By Nancy Krupiarz, Michigan Trails and Greenways

If you are over the age of 40, you likely remember walking or bicycling to school as a child. It was a routine part of the daily lives of a great majority of students in America, and self-assurance that was gained from independent navigation and exploration of ones neighborhood played a significant role in "growing up".Today only about 10% of children walk or bike to school everyday, and the majority of them are driven to all of their activities. The reasons for this are many, but one of the main factors is that much of our current built environment does not allow for safe walking or bicycling to school. A compounding factor is that many of today's schools are located a great distance from residential neighborhoods. As a result, many of our local roads and school parking lots are choked with motorized traffic engaged in picking up and dropping off students twice per day, causing an increase in accidents around schools and the obesity and overweight levels in children to climb.

Thanks to a federal Safe Routes to School program which passed in the federal transportation bill in 2005, Michigan has $16 million to spend on projects and activities that result in improvements to children's routes to school which would include filling in the gaps of a non-motorized network in cities, villages, and townships across the state. Examples of eligible projects are those located along routes which would lead to improvements and an increase in the number of children walking and biking to school. This would include funding for: sidewalks and trails for walking, trails and bike lanes for bicycling, intersection treatments for safe crossings, law enforcement and traffic calming for hazardous traffic conditions; and programs to get children and their families moving. This program is designed to change both lifestyles and infrastructure so that walking and biking to school is commonplace again.

Every Safe Routes to School project needs a "friend" to make it happen. The same kind of advocacy that may have made your local trail happen is also essential to getting a school to complete a Safe Routes to School program. Whether you have a child in school or are simply a concerned resident in your school district, you can volunteer as much or as little time as you desire. As is true with local trail projects, the more you get involved, chances are greater for success. The Safe Routes to School program is an opportunity for your community to enhance its quality of life by creating healthy lifestyles at a young age and building the infrastructure necessary to allow this change.

To help with the local SRTS efforts currently underway at Traverse City West Junior High, please contact Rod Lowes, TCAPS, at Lowesro@csh.tcaps.net, Michelle Haugen, Garfield Township, at Mhaugen@garfield-twp.com, or contact TART at missy@traversetrails.org.