Governor Bredesen Announces $2.6 million in Safe Routes to School Grants
Tuesday, June 15, 2010 | 05:55am
15 Municipalities Receive Funds to Encourage Elementary and Middle School Students to Walk and Bike
NASHVILLE – Governor Phil Bredesen today announced Safe Routes to School funding totaling $2,650,402 for fifteen municipalities in Tennessee. The funds will be used by multiple schools to improve sidewalks, crosswalks, signs and safe walking and biking educational activities. The Safe Routes to School program is a statewide initiative designed to make bicycling and walking to school a safer, more appealing and healthier alternative for students in kindergarten through eighth grade.
“The Safe Routes to School program is a great opportunity for schools, communities and government officials to work together to promote a healthier lifestyle for Tennessee children,” said Bredesen. “The program helps create safer walking and biking environments for students and funds activities to encourage children and their parents to consider walking and biking to school for a more active lifestyle.”
Cities receiving Safe Routes to School funds are (click on the links for information on each recipeint's project):
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Releases are in PDF format:
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The Safe Routes to School grants are made possible through a federally funded program administered by the Tennessee Department of Transportation.
“The Safe Routes to School program is an innovative program that integrates health, safety, traffic relief and environmental awareness under one umbrella,” said TDOT Commissioner Gerald Nicely. “Funds may be used for infrastructure projects and for other programs that directly support increased safety and encourage elementary and middle school children to walk and bike to school."
The projects awarded through these grants are funded through $10.8 million in federal funds made available through 2009. The funds were provided specifically for this purpose through SAFETEA-LU (Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users), the federal surface transportation program. The Safe Routes to School program is 100% federally funded and does not require a local match.
The Safe Routes to School program is comprised of five elements referred to as the 5 E’s. The selection process was driven by the following:
• Engineering—creating operational and physical improvements to the infrastructure surrounding schools that reduce speeds and potential conflicts with motor vehicle traffic, and establishing safer and fully accessible crossings, walkways, trails and bikeways.
• Education—teaching children about the broad range of transportation choices, instructing them in important lifelong bicycling and walking safety skills and launching driver safety campaigns in the vicinity of schools.
• Enforcement—partnering with local law enforcement agencies to ensure traffic laws are obeyed in the vicinity of schools (including enforcement of speeds, yielding to pedestrians in crossings, and proper walking and bicycling behaviors), and to initiate community enforcement such as crossing guard programs.
• Encouragement—events and activities to promote walking and bicycling (bike rodeos).
• Evaluation—monitoring and documenting outcomes and trends through the collection of data both before and after the intervention.
To learn more about the Safe Routes to School Program at the Tennessee Department of Transportation, please visit www.tn.gov/tdot/bikeped/saferoutes.htm or contact Diana Benedict, Program Coordinator, at (615) 253-2421 or diana.benedict@state.tn.us.
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