Safe Routes to School

Safe Routes to School is a national program to create safe walking/biking routes to schools. TART is working locally with a dedicated committee to create safe routes to Traverse City West Junior High.

TC WJH was selected as one of five schools to participate in a Safe Routes to School pilot project to develop and pilot best practices for middle school communities. The middle school pilot project will further develop Michigan's Safe Routes to School program, which is administered by the Michigan Department of Transportation with the assistance of the Michigan Fitness Foundation/Governor's Council on Physical Fitness.

The Safe Routes to School committee is made up of students, parents, school officials, planners, trail advocates, road agency representatives, law enforcement and other interested citizens.

The committee has completed student/parent surveys, a school property assessment, Walk to School Day event, a salking audit exercise and are preparing to apply for grant funding to improve the routes to school.

Property Assessment: An intense and critical look at the school property. It's an exercise for parents and community members to examine what students experience as they negotiate school grounds on a daily basis. Both the arrival and dismissal processes were observed in the assessment.
- A school property assessment was held in April 2007
- School grounds were checked using a property assessment handout
- Results of the assessment: Results Summary, Results Matrix

Walk to School Day: Forty years ago the national average for children walking to school was nearly 50%, today it is closer to 10% nationally and 3% at West Junior High.
- An October 2007 Walk to School Day event was held

Walking Audit: An exercise that allows parents and community members to see what students experience as they traverse to and from school on foot or by bike. The project’s goal is to construct improvements to the routes that will make walking and biking to school a safe and viable option for students.
- Results of the October 2007 walking audit are:
  - Results with route maps
  - Barrier survey tables

Parent/Student Survey: A survey regarding the attitudes and behaviors toward walking and biking was conducted with both parents and students of WJH. Briefly, survey findings show that:
- 45% of WJH parents surveyed said that when they were children they walked to school
- 3% of the WJH students walk surveyed walk to school today
- 55% of the WJH parents said that they would be comfortable with junior high age students walking or biking to school
- 55% of WJH students surveyed said that- if it were safer, they would like to walk or bike to school
- Student Survey results.pdf

Student Presentation: SRTS student ambassadors have been delivering a customized PowerPoint presentation to a variety of school personnel including staff, administrators and the school board.

Grant Application: Funding is available for programs and infrastructure improvements through a federal transportation grant with approximately $16 million available in Michigan. The SRTS committee is currently writing the grant application.

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