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.

City of Portland Safe Routes to School Program

The BTA is the Program Project Manager for the City of Portland’s pilot Safe 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 Office of Transportation.

Portland’s much-anticipated Safe 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. Safe Routes to School - Portland is designed to increase the number of kids walking and biking to school using elements from the ‘4 E’s’ – Encouragement, Education, Engineering and Enforcement – and is modeled after the highly successful Marin County national model program.

Community-led activities such as surveys, walkabouts, mapping, Walk and Bike to School Day, and Bicycle and Pedestrian Safety Education classes will analyze conditions around the schools and involve parents, students, community groups and government agencies in helping improve the walk and bike 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 establishes 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!

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.

More Info

We provide advice to groups.

We have a record of consulting around Oregon, and the country, on these issues. Read about some of our accomplishments.

For more information about BTA’s Safe Routes to School work, visit our Oregon Walk & Bike to School website or contact Angela Koch, our Safe Routes to School Director, (503) 226-0676 x19.