City of Santa Rosa Pilot Safe Routes to School Program Julia GonzalezGrant Administrator, City of Santa Rosa,

Safe Routes to School Program

Santa Rosa SRTS Program

A pilot project in partnership with the Santa Rosa City School District

The first and largest SRTS program in the Sonoma County

Serving 13 elementary and 5 middle schools

A component of the Street Smarts campaign

Federal SRTS grant $250,000

Concludes this academic year

Events and Activities

Walk-n-Roll to School Events

Bicycle Rodeos

School Assemblies

Community Events and Fairs

Outreach Components

Promotional ads in various local publications

Radio Campaign – The Roads of Our Lives

Facebook ads with walking and cycling safety tips

Partnerships and Resources

All materials developed by the City of Santa Rosa are being utilized by the County SRTS Program.

Scripts for school assembly presentations, props, graphics, artwork, music, posters, etc.

Santa Rosa PD Bicycle and Pedestrian Safety Program.

Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition.

What We Learned

Sustainability of these programs relies heavily on a commitment from educators and parent volunteers.

High level of interest from the community.

Economic factors influence the level of parent participation.

Safety (both real and perceived) is the primary factor influencing whether a student walks or is driven to school.

What We Learned (cont.)

Other influencing factors include weather conditions and the amount of day light hours.

While events such as Walking Wednesdays or Walk-n-Roll to School Days are valuable tools for generating interest in walking and cycling among students – Parents are an equally, if not more important audience to focus on.

Safe Routes to School Improving Health, Safety and Transportation

Beth DadkoCo-Coordinator

Countywide SRTS Workgroup

School Commute Trends

Kids ages 5 to 14:1969 2009

Usually walked or biked to school

48% 13%

Arrived in a private auto 12% 44%

Rode school bus 38% 40%

Live within 1 mile of school

41% 31%

Live within 1 mile of school who walk/bike to school

88% 38%

Source: 2009 National Household Travel Survey

Greenhouse Gas Impact

FROM 1990 LEVELS

Transportation = 60% of total emissions in 2007

4 of 5 trips in Sonoma County are single-occupant automobiles

School transportation: 20-25% of morning traffic nationally

Sonoma County committed to GHG reduction target of 25% below 1990 levels by 2015

Why Should We Care?

Children need physical activity

Safer with less traffic

Pedestrian and bicycle safety are life lessons

Classroom benefits

“You cannot educate a child who is not healthy and you cannot keep a child

healthy who is not educated.”- Dr. Joycelyn Elders, former US Surgeon

General

Part of the Solution…

Sonoma County is taking action on behalf of children through Safe Routes to School

Current SRTS ProgramsMeasure M Transportation Tax: current base for countywide SRTS Program ($45K/yr)

Current Federal SRTS 5E’s programs• South Santa Rosa (7 schools)• Sebastopol (4 schools)

• Rohnert Park (5 schools)

SRTS Countywide Workgroup

Elements of SRTS programs

Evaluation

Education

Enforcement

Engineering

Encouragement

Evaluation (pre and post data collection)

Evaluation – GIS Maps

Kawana Elementary School, South Santa Rosa

Increases popularity of walking and bicycling

Is an easy way to start SRTS programs

Emphasizes fun

Encouragement

Education

Imparts safety skills and awareness

Develops understanding of benefits of walking/bicycling

Fosters life-long safety and healthy habits

Includes parents, neighbors and other drivers

Chicago, IL

Enforcement

Increases awareness of pedestrians and bicyclists

Improves driver behavior

Helps children follow traffic rules and helmet compliance

Engineering

Creates safer conditions for walking and bicycling

Can influence the way people behave

West Valley City, UT

South Santa Rosa SRTS Program

Before After

South Santa Rosa SRTS Program

Before After

Safe Routes to School is Effective

Attitude Shifts: the first step

Strongly Encourage

Encourage Neutral Discourage Strongly Discourage

Fall 2008 20.7% 27.6% 44.8% 1.7% 5.2%Spring 2009

37% 47.9% 15.1% 0% 0%

Percentage of Parents Who Feel that Kawana Elementary School Encourages or Discourages Walking and Biking to/from School

Number of Parents at Kawana Reporting the Level of Fun Walking and Biking to/from School is for Their Child

Very Fun Fun Neutral Boring Very Boring

Fall 2008 13.1% 55.7% 26.2% 1.6% 3.3%

Spring 2009

31.1% 41.9% 25.7% 1.4% 0%

Sustainable Funding Opportunities

MTC Regional SRTS• by Oct 2011

SRTS Grants• Federal Cycle 3- released in spring 2011

• State Cycle 10- released in fall 2011

What Can Schools/Parents Do?

Promote Walk & Roll to School Day • Wednesday, October 6th, 2011

“Walking Wednesdays”Start walking school buses or bike trains

Bike rodeosResources on websiteSchool newslettersAssembliesPrizes for participation

What Can Santa Rosa City Council Do?

Assign someone to represent SR on the Countywide SRTS Workgroup

Support the formation of a Santa Rosa SRTS Task Force

Participate in Walk & Roll to School Day • Wednesday, October 5, 2011