2007 Benchmarking Report - Alliance for Biking & Walking

Bicycling & Walking in the U.S./ Thunderhead Alliance 2007
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BICYCLING & WALKING POLICIES & PROVISIONS
PHOTO COURTESY OF HO JOHN LEE
Safe Routes to School: A Look at the Newest Funding Source
Winning Safe Routes to School in the U.S.
The term “Safe Routes to School” (SRTS) was coined
in the 1970s in Denmark as part of an initiative to reduce the
number of children killed while biking and walking to school.
The term spread internationally reaching Bronx, NY in 1997
when the first Safe Routes to School program began in the U.S.
In 1998 Congress funded pilot Safe Routes to School programs
in Arlington, Massachusetts and Marin County, California. The
Safe Routes to School buzz continued to spread to communities
developing their own grassroots programs throughout the
U.S.. Thunderhead Alliance member organizations lobbied
Congress from 2002-2005 for a federally-funded Safe Routes to
School program. Some already had local programs underway
which would later become model programs. In 2005, Congress
voted to include a federally-funded National Safe Routes to
School Program as part of SAFETEA-LU, the reauthorization
bill for the federal transportation law. This victory for Thunderhead’s
coalition is now being celebrated nationwide as states
have begun to coordinate their programs, in many cases with
the help of Thunderhead organizations providing their expertise
and resources.
An Early Look at SRTS Programing
The National Safe Routes to School program will be
about two-years old when this report is released. At the time of
this project’s data collection it was just over one year old. Although
it is important to begin collecting data on the program
in 50 states, there is a limited amount of information available
at this time since many states are still organizing their programs
and some have yet to spend any of their Safe Routes to School
funding. For this report, states were asked about levels of funding,
allocation of funds between capital projects and education
programs, and staffing levels. They were also encouraged to
include other DOT funding spent on the program. Findings
indicate that states are varied among their approaches to the
programming of Safe Routes to School funding. While states
average one full-time-equivalent staff person dedicated to the
program, some states are taking creative approaches to increasing
their staff capacity, such as using Americorps volunteers to
help with messaging and promotion, or relying on field coordinators
in each school district for outreach to schools. States also
vary in their allocation of funds to capital projects vs education
projects, although variation is restricted by legislation.