The Eugene Safe Routes to School mission is to serve a diverse community of parents, students, and organizations: advocating for and promoting the practice of safe bicycling and walking to and from schools throughout the Eugene area. More about Eugene SRTS.
Projects like this Pedestrian "Stutter Flash" sign will be part of the new SRTS improvements
The Eugene Safe Routes to School Program and the City of Eugene have just been awarded a $495,000 grant from the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) and the National Safe Routes to School program. During the 2008/2009 school year 7 schools worked with the Eugene SRTS Team and the City of Eugene to conduct parent surveys, student travel tallies, and action plans to determine the safety issues for students walking or biking to their school. Through the action plans each school held a “walkabout” and identified specific barriers and concerns of parents, staff, and students. Working with City staff the school SRTS committees worked to find the best solutions to create safe crossings, increase active transportation access, and build better bike parking infrastructure. Here is the current list of schools and projects this grant will help to fund. Final design and engineering work will be completed during the spring of 2010. Stay tuned to the SRTS website for read more…
This past Saturday was the 4th Annual Eugene Walking and Biking Summit. Hosted by the City of Eugene and supported by the City Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC), Eugene Safe Routes to School and Travel Lane County this years event was the kick-off of the cities Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan process. Besides having an input session for the plan there were also some great speakers, booths from area walking, biking, and healthy living organizations, and an Active Transportation Fashion Show.
The morning started with an Off the Waffle breakfast with DIY toppings and Full City Coffee provided by the City. Once caffeinated and fueled up participants heard some inspiring words from Bill Nesper, the League of American Bicyclists “Bicycle Friendly Communities” Director. He spoke about the BFC program and the importance of community involvement in raising a cities BFC rating. At the end of 2009 Eugene was moved up from the Silver Level rating it has had since the end of 2004 to the Gold Level. I think a good goal for us now would be to achieve the Platinum Level by the end of the next five years. read more…
This year’s 4th Annual Walking and Biking Summit will be held on January 24th at the Sheldon Community Center from 8:30 AM to 1:30 PM. The primary focus of the 2010 Summit will be to kick off the Eugene Pedestrian and Bicycle Master Plan process. There will be breakfast, childcare, speakers, an input session, booths from local groups and vendors, a Fashion Show, and more… all for FREE. So besides the fun and engaging things going on why is it important for families to come to this event?!
The Master Plan that the City of Eugene is starting work on is the first ‘active transportation’ focused plan they have ever done, it will lay the groundwork for the kind of bicycling and walking facilities the city will be building in the coming years. Up to this point all modes of transportation were planned through TransPlan, the regional transportation plan which had an element of walking and biking to it but didn’t address it separately. This is the first time a more specific plan has been created and it will give more details and priorities to active transportation projects. The City of Eugene needs to hear from families on what kind of facilities they want to see. Many of the cycling facilities we currently have are made for the small percentage of people who feel comfortable cycling amongst traffic and our pedestrian facilities are lacking in many areas. Parents and children have needs and interests that are different from others, come and share those at this years Summit.
If we want to see more kids walking and biking to school we need to have facilities that make it the easy choice by making it safer, faster, and more convenient than driving. To have these kind of facilities built families need to tell the City that they want them. Come to the Summit and tell the city what kind of changes you want to see.
While you’re there you might just have some fun watching the Active Transportation Fashion Show, enjoying some Off the Waffle breakfast, chatting it up with folks, and maybe winning a prize in the raffle.
If you’re on Facebook you can join the event and spread the word.
If Kidical Mass could have the same effect as Cyclist Demonstrations did in Copenhagen in the ’70’s just think what our cities would look like in 30 years. Copenhagen didn’t get where they are by accident, the citizens demanded that the city planners and engineers not hand more of the city over to the automobile.
