The Active Transportation Program (ATP) is a statewide grant program that encourages bicycling and walking, especially for children traveling to school and for residents of disadvantaged communities.
What is the Active Transportation Program
The Active Transportation Program (ATP) is a statewide grant program that encourages bicycling and walking, especially for children traveling to school and for residents of disadvantaged communities. Safe Routes to School (SRTS) grants are awarded through the ATP, and school-based projects and programs are highly competitive for ATP funding based on the program criteria. (Before the ATP was established in 2013 a separate program funded SRTS grants). See “examples of projects” section for more detail.
Cycle 3 Call for Projects Now Open! Visit Caltrans ATP website for more details.
In 2016, $240 million will be awarded competitively as grants to communities across California for Safe Routes to School, walking, and bicycling projects and programs. That amount represents two years of state and federal active transportation funding from 2019-20 through 2020-21 budget years.
Resources:
Our ATP Toolkit:
- ATP Goals & Priority Projects
- Identifying a Competitive ATP Project
- Applying for ATP Funding
- ATP Resources
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Policy History
Why we need funding for Safe Routes to School projects in California:
The need for school-based infrastructure improvements and education, encouragement, and enforcement programs looms large! For example:
- 26% – 31% of CA kids already walk or bicycle to school, more than two times the national average.
- Only 13% of students in CA have the option to ride a school bus compared to 37% nationally; these children need safe alternatives.
- Statewide, 27 percent of children killed or seriously injured in traffic collisions are on the street walking or bicycling – again nearly twice the national average!
- African-American and Latino children, and children from lower-income households, are more likely to walk or bicycle to school in CA but are less likely to have safe streets on which to travel.
- See the Travel to School in California brief for more data on the need for Safe Routes to School.
Fortunately, the ATP prioritizes funding to provide Safe Routes to School for children to travel.
More info:
- California Transportation Commission – Active Transportation Program
- Caltrans – Active Transportation Program
- Safe Routes to School Technical Assistance Resource Center
