Safe Routes to School

This tool is designed to help school board members, administrators, families of students, and community members create and implement district policies that support active transportation and Safe Routes to School programs. 

This resource is a policy statement that describes the goals of the Southern California Safe Routes to School Network.

The Safe Routes to School Local Policy Guide was published to help local communities and schools create, enact and implement policies which will support active and healthy community environments that encourage safe walking and bicycling and physical activity by children through a Health in All Policies approach. 

This report provides a primer for Safe Routes to School professionals looking to address community safety threats that may discourage or endanger students walking or bicycling to school. 

These action briefs are a companion to the webinar "Maximizing the Local Impact of Safe Routes to School: Educating Local Elected Officials" that took place on March 21, 2013.

Student transportation departments spend their days working to get students safely to and from school, but historically have focused on busing and driving. Safe Routes to School can easily support district transportation departments in identifying ways to safely get children active while commuting to school, while decreasing traffic congestion.

This report presents the results, lessons learned and recommendations identified during the Project’s 20-month period. The Project involved a review of the relevant literature, development of a logic model, design and implementation of data collection tools, analysis of findings, and establishment of conclusions and recommendations.

These action briefs are a companion to the webinar "Maximizing District-Wide Impact of Safe Routes to School: Educating School District Transportation Departments" that took place on April 18, 2013.

This fact sheet provides an overview of why it is important to engage school district leaders in Safe Routes to School and the results that can be achieved through a strong partnership.

This report includes policy successes, lessons learned and local success stories that were a result of policy changes led by the 20 state network coalitions. 

When children get to and from school by walking or bicycling, there are benefits for their health, physical activity levels, and academic achievement. However, sometimes school board members and superintendents don’t understand why walking and bicycling is relevant to their mission. 

In over 17,000 schools around the country, these programs are making it easier and safer for students to be healthy by walking or bicycling to school. 

These action briefs are a companion to the webinar "Maximizing District-Wide Impact of Safe Routes to School: Educating  Principals and School Boards that took place on May 16, 2013.

There are a variety of approaches to educating and engaging local elected officials as a part of your community’s Safe Routes to School movement.

The Safe Routes Partnership in collaboration with UC Berkeley’s Safe Transportation Research and Education Center and PPH Partners, released the report, Safe Routes to School - Local School Project: A health evaluation at 10 low-income schools. This comprehensive report analyzes the ten schools from the Local School Project.

This report offers insights into how newly expanding access to data can assist in improving walking and biking programs, provides an overview of the current state of data access and its limitations, and highlights case studies of communities and organizations using data to make walking and bicycling programs and policies function more effectively.

These action briefs are a companion to the webinar "Maximizing Statewide Impact of Safe Routes to School: Educating Governors and State Agency Leaders" that took place on February 21, 2013.

This checklist offers questions and actions to consider when preparing to work with your school board in support of Safe Routes to School, whether through official board policies, revised procedures, or other approaches.

The report, focused on selling Safe Routes to School in tough economic times, shares new data, dollar figures and facts about the wide-ranging benefits of the federal Safe Routes to School program and illustrates them with local success stories. 

This fact sheet illustrates how to include walking and biking into comprehensive plans. 

This infobrief describes state outreach, technical assistance, and partnership approaches that support rural communities and highlights two communities that have successfully used federal funds to improve safety and accessibility for walking and bicycling. 

These action briefs are a companion to the webinar "New Funding, New Partners, New Game 201: How to Build Safe Routes to School into Regional Governments" that took place on January 10, 2013. 

The complexities of engaging and educating your governor and state agency leaders on the benefits of policies and funding that support Safe Routes to School can feel daunting, but may be easier than you imagine.

This report describes the strategies, partners, successes and lessons learned from the Safe Routes to School state network project in 20 states during 2010.

Communities are working on many strategies to make it easier and safer for people to be physically active. One important place for collaboration and advocacy is around making sure that people can safely walk and bicycle to parks – an approach known as safe routes to parks.

These action briefs are a companion to the webinar "New Funding, New Partners, New Game 201: How to Build Safe Routes to School into Regional Governments" that took place on January 10, 2013. 

