Louisiana Safe Routes to School Program

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Louisiana Safe Routes to School Program

• Developing a Program

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PURPOSE(Section 1404(b) of the legislation)

• To enable and encourage children, including those
  with disabilities, to walk and bicycle to school.
• To make bicycling and walking to school a safer
  and more appealing transportation alternative,
  thereby encouraging a healthy and active
  lifestyle from an early age and
• Continued on next slide

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PURPOSE (Continued)

• To facilitate the planning, development and
  implementation of projects and activities that
  will improve safety and reduce traffic, fuel
  consumption, and air pollution in the vicinity of
  schools.

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Desired Outcomes

• Increased bicycle, pedestrian, and traffic safety
• More children walking and bicycling to and from
  school
• Decreased traffic congestion
• Improved childhood health and reduced obesity
• Encouragement of healthy and active lifestyles
• Improved community safety
• Reduced fuel consumption
• continued on next slide

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Desired Outcomes(Continued)

• Increased community security
• Enhanced community accessibility
• Increased community involvement
• Physical improvements that increase the ability
  to walk and bike to school
• Improved partnerships among schools, local
  government, parents, etc.
• Increased interest in bicycle and pedestrian
  accommodations throughout the community

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Comprehensive Strategies The 5 Es

• Engineering
• Education
• Encouragement
• Enforcement
• Evaluation

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Engineering

• Creates safer conditions for walking and
  bicycling
• Can influence the way people behave

West Valley City, UT
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Education

• Imparts safety skills
• Creates safety awareness
• Fosters life-long safety habits
• Includes parents, neighbors and other drivers

Chicago, IL
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Encouragement

• Increases popularity of walking and bicycling
• Is an easy way to start SRTS programs
• Emphasizes fun

Elmhurst, IL
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Enforcement

• Increases awareness of pedestrians and bicyclists
• Improves driver behavior
• Helps children follow traffic rules

Richmond, VA
Denver, CO
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Evaluation(Are we making a difference?)

• Monitoring
• Documenting
• Include Collection Of Before And After Data

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Developing a SRTS Improvement Program

• Identify The Problem(s)
• Develop Solutions
• Physical improvements
• Activities
• Estimate Cost
• Develop An Action Plan
• Develop An Evaluation Plan

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Problem IdentificationNo spin just the facts

• Organize
• Assess Current Environment
• Assess Existing Infrastructure
• Identify Safety Problems

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Organize(Form A Team)

• SCHOOL (Principal, staff, student)
• LOCAL GOVERNMENT (Enforcement, DPW, School Board,
  etc.)
• PARENTS (PTO/PTA, etc.)
• OTHER INTERESTED PARTIES
• ENGINEER (Traffic or other)
• CHAMPION (Someone who can keep things moving)

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Assess Current Environment

• Identify Students Who
• Currently Walk Or Bike To School
• Take Bus Or Driven To School
• Live Within One Or Two Miles Of School
• Could Potentially Walk Or BikeTo School

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Assessment Tools

• Use surveys to determine how many children
  currently walk or bike to school or how many
  currently take a bus or are driven to school
• Use a map to locate where children live within
  one or two miles of a school.
• Determine the routes that they use to get to
  school.
• Estimate the number who could potentially walk or
  bike to school

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Identify Safety Problems

• Actual Safety Problems
• Perceived Safety Problems

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Actual Safety Problems

• OBSERVATIONS
• Around the school, along the school route,
  crossing the street, traffic behavior etc.
• CRASH DATA
• Actual crash data from local police
• CRIME DATA

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Perceived Safety Problems

• Surveys
• Parents
• Children

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Other Problems

• Weather
• Heavy Backpacks
• Too Far
• Etc.

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Assess Infrastructure

• Sidewalks, Paths, Etc
• Barriers
• Operations
• Other Problems

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Identify Potential Solutions

• IMPROVE FACILITIES
• Engineering
• CHANGE DRIVER BEHAVIOR
• Engineering
• Enforcement
• ENCOURAGE STUDENTS/PARENTS
• EDUCATE
• Students/parents/teachers

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Engineering Solutions

• First, consider low cost, easy to implement
  solutions
• Identify and program longer-term improvement
  needs
• Match the treatment to the problem

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Engineering Solutions (Cont.)

• Provide Safe Street Crossings
• Keep it simple
• Shorten crossing distances
• Carefully select crossing locations and marked
  crosswalks
• Control Traffic Speed

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Link The Solution To The Problem

• Identify The Impact Of The Proposed Solution To
  The Identified Problem
• Increased Safety?
• More children walking/bicycling to school?
• Reduced speeds?
• Change in behavior?

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Develop Infrastructure Cost Estimates

• Engineering
• Construction
• Operations

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Develop Non-Infrastructure Cost Estimates

• Encouragement
• Education
• Enforcement

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Develop An Action Plan

• List All Identified Problems And Solutions With
  The Cost Of Each
• Prioritize
• Develop A Time Frame For Accomplishing
• Identify Potential Source Of Funds For Each
• Identify Steps To Put Plan Into Motion

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Develop an Evaluation Plan(Measures Of Success)

• Safety Benefits
• Behavioral Changes
• Other Benefits
• Pre-project Vs Projected Post Project Data
• Long Term Evaluation

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Summary

• Get Organized
• Gather Information
• Identify Problems
• Identify Solutions
• Make a Plan
• Identify funding sources
• Act on the Plan