Cover for this years "scorecard"

Walk + Bike Challenge Month is just one month away.

If you haven’t registered your school yet you can do it here. Find out if your school is registered  here.

This statewide event is a friendly competition that encourages students to walk and bike to school for the whole month of May. In 2009, 60 schools and over 4,000 individuals participated in the event. Record participation is expected among elementary and middle schools in 2010, and for the first time, high schools and universities are also invited to participate. Older students will have access to the online trip-tracking system used for the BTA’s Bike Commute Challenge, which allows them to compare mileage and challenge their friends.

School coordinators at elementary and middle schools help students track their trips on the Challenge scorecard. This year, registering your school and reporting results online is easier than ever thanks to a generous grant from Kaiser Permanente for web improvements.

Besides the packet of resources you’ll receive in the mail from the BTA (including stickers, temporary tattoos, ribbons, scorecards, and other information) read more…

What Does it Take to Get Drivers to Yield? Engineering Measures that Work
Tuesday, March 30, 11am-12 pm
Tower Room at the 4J Education Center, 200 North Monroe Street
Hosted by Eugene SRTS

Presenters:
Mike Cynecki, Traffic Engineering Supervisor for the Phoenix Street Transportation Department
Charlie Zegeer, Associate Director for Engineering and Planning at the University of North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center,  Director of the Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center

One of the greatest challenges for many schools and neighborhoods is finding the appropriate measures to slow traffic in the areas where pedestrians cross the street. Which devices will be most effective? What are the costs? What are the maintenance requirements?  Are there liability issues? read more…

Kidical Mass Tomorrow!!!

Upcoming Webinars read more…

The latest designBridge team had their final review presentation on Wednesday for the “Camas Pedal” project. The Camas Ridge bike shelter is the third project in a collaboration between the University of Oregon Architecture School’s designBridge program and the Eugene School District 4J. The previous projects were at Edison Elementary (completed 2009) and Roosevelt Middle School (Green Wheel- still in progress).

Camas Pedal is a project that will design and build a bike shelter for the students at Camas Ridge Community school. The goal is for the structure to be “a gathering space, a school icon, and give the school community more reasons to get excited about biking!” The designBridge project is sponsored in part by the Oregon Transportation Research Consortium (OTREC) as well as read more…

A local program that works with students with special educational needs is looking to various Safe Routes encouragement programs for inspiration and has created their very own program that works well for their students.  It’s a great example of how each school can find the way that works best for them to encourage students to get active, both in their daily lives and in their transportation choices.

Path Finder has initiated the “Path Finder Active Transport Honors” (PATH) program to encourage students to become more active.  They offer rewards and incentives to those students who commute to school under their own power.  However, they also note that many students live too far away to commute by walking or biking so in order to make things fair for them they reward fitness related behavior that they do on their own time.  Students can choose from a list of physical activities to do on their own, and then record those at school for rewards.

Path Finder serves students with autism and other challenges to learning and they see the importance of independent and active transportation for these students.  As the program coordinator notes in this excerpt from a letter to parents, creating habits early will help these students throughout their life:

“We feel that this program is especially important for students with autism and Asperger’s syndrome as it will help teach them how to live on their own and interact with their ever-changing environment. As you know, it can take a very long time for a student on the autism spectrum to make and break habits.  This is why it’s important that we begin teaching them healthy, self-sufficient practices and habits early.  After graduation they will be relying on themselves for transportation, and we feel it’s beneficial for them to practice and learn how to do so while still under our wing.”

Nice work “Finding the Path” that works best for your program Path Finder!

Yesterday was a multi-media day for the SRTS program. There was a “Top Story” on KMTR about our infrastructure grant and the Eugene School District 4J Board heard a presentation about our current projects. I’ll add the video clip after the jump since it starts automatically and runs on after the story (poor embedding!).
Later we’ll have a link to the presentation as well. read more…

Safe Routes to School is helping to support this “Safe Passages” and EyeToEye project:

A new safety plaza will be built by volunteers between the Churchill Skate Park and the “Cuidado” crosswalk on Baily Hill Road in May. The Plaza will have two benches, a message sign and a memorial plaque.
You are invited to attend a “Message Design” group meeting on Wednesday, March 10th at Churchill High School Library.

Come join skaters, students, graphic artists, and neighbors as we blend our Eye to Eye message with teen safe driving ideas. Come give your input! All are welcome.

Events after the March 10th design include:

A “Sod Removal Day” on May 8th and a “Form & Pour Day” on May 14th. Music and snacks will be provided for these events.

The Safety Plaza will be dedicated on Tuesday, June 8th at 3:30 p.m.

Get involved, make and impact, use your talents, and have some fun!

For more information call Marina Hajeck 541-338-3124 or Tom Schneider 541-729-1263

I took the text from the Active Transportation Fashion Show update and plugged it into Wordle. This is what I got: