Safe Routes to School Gives Students a Rolling Start
Safe Routes to School is a nationwide movement that promotes the idea of making it safe and easy for children to walk or bike to school. The program focuses on improving the built environment, encouraging walking and biking, and engaging communities in the process. In Santa Fe, the Safe Routes to School program is administered by Santa Fe Conservation Trust and has been making strides toward creating a safer and healthier student population.
The program's impact is widespread, and it involves several stakeholders, including schools, parents, and local agencies. SRTS works with schools to identify the needs of their communities and create plans to address them. This involves conducting audits of school routes, identifying areas of concern and implementing changes to make the routes safer. Changes may include adding crosswalks, speed humps, bike lanes, or sidewalks. These changes are made in partnership with the city, county, and state transportation departments, ensuring that they are sustainable and aligned with long-term transportation plans.
Parents play a critical role in the success of SRTS, and the program actively engages them to promote walking, biking or rolling to school. Adults are encouraged to walk with their children to school, forming walking school buses, or encourage their children to participate in bike trains. The program also provides resources and education to parents, such as safety tips, maps of safe routes, and incentives for active travel.
The Santa Fe SRTS program has achieved significant success in promoting safe and active transportation locally. In 2018, the program received a grant to install infrastructure improvements around four schools. The improvements included crosswalks, speed humps, and bike lanes, all aimed at improving the safety of students traveling to and from school. The program also holds regular events such as Walk-to-School events in April, particularly the week of Earth Day this year (April 17-21). For "Bike Month" SRTS are once again organizing multi-school "Bike Trains" in May.
Check our community calendar for bike event specifics and c’mon out and join them!