One of the best ways to make sure that walking, bicycling, and Safe Routes to School programs are vigorous and sustained over time in your district is to include these programs in school district policies.

This fact sheet contains excerpts from the report "Safe Routes to School: Helping Communities Save Lives and Dollars." 

The number of children who bicycle or walk to school in the United States has plummeted, due to a combination of concerns about safety, access, and a lack of infrastructure, particularly in Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander communities.

The rate of childhood obesity has increased four-fold over the past forty years, leading to serious health risks for children. 

In 2009, 50 communities across the country were selected to participate in Communities Putting Prevention to Work , a stimulus-funded project that worked at the county-level to increase opportunities for healthy eating and active living through policy, systems and environmental changes. 

Learn tips for advocating for policies that support Safe Routes to School.

This report gives some background information on Safe Routes to School and details challenges and opportunities in program implementation. 

This brief profiles four MPOs, each of which used a thoughtful and innovative approach to TAP that was ultimately beneficial to the safety of children and families on the trip to and from school. 

These action briefs are a companion to the webinar "Maximizing District-Wide Impact of Safe Routes to School: Educating School District Transportation Departments" that took place on April 18, 2013.

Student transportation departments have the potential to focus on more than just busing students to school. 

This 2-page document describes the main national organizations and entities supporting and advancing Safe Routes to School - Federal Highway Administration, state departments of transportation, National Center for Safe Routes to School and Safe Routes Partnership. 

As Safe Routes to School programs have increased across the country, a clear need for better data management at the national level has become apparent. 

This fact sheet provides an overview of how Safe Routes to School programs can help improve health and phsyical activity in Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander communities.

The Safe Routes Partnership produced this air quality resource guide with Consulting for Health, Air, Nature, & a Greener Environment, LLC (CHANGE). 

A toolkit for planning site visits and member meetings to build congressional champions for Safe Routes to School.

This guide offers practical tools for adult facilitators to support middle school students in the promotion of safe walking, bicycling, and public transit use to and from school. Student-led campaigns can generate enthusiasm and improve the social conditions for a Safe Routes to School program!

These action briefs are a companion to the webinar "Maximizing City Involvement in Safe Routes to School: Educating Municipal Transportation Departments" that took place on June 20, 2013. Watch an audio-visual recording here. View Powerpoint slides: Gabe Graff, City of Portland- slides; Nancy Nichols, City of Fort Collins - slides.

In some communities, the danger of violence and crime discourages children from walking to school and keeps people off the street, limiting physical activity and restricting errands and trips. Using a framework known as the “Six E’s,” we identify specific kinds of actions that can combat violence and support Safe Routes to School.

The Safe Routes Partnership has developed an Educator's Guide for getting students active through Safe Routes to School. 

These action briefs are a companion to the webinar "Maximizing District-Wide Impact of Safe Routes to School: Educating School District Transportation Departments" that took place on April 18, 2013.

As the fastest-growing racial group in the U.S., Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders have a key stake in the transformation of American streets. 

This chart details each state’s progress on implementing the federal Safe Routes to School program. All dollar figures cited are as of June 30, 2012

This guide, created through a contract from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is intended to give Safe Routes to School practitioners, teachers, school administrators and others the necessary background information to fully understand the positive benefits of teaching bicycle and pedestrian education in the classroom. 

This report explores the complexities of equitable active transportation and the issues that arise at the junction of efforts to advance walking and bicycling and work to increase health, fairness, and opportunity for low-income communities and communities of color. 

These action briefs are a companion to the webinar "Maximizing Statewide Impact of Safe Routes to School: Educating Governors and State Agency Leaders" that took place on February 21, 2013.

These action briefs are a companion to the webinar "Maximizing City Involvement in Safe Routes to School: Educating Municipal Transportation Departments" that took place on June 20, 2013.

The Safe Routes Partnership has developed a Low-Income Guide for assisting volunteers and professionals with implementing Safe Routes to School in low-income schools and communities. 

These action briefs are a companion to the webinar "Maximizing the Local Impact of Safe Routes to School: Educating Local Elected Officials" that took place on March 21, 2013