San Francisco is one of 10 cities in the U.S. launching a Play Streets Program. The Play Streets
initiative is a more neighboorhood oriented version of Sunday Streets, a series of events that temporarily shuts down roads to vehicular traffic, in order to promote walking and cycling activities.
The "Play Streets for All" initiative, a collaboration between the SF Municipal Transportation Agency, Livable City, and public health organizations, will target neighborhoods in San Francisco, CA that suffer from the high rates of childhood obesity. In 2012, San Francisco hosted a total of 10 Sunday Street events. The Sunday Streets website provides information about the free events that provide an opportunity for San Francisco residents to be ...
The Sioux City school district has initiated a program which they hope will encourage children to walk to school. Through grants from the state department of public health, school officials will initiate an effort to create a network of parents and peers who would walk to school.
As a Blue Zones designated community, Sioux City hopes to help Iowa become the healthiest state by 2016. The Sioux City school district is initiating a one week walking program at each school, but hopes that parents will continue the program on their own. Read the full news article about the Sioux City's efforts to initiate more walking to ...
Michael Krings of Healthy Hastings and others have created a "Share our Streets" campaign to promote awareness of the need for bikers, motorists, and pedestrians to all share the road. Walking and biking are two key ways to get children physically active. However, the lack of safe streets often keep parents from letting their children walk or bike to school. In 2012, the state of Nebraska adopted a Safe Passing law which requires motorists to leave at least 3 feet of clearance for cyclists, pedestrians, or those using a personal mobility device. More recently, in 2013 a Compete Streets Policy was presented to the Hastings city council for review. Read more in this news article from theindependent.com: "Making the roads safe for bikers, ...
In January of 2013, Salud al Pasito was formed by University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UTHSCSA) students wanting to emphasize the low cost, easy-to-do, family friendly, activity of walking to the Latino community. One month later, on February 16, 2013, the group held their first walking event. Every month the group organizes a walking event and invites a guest speaker from the medical community to discuss the many health benefits that can be derived from walking. Check out the Salud al Pasito Facebook page to see when the next event will take ...
By 2007, a total of 8 elementary & 2 middle schools in Austin had participated in Safe Routes to School (SRTS) programs. Participating schools were given a 2.5 year non-infrastructure grant from the Texas Department of Transportation. Later in 2011, Zavala elementary, a predominantly Latino urban & low income school, was one of 25 schools to receive a $1,000 mini-grant. The mini-grant allowed students to receive 4 weeks of bicycle training. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xgOuVvWFtw With the help of SRTS, Zavala elementary school was able to increase the number of children who rode bikes to school from 6 to 90. This slideshow presentation provides information on how Safe Routes to School provided children in at Zavala elementary support for biking and walking school bus ...
El Paso children living in a predominantly Latino neighborhood were given the opportunity to walk to school with improved safety, thanks to a Safe Routes to School Program implemented at Rosa Guerrero Elementary. In 2007, The City of El Paso was awarded a $10,000 SRTS grant to develop a program for Rosa Guerrero Elementary School. Through the grant, the city of El Paso was able able hire a consultant, promote the SRTS program, and add signage to enhance the safety of areas near the school. Safety signage and increased driver awareness allowed the community to feel safer about allowing their children to walk to school and since the program at Rosa Guerrero was implemented test scores and student behavior at the school has improved. Read the full story ...
Children attending Wolftrap elementary school are now allowed to bike to school, thanks in part to the diligent efforts of bike enthusiast and parent Jeff Anderson. Anderson established a Safe Routes to School Program (SRTS) at Wolftrap elementary and convinced the principal to install bike racks for students. Later he helped abolish an existing school policy which prevented children from biking to school and supported the creation of a new policy that would encourage children to bike to school. See Jeff Anderson's presentation on how he changed school policy and brought biking to school possible for his children. Jeff fostered support from various organizations including the Fairfax Advocates for Better Bicycling (FABB), and TrailsforYouth.org to bring change to his kids' ...
Safe Routes to School (SRTS) Programs across the nation are providing children the opportunity to participate in physical activity by walking to school, while also reducing vehicular emissions, and relieving cities of traffic congestion. The SRTS program was originally introduced as a Federal-Aid program of the U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) created by Section 1404 of the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users Act (SAFETEA-LU) in 2005. With the passage of MAP-21, as of October 2012, federal funds specifically appropriated towards the SRTS program were no longer available to states. Still, states can still develop SRTS programs and seek support from the MAP-21's new transportation alternatives ...
The Walkable Community Program, an initiative created by the San Antonio-Bexar County Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO), exists to inform, unite, and support local residents and organizations in improving the walkability of their communities. Anyone interested in promoting walking or biking activities in their community can contact the MPO to get assistance in starting a walking program in their community. Every third Wednesday of the month the MPO's Pedestrian Mobility Advisory Committee (PMAC) meets to develop plans for a safe and accessible network of sidewalks and pedestrian amenities throughout the community. Citizens wishing to participate on this committee are encouraged to attend meetings. Resources The Walkable Community Program Home Page Information about ...
