Thirty years ago, most children who lived within a mile of school used active transportation (i.e., walking or bicycling) to get to school (USDOT, 1972). In recent years, the rate of active transport to schools has declined dramatically. Traffic volumes and speed associated with school environments have worsened over the past decades. Increasing numbers of children being driven to schools by their caretakers has contributed to worsening traffic congestion and increases in obesity and respiratory diseases related to poor air quality. This project would serve to address those concerns and strengthen the Safe Routes to School (SRTS) program to increase the numbers of children walking and biking to school safely.

The TPF project is to support state-level management of the Federal Safe Routes to School Program. The overall thrust of the project is to provide State DOTs with: (1) Tools for establishing benchmarks of children walking and biking to school. This includes identifying existing sources of data, potential sources of data, and data collection methods. (2) Recommendations for future allocation of SRTS funds so that grants will be awarded to the most effective projects. This includes, but is not limited to identifying the impact of potential barriers to success, such as age of children, size of schools, maximum walking distances, transportation infrastructure, number of children living within a mile of school, program planning requirements, etc. (3) Methods and tools to continue to evaluate the effectiveness of SRTS investments. This includes, but is not limited to, identifying methods for obtaining counts of children walking/biking to school, recommending requirements for schools applying to the program, and recommending methods for schools to measure the effect of SRTS. The project consists of two phases. Phase one, which is nearing completion, focused on item (1). Phase two will focus on items (2) and (3).

The second phase of the study will build off the work of phase one. Information will be developed to support the establishment of measurable targets for non-motorized travel to school, based, for example, on the age range of the school population, the school size and location, student/parent travel options, and other factors. From phase one, we learned that the major BARRIERS to increasing the number of children walking to school are: * The distance children live from school (with the consolidation of schools over time, and the building of new schools outside the urban core, children live farther away from their school than in the past), * Fewer children from higher income families walk to school than children from lower income families, * Parents fears for the safety of their children from traffic and crime * Parents schedules and values may influence when and how children travel to school. In phase two, we will identify methods to address these barriers so that SRTS programs and projects target what can realistically be achieved. Phase two includes specific objectives to identify methods and criteria for determining the community and school characteristics that would best support INCREASES in the number of children walking and biking to school on a statewide basis. This may include, but is not limited to, socio-economic characteristics, the number of children living within a defined distance of school grounds, presence of sidewalks and safe crossings, parent and teacher involvement, etc. Phase two will consist of the following tasks: Task 1: Continue to analyze data available at the national and state levels. The analyses will focus on two issues: (1) The best, most cost-effective way to get information about the number of children walking and biking to school in a state. We will provide input about the results and the quality of the information collected. (2) We will also investigate how barriers to increasing the number of children walking to school can be addressed in future SRTS programs. Task 2: Analyze new data available from SRTS programs and projects in participating states. Task 3: Develop recommendations for future allocation of SRTS funds and identify "best practices." Recommendations will be made in response to the question, "What information should be used to identify projects that will be the best use of program funds?"; We will look at SRTS project outcomes, community characteristics, opportunities to walk/bike, and perceived safety. We will also identify other programs or projects that may complement SRTS projects and ways in which barriers to increasing the number of children walking to school may be addressed. Task 4: Develop methods and tools to evaluate the effectiveness of SRTS investments. Task 5: Explore the role of regional and local agencies in supporting the SRTS program.

$60,000 for Phase II ($120,000 total for this pooled fund project.) Suggested contribution for Phase II is $10,000/yr for each of 2 years - total of $60,000 minimum for Phase II.