Thursday, December 10, 2009

Safe Routes to School



Today I attended a workshop put on by the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) Safe Routes to School (SRTS) Program, taught by staff from the national (USDOT-funded) SRTS program.

The emphasis of the SRTS program is on improving physical barriers to having kids walk or bicycle to school and enhancing safety through education. The reasons for the program (i.e. why it is good for kids to walk or bicycle to school) are many: reduce traffic congestion, improve physical health of kids (combats childhood obesity), improves the environment (improved air quality), and more.

I'll have more to post on this, but it was nice to see a lot of staff from various Washington school districts, King County DOT, Seattle DOT, WSDOT, and advocacy organizations like Feet First and Bicycle Alliance of Washington.

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