Welcome
to Cross County Connection's South Jersey Safe Routes to School
Newsletter! These newsletters contain in-depth articles, news items,
and examples of Safe Routes to School work in South Jersey. We hope
you enjoy!
Safe
Routes to School (SRTS) is a national program that encourages
children to be more physically active and creates safe, convenient
and fun opportunities for children to bicycle and walk to and from
their schools. The program also encourages changes in travel
behavior, supports increased traffic law enforcement around schools
and educates communities about the benefits of active transportation.
If
your school district or community is interested in learning more
about SRTS, contact David Calderetti, SRTS Coordinator for Cross
County Connection, at (856) 596-8228 or calderetti@driveless.com.
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URGENT: NJDOT Infrastructure Grant
Applications are due May 15, 2014
The Safe Routes
to School Infrastructure Grant Program is a reimbursement based
program in which funding is available for a wide variety of
infrastructure projects and activities that support and encourage
students to walk and bicycle to school. In New Jersey, these funds
are available through the New Jersey Department of Transportation
(NJDOT). Funding can be used to construct or improve a variety of
infrastructure projects within a 2 mile radius of K-8 schools and
must be construction ready.
Application for
this grant is highly competitive. Under NJDOT guidelines, a good
grant proposal will include:
- A
comprehensive outline of all aspects of existing infrastructure
and proposed projects that address pedestrian and cycling
barriers, problems and issues
- Documentation
of infrastructure problems using speed studies, crash data and
photos that detail the severity of said issues
- Ongoing
plans to educate and encourage the student body about safe
bicycling and walking practices (educational programs are not
eligible for funding under this grant)
- A
School Travel Plan: A narrative that consists of a school
description, partnerships, barriers and opportunities, goals and
actions, evaluation parameters, and maps (recommended but not
required)
- Description
of previous bicycle and pedestrian projects or education,
enforcement or encouragement activities
Below are
examples of potential infrastructure projects that have been used for
existing SRTS or related programs:
Bikeways
- On-Street Bike Lanes or Shoulders
- Off-Road Bike Paths or Trails
- Bike Route Signs
- Bicycle
Parking (Racks or Lockers)
Pedestrian
Safety
- New or Upgraded Sidewalks
- ADA Curb Ramps
- Crosswalk Installation or Striping
- Pedestrian Crossing Signs
- Pedestrian
Pushbuttons or Signal Heads
For more
information about the SRTS Infrastructure Grant Program, please visit
www.state.nj.us/transportation/business/localaid/srts.shtm.
Cross County Connection can advise your school district or
municipality on applying for the SRTS Infrastructure Grant Program,
and help coordinate SRTS non-infrastructure projects (encouragement
and educational activities) that strengthen the application for the
grant.
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Bicycle Education: Time to Get Rolling
After you learn
to walk, but before you learn to drive a vehicle, people usually
learn how to ride a bicycle. With so much emphasis placed upon driver
education at the high school level, we tend to forget that learning
to ride a bicycle is a child's first opportunity to understand the
rules of the road and put them into practice. 
Recently, the
National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration released a new
study entitled " Bicycle Safety
Education for Children from a Developmental and Learning Perspective"
to complement its 2011 Bicycle and
Pedestrian Curricula Guide. The study analyzes bicycle education
content and its effect on student behavior. If you are looking to
implement bicycle education into your school's curriculum, these
resources will serve as the basis for developing your program.
As part of Cross
County Connection's SRTS program assistance, we can provide
complementary activities to supplement your bicycle education
program. Activities such as bicycle rodeos and bike trains add an
on-bike component to aid in the learning process. A bike rodeo is a
series of skill courses that teach balance, hand signals and proper
movement while riding a bike. Rodeos can be organized after school or
on a weekend. For communities that want to encourage bicycling to
school, a bicycle train offers a safe, fun way to ride as a group.
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Success in Southampton, NJ 
Since 2012, the
Southampton School District in Burlington County has been developing
their SRTS Program. From celebrating walking to school with
year-round activities to developing a School Travel Plan, the
district has created a sound base for learning proper pedestrian and
bicycling etiquette and their momentum is not slowing down. This
school year, the Southampton School District has included SRTS in
their Health and Wellness Policy.
Inclusion of
SRTS into your school's Health and Wellness