School Streets and Safe Routes to School
It is almost September and school is back in session. There are lines of cars waiting outside classrooms, engines idling, and children running in and out of traffic. Most parents probably have other places to be but letting their children walk or bike to school feels unsafe.
In the United States today, roughly 11% of children walk or bike to school. Compared to 1969, when 40% of students reached school without vehicles, that number has fallen drastically. Across Europe, and recently in some North American communities, an alternative known as School Streets is gaining popularity.
What is a School Street?
A School Street, according to the UK’s School Street Initiative, is a road outside a school that closes to motor traffic during student drop-off and pick-up hours. In cities where it has been implemented, results show up as fewer cars lining up outside the gate, cleaner air, and more children and their families choosing to walk to school.
Why School Streets?
In the US, school-related traffic during morning rush hour accounts for 10-14% of cars on the roads. This increase in traffic poses increased risk to vulnerable road users. People walking and biking are often pushed to the side feeling that there is no safe place for them.
Twice a day, the streets in front of schools in many North American cities and towns start to look like parking lots and become some of the most dangerous places for children. A study of motor vehicle collisions with pedestrians under 18 years of age showed the density of collisions were heavily concentrated within school zones and decreased with distance away from schools. Most active commuter injuries (walking or biking) happened within walking catchments. A 2003 study showed that 65% of pediatric pedestrian injuries occurred within 1 mile of a school.
Where are existing School Streets?
School Streets originated in Bolzano, Italy in the early 1990s when communities struggled to managed traffic during peak hours. Following this, cities such as Scotland, London, and Denmark started implementing the concept. Unlike major rollouts in European cities, most of North America’s adoption of the concept has been localized. New York currently manages 78 School Streets as a designated Department of Transportation (DoT) program. Other cities like Seattle use similar Safe Routes to School frameworks to test out pilot blocks. In Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal car-free pick-up and drop-off blocks are being tested and expanded.
Other safe route to school projects
When the school catchment is walkable or bikeable, School Streets may be the right move. When it is not, street design decisions can still be improved along primary routes and at the end of trips. Improvements may include filling sidewalk gaps, shortening crossings, adding signal timings that prioritize pedestrians, and building off-street connections such as cut-through greenways or trail links in a park or cul-de-sac.
In suburban areas where distance makes walking the entire trip difficult, the British have implemented an alternative called “park and stride.” In this scenario a nearby local church or community center parking area is designated as the endpoint and staffed by volunteers, ultimately allowing children to walk the last few blocks to school.
Around the world, there are other low-cost, quick-built alternatives such as adding traffic calming features through art and education in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, improving visibility and simplifying school crossings in Macon-Bibb County, Georgia, and deploying temporary materials to delineate an area for people to walk next to schools in Denver, Colorado. Events are also powerful tools for change. Every year, National Walk & Roll to School Day in October is an opportunity to celebrate active travel and raise safety awareness.
Another interesting approach known as “Bike Buses” can be found in Barcelona, Spain and Portland, Oregon. “Bike Buses”, or a group of students riding together on a fixed route with adults at the front and back, also provide high visibility and safety in numbers. Such initiatives create demand and justify more permanent School Streets programs and infrastructure.
Research and funding
Across North America, there are several university research centers and government agencies that provide funding and support for street projects that promote safe routes to school. Much of the technical evidence comes from regional, university-based transportation centers that study how design elements on our streets and highways impact safety and reduce roadway injuries and fatalities. As well, the U.S. DoT has established the Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) grant program and provides funding to regional, local, and Tribal initiatives to improve roadway safety. Funding opportunities are usually for Planning Grants for action plans or Implementation Grants to implement strategies consistent with the action plan.
Implementation
Implementation starts by answering the first question: Who owns the street? Typically, a School Street is locally owned making it a municipal decision. In the case of a state-maintained route, the state DoT often becomes a required approval party lengthening the process. Pilot projects can begin with a temporary street closure requiring a special event permit. Next, it is important to determine who operates the program, for instance, most existing School Street projects establish a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the school board and the local public works or transportation department. Lastly, the toolkit to run the program should include traffic barricades, signage, and trained volunteer stewards who may be parents or school staff. The project team will also need to keep in mind a plan to maintain emergency access and accessible parking for the school.
School Streets are smart, relatively low-cost solutions that can be readily integrated into communities, but successful implementation requires shared responsibility. Parents, community leaders, schools, planners, and local agencies all have a role to play in educating communities, building support, and creating safer streets around schools.
Do you have questions about how School Streets could apply to your community? Our team would be happy to help, share ideas, and hear your thoughts about how this approach could work for you.
Sources
School Streets Initiative. https://schoolstreets.org.uk/
Inspire Placemaking Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/p/DW6plHkFiP_/?hl=en&img_index=1
Safe Routes. National Center for Safe Routes to School. https://www.saferoutesinfo.org/
Portland’s Bike Bus Featured on NBC Nightly News. Bike Portland. https://bikeportland.org/2022/10/13/portlands-bike-bus-featured-on-nbc-nightly-news-365310
Highway Safety Research Center. The University of North Carolina. https://www.hsrc.unc.edu/
Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) Grant Program. U.S. Department of Transportation. https://www.transportation.gov/grants/SS4A
Streets Blog USA. https://usa.streetsblog.org/2023/10/13/reimagining-north-american-streets-for-safe-active-and-joyful-trips-to-school
How to Make a Street Safer Before the Kids Go Back to School. Strong Towns. https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2024-8-23-how-to-make-a-street-safer-before-the-kids-go-back-to-school
School Streets. 880 Cities. https://www.880cities.org/portfolio_page/school-streets/
Pediatric Pedestrian Injuries: Striking Too Close to Home Pediatric Pedestrian Injuries: Striking Too Close to Home - Journal of Pediatric Surgery
