Grant to help put Safe Routes to School program in action

About Safe Routes to School

The Safe Routes to Schools program is a federal program and was created in 2005. The program has several purposes:

• Enable and encourage children, including those who are disabled, to walk or bicycle to school.

• Make walking or biking to school safe and appealing.

• Facilitate projects that will improve safety and reduce traffic, fuel consumption and air pollution in the vicinity of schools.

Source: City of Lawrence

Tim Phillips and his son Ike, 11, ride their bicycles home from Liberty Memorial Central Middle School on Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2014, after Tim met his son at the school. The father and son live on Mississippi Street, which requires crossing Massachusetts Street.

Lawrence will get a $15,000 grant to establish a Safe Routes to Schools plan, with a goal of making paths to school more walkable and bikeable for kids.

Implementing a plan will be a team process. Community groups have already been working on gathering information.

The city’s partners are the Lawrence-Douglas County Health Department, USD 497, the Lawrence-Douglas County Metropolitan Planning Organization, LiveWell Lawrence and Lawrence Schools Foundation. According to the city, each has agreed to contribute either funding or in-kind donations of staff time for the effort. 

“We look forward to working with the community and our partners to develop a comprehensive plan that we can put into action in the future,” public works director Chuck Soules said in a news release.

Overall, Lawrence’s Safe Routes to School initiative could include plans for how streets and sidewalks are built, education for students and parents on the benefits of physical activity and better enforcement of traffic safety laws.

The grant from the Kansas Department of Transportation, considered Phase I, will allow the city to develop plans for each school and make recommendations for improvements. Later the city can apply for additional funding from KDOT and other resources to implement improvements in routes to schools.

“There is evidence that kids who walk and bike to school are more active,” said Chris Tilden, director of Community Health for the Lawrence-Douglas County Health Department. “As a result, they are healthier and perform better in school.”