Next month here in Eugene we will have the opportunity to raise our voices and tell the City of Eugene what WE want for cyclists and pedestrian infrastructure at the Walking and Biking Summit. What if we had hundreds of families there demanding more safe routes for active transportation throughout our community?! How do you want our city to move over the next 20 years? What will you ask for?
I’ve never really loved the name “Safe Routes to School”, I’ve always felt that it had that tinge of “it’s an iffy way to get to school but we’re encouraging you to do it anyway and we’ll try and find a safe route for you.” I even came up with an alternate name at one point that I thought fit my way of thinking about it a bit more (and that would go over better with the kids) “FARTS”, Fun and Active Routes to School. Would probably be hard to get federal funding for that program though.
I remember my walks to school as fun filled times of discovery. I have distinct memories of trails through forests and wild spaces that I have since re-visited to find them to be tiny ‘goat trails’ through vacant lots. My imagination had turned them into great wonders. I have a lot of blanks in my childhood memories but the routes I walked (and later biked) to school are pretty embedded in there.
I just finished listening to Lenore Skenazy’s book “Free-Range Kids, giving our kids the freedom we had without going nuts with worry” and as a new parent was relieved read more…
I’m doing my bi-annual traffic counts in front of Roosevelt Middle School this week to see how we’ve improved parent behavior, reduced traffic counts, and increased bicycle and pedestrian safety.
There are some positives. It looks like our bike and pedestrian counts are up and our drop-offs may be lower.
But there are also still some negatives. The drop-offs in illegal yellow zone are still happening (20 of them today!) as well as some in the bike lane and on the crosswalk. A couple illegal u-turns and some speeding through the school zone. We try and teach our students safe traffic skills but really the danger lies in the motorized vehicle drivers.
I really like this campaign from the Dutch.
Here’s the video:
And here’s the translation:
‘Cars today are full of things that protect the driver: belts, crumple zones, airbags, ABS, electronic stability control…”
“And there is an element in the car that protects other road users.”
“That part is in you. Drive with your heart.’
I love that idea of the drivers being the most responsible ones out there. It’s when we are behind the wheel that we have the most responsibility because we are using the most dangerous device out there. Reflectors and helmets can only do so much. The heart can do so much more. Be kind to others by dropping-off in the right area, going the speed limit (or under), stopping for pedestrians (every corner is a crosswalk), and just generally slowing down, being watchful, and being patient.
Raffle Winners, a Gold-level recognition, and Kids!
This year our whole community won as 29 local schools and thousands of kids participated in the International Walk + Bike to School Day but we have some other very special winners to announce. We held a raffle for participating parent, teachers, and staff who coordinated or volunteered for their local event.
The winners of the raffle prizes were drawn on Saturday at the GEARs Bike Swap, Ice Cream Social, and Volunteer Thank You gathering and here are the official results (with a special “gold bonus” announcement as well):
MP3 Player: Carrie F. from Camas Ridge Elementary
Detours Backpack (donated by Arriving by Bike): Jaclyn M. from Hamlin Middle School!
Commuter Conversion Kit (donated by Revolution Cycles): Dodie K. from Awbrey Park!
The Xtracycle “Free Radical” (donated byArriving by BikeXtracycle) goes to Shirley Betourney!!! The PE instructor at Monroe Middle School read more…
The Master Plan that the City of Eugene is starting work on is the first ‘active transportation’ focused plan they have ever done, it will lay the groundwork for the kind of bicycling and walking facilities the city will be building in the coming years. Up to this point all modes of transportation were planned through TransPlan, the regional transportation plan which had an element of walking and biking to it but didn’t address it separately. This is the first time a more specific plan has been created and it will give more details and priorities to active transportation projects. The City of Eugene needs to hear from families on what kind of facilities they want to see. Many of the cycling facilities we currently have are made for the small percentage of people who feel comfortable cycling amongst traffic and our pedestrian facilities are lacking in many areas. Parents and children have needs and interests that are different from others, come and share those at this years Summit.
