285,000 or
engineering improvements or pedestrian and bicyclist saety in high-priority areas
and to provide secure bicycle parking, along with saety signage and a trac
saety education program. The Louisiana network will continue to work with
Harney School to advance the implementation o their project and use this work
as a model or outreach to other lower-income community schools.
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29Phase II: Successes and Lessons Learned
Recognizing the need to ensure that the Sae Routesto School is reaching lower-income communities in
Missouri, the state network convened an action team
in early 2010. Key partners on the action team included
the Missouri Department o Transportations (MoDOT)
Sae Routes to School program, The Whole Person
(a Kansas-City based disability rights organization), a
retired Kansas City School District teacher and the Metro
St. Louis Coalition or Equality. In summer 2010 the
Missouri network began an intensive research project
to identiy how Sae Routes to School was benetting
lower-income and minority populations. Members o
the lower-income communities action team assimilateddata related to each o the Sae Routes to School award
recipients. Data rom this research was analyzed and
included in a report released to the public in November
2010. Initial ndings indicated that schools in lower-
income communities in Missouri were not applying or
and receiving Sae Routes to School unding at the same
levels as moderate- to high-income schools.
The Missouri network, armed with this new data, metwith local leaders to determine the barriers to applying
or unding in Missouris lower-income communities.
The network began working with MoDOT to develop
a plan or improving outreach and unding to lower-
income communities and presented the data and a list
o policy recommendations to the state Sae Routes
to School program and other decision-makers. In
July 2011, MoDOT awarded $3.4 million to 16 new
inrastructure applicants in telling ashion: The awards
or schools in lower-income communities increased
more than ve-old in the July 2011 grant awards, while
grant awards or schools with a greater-than-averagepercentage o students o color more than doubled in
the same period. The Missouri network continues to
work with MoDOT to urther improve the distribution
o unds to lower-income communities, including
non-inrastructure unding.
Missouri
Northwoods
Local Success:
In July 2011, the City o Northwoods, Mo., received $250,000 rom the Sae
Routes to School to improve sidewalks, crosswalks and accessibility or
students with disabilities in the immediate area o a neighborhood school.
When completed, these improvements should increase pedestrian saety and
encourage more students to walk and bicycle to school. The school is in one
o the poorest areas in the state, with more than 98 percent o studentsall o
whom are racial or ethnic minoritieseligible or ree and reduced-price lunch.
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30 Sae Routes to School State Network Project
In 2010, the Virginia network determined that lower-income communities needed nancial assistance
in planning and launching Sae Routes to School
programs. Under the leadership o Prevention
Connectionsthe nonprot division o the Virginia
Foundation or Healthy Youththe Virginia network
successully leveraged $150,000 in stimulus unding
rom the CDC through the Virginia Department o Health,
in the orm o $2,000 mini-grants or up to 75 Title I
(lower-income) schools throughout the state. Prevention
Connections was contracted to establish a Sae
Routes to School grant process and is administering
the mini-grants, which are designed to provide seedmoney or schools to plan and implement a walk- or
bike-to-school event, walking school bus program,
or educational program as an initial step towarddeveloping a comprehensive program that will promote
physical activity and prevent obesity. As o mid-June
2011, more than 50 awards had been distributed to
schools in lower-income communities throughout the
state. The 2011 mini-grant application cycle closed on
September 30, 2011. Several o the schools had already
sought additional unding rom the Virginia Department
o Transportation program to establish a comprehensive
Sae Routes to School program during the states call
or applications in spring 2011; award notications are
anticipated in all 2011.
Virginia
Lynchburg
Local Success:
Prior to 2010, schools in Lynchburg, Virginia had not actively promoted Sae
Routes to School. However, six Title I schools in Lynchburg applied or unding
through the Prevention Connections mini-grant program in 2010 to help them
develop an action plan. That experience prompted three o the schools to
apply or state Sae Routes to School unds through the Virginia Department o
Transportation in the 2011 application cycle to implement programs and makestreet scale improvements around the participating schools. Final decisions on
this application cycle are expected in all 2011.
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31Phase II: Successes and Lessons Learned
The personal saety o students is paramount. The statenetwork project, in January 2010, began to identiy policy
change opportunities that would increase personal saety
or children walking and bicycling to school. State networks
have always worked on policy change and unding that will
improve trafc saety, but this new approach broadened our
work and created new partnerships. The state network project
leadership conducted research and convened partners to
discuss crime in neighborhoods and interviewed experts in
crime and bullying. We ound that state-level policy work
on personal saety is difcult and that this issue is best
tackled at the local level through schools, neighborhoodsaety groups and law enorcement. Sae Routes to School
addresses personal saety through crossing guards, saety
patrols and programs that involve adult volunteers leading
a walking and bicycling school bus. A walking or bicycling
school bus is a group o students walking or riding together
under the supervision o one or more responsible adults,
to and rom school, along a predetermined route. This tried
and true approach protects children rom crime due to the
presence o multiple eyewitnesses and adult leaders.
Personal Saety
The District o Columbia (D.C.) instituted a Sae
Passages program at area high schools. The program
consists o assigning additional police ocers statione