New Community Partnership: Safe Routes To School

Today was the kickoff for a new partnership between the City of Columbia and local schools. Illinois Safe Routes to School (SRTS) is a partnership approach to improving conditions for students who walk or bike to school.

The program has three main goals:

1. To enable and encourage children, including those with disabilities, to walk and bicycle to school;
2. To make bicycling and walking to school safer and more appealing, thereby encouraging a healthy and active lifestyle; and
3. To facilitate projects and activities that will improve safety and reduce traffic, fuel consumption, and air pollution.

The broad team of community stakeholders organized this morning will work to develop a School Travel Plan by the end of September. Projects and activities will be identified in this plan to benefit primary and middle school students (grades K-8) in both public and private schools in Columbia.

Following development of the School Travel Plan, Illinois Safe Routes to School can fund infrastructure improvements to the physical environment, as well as non-infrastructure projects.