Safe Routes to School (SR2S) projects have encouraged more students to walk or bike to school, Mineta Transportation Institute (MTI) researcher Dr. Christopher Ferrell found.
Ferrell examined recipients of SR2S funding and discovered students near an SR2S project were three to four times more likely to begin walking/biking.
Ferrell’s study focused on intervention projects and found they increased traffic safety for children. These projects include bike path improvements, traffic signal improvements, crosswalk and crossing signal improvements, and sidewalk improvements.
“In other words,” Ferrell said, “child collision rates will fall when proper traffic calming interventions are made.”
The Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users of 2005 allocated $612 million to SR2S. Between 70 percent and 90 percent must be spent on infrastructure projects within a two-mile radius of a school.
Funds are used to increase walking and bicycling to school, make bicycling and walking to school safer and more appealing, and encourage projects and activities that improve nonmotorist safety near schools while reducing traffic, air pollution, and fuel consumption.
The results are summarized in the Active Transportation and Health Effects of Safe Routes to School (SR2S) Projects and Planning report.
Ferrell has worked previously as a transportation consultant.