Safe Routes to School is a growing international and national effort to increase the number of kids walking and bicycling to school. The result: healthier kids and safer, more vital communities.

In partnership with the Willamette Pedestrian Coalition, the BTA develops, coordinates, and promotes Safe Routes to School program elements and provides technical advice and assistance for Oregon communities.

BTA Staff Contacts

For more information and resources on Safe Routes to School programs, contact the BTA staff listed below. Please direct general program questions to Stephanie Noll.

Stephanie Noll
Programs Manager, 503-226-0676 x23

• Bike Safety Education and Safe Routes general inquiries
• Portland Bureau of Transportation TAC liaison

Susan Peithman
Statewide Advocate, 503-226-0676 x18

• Technical assistance in advocacy, planning, and funding
• Safe Routes advocacy at the state legislature
• Safe Routes to School National Partnership liaison

Tom Rousculp
Resource Manager, 503-226-0676 x20

• Bike Safety Education curriculum
• Educational and promotional materials and other resources

City of Portland Safer Routes to School Program

The BTA is the Program Project Manager for the City of Portland’s pilot Safer Routes to School program, spearheading a team that includes the Willamette Pedestrian Coalition, the Alliance for Community Traffic Safety, Alta Planning + Design, and the Portland Bureau of Transportation.

Portland’s much-anticipated Safer Routes to School program launched in the summer of 2005, using funds from an increase in City traffic fine revenues. This comprehensive five-year pilot program involves eight elementary schools the first year, with schools to be added each year. Safer Routes to School - Portland is designed to increase the number of kids walking and biking to school using elements from the ‘6 E’s’ – Encouragement, Education, Engineering, Enforcement, Equity and Evaluation– and is modeled after the highly successful Marin County national model program.

As of 2009, the Bureau of Transportation conducts the program in 25 Portland Public Schools and the BTA provides bicycle and pedestrian education services. For more information on how to get your school involved, contact the city's Program Coordinator Gabe Graff at (503) 823-5291 or visit Portland's Safe Routes to School website.

The program helps each school and surrounding neighborhood analyze existing conditions through community-led activities such as surveys, walkabouts, mapping, Walk and Bike to School Day, and Bicycle and Pedestrian Safety Education classes. Safe Routes to School involves parents, students, community groups and government agencies in helping improve walking and biking routes to school and get more kids onto their feet! Click here for more.

State and National Leadership

BTA is a national leader in Safe Routes to School work.  In the 2005 Oregon legislative session, BTA lobbied in Salem and succeeded in helping pass the state HB 2742 – Safe Routes to School bill, the first of its kind in the nation.

HB 2742 established a statewide “Safe Routes to School” program that will help communities increase bicycling and walking to school among children and families. The bill requires schools and cities or counties to jointly identify barriers and hazards, and solutions to increasing bicycling and walking to school. The BTA anticipates that this program will receive federal transportation funds of $1million per year.

Many thanks go to the legislative champions who worked with us to pass these bills – and to the BTA members and bicyclists around the state who contacted their representatives to ask for support of these bills. We knew we could count on bicyclists to be responsive, well spoken, and influential – and it was your voice that once again demonstrated strong demand for this important and growing movement!

The BTA is also participating in the national steering committee for the federal Safe Routes to School program that is a part of H.R. 3 SAFETEA-LU.