==
Bike-Walk Alliance of NH ==
SRTS
News, April 2008:
Encouraging Safe Bicycling and Walking to School
Spread
the Word
Communities
have until Monday, May 12, 2008, to submit applications for Round 2 of Safe
Routes to School (SRTS) reimbursement funding.
This 100 percent
federally funded program assists schools and their surrounding cities and towns
encourage children in kindergarten through 8th grade to safely walk and ride
bicycles from home to school. This includes children with disabilities. The
program is intended for children who live within approximately two miles of
school.
SRTS provides
a mix of funding for both infrastructure and non-infrastructure projects, using
a comprehensive planning concept known as the “5Es:”
· Evaluation
· Education
· Encouragement
· Enforcement
· Engineering
Successful
applicants will carefully examine local conditions that may discourage safe
walking and bicycle riding and develop a travel plan that addresses each of
the relevant “Es.”
Cooperation among school, municipal and community leaders is essential to the process. Some solutions – pedestrian and bicycling education programs, for example – will take place on campus. Others – sidewalk construction or repairs and stronger law enforcement – take place along the routes between home and school. Success for a local program depends on support from educators, parents, children and community organizations. This is the reason the creation of the formation of a local SRTS task force is so important.
Emphasis
on Planning
Once
a task force is established, their first priority is to conduct surveys of both
students and parents. A quick show-of-hands survey determines the number of
children who currently walk, ride bicycles, use school buses, or are driven
in private vehicles. The parental survey, often send home as “backpack
mail,” is used to judge the reasons parents may be reluctant to allow children
to walk or ride bicycles.
Both standardized forms were developed by the National Center for Safe Routes to School. The data collection system offers a choice. Information can be keyed into an Internet-based program, or schools can mail the forms to the center for scanning.
Mapping is another important step in developing a travel plan. A travel plan will include a map showing the two miles radius around an elementary or middle school. The map will show residential neighborhoods and the neighborhoods where children live. Planners will then “connect the dots,” drawing existing and potential safe routes between homes and school.
Walking or bicycling along the potential routes is the next stage in the process. Children should be involved at this step to offer their unique viewpoints. Standardized walkability and bikeability forms are available for recording the data.
The survey forms are linked to the “Getting Started” page on the Web site. Look for the blue box on the home page.
Travel
Plan
Guided
by the information gathered in the evaluation process, a local task force develops
a travel plan using a standardized format developed by the N.H. Department of
Transportation (NHDOT). In addition to the map of existing and potential walking
and bicycling routes, it will describe plans for providing safety education,
encouraging more walking and bicycling, and addressing any need for increased
law enforcement in areas around schools.
The travel plan also describes and prioritizes any infrastructure projects that
will make walking and bicycling safer and more appealing. The travel plan format
is designed to be used in conjunction with the application for reimbursement
funding.
Note: The application form, travel plan format, funding criteria, and application guidelines are available for download from the NHSRTS Web site. Look for the yellow box on the home page.
Getting
Started
New Hampshire’s
SRTS program has been designed to provide assistance to communities at all stages
of organizing their plans and projects.
Startup funding
of up to $5,000 is available to assist in covering the expenses for preliminary
planning as well as education, encouragement and enforcement projects.
Communities may also apply for up to $15,000 per school for developing a comprehensive travel plan.
A limit has been set at $100,000 per infrastructure project. No limit has been set for individual non-infrastructure projects, but total funds are limited to 10 to 30 percent of the state’s SRTS allocation.
Under published
criteria, applications for reimbursement funding will be scored and ranked according
to how well they address the “5Es.”
Round
3
The third
round of SRTS funding has not yet been scheduled. It is anticipated that it
will be announced sometime in the fall or early winter in 2008. SRTS is a fairly
new program for New Hampshire. It was reviewed between the announcements of
the first two rounds (July 2007 and March 2008) and changes were made to reflect
lessons learned in the first round. Less time should be needed for the next
round.
Community
Meetings
John Corrigan,
the state SRTS coordinator, is available to meet with local school, municipal
and community leaders to explain the program, answer any questions, and initiated
a discussion about local issues. Communities that have begun organizing in recent
weeks include Bristol, Penacook, Boscawen, Bradford, and Franconia. Presentations
have also been made for the North Country Council and Southwest Region Planning
Commission. The coordinator also participated in a community meeting in Lebanon,
where local leaders are looking for ways to integrate bicycling and pedestrian
facilities and programs into a regional transportation plan.
Help Spread the Word
As the weather
warms up after a very snowy winter, more schools are sponsoring SRTS-related
activities. Antrim will offer a bike rodeo on May 3, and Weare is organizing
a walking school bus on May 9. If your school or community is holding an event,
please notify the coordinator. Many of these programs can be publicized through
the N.H. SRTS Web site.
Please feel
free to forward this newsletter to anyone who might be interested in SRTS. If
you would like to be added to the distribution list (or if you prefer to be
removed) send your name and e-mail address to the coordinator.
John W. Corrigan
Safe Routes to School Coordinator
Bureau of Planning and Community Assistance
N.H. Department of Transportation
7 Hazen Drive, PO Box 483
Concord, NH 03302-0483
(603) 271-1980
jcorrigan@dot.state.nh.us
SRTS Web site: http://www.nh.gov/dot/bureaus/planning/SRTS_home.htm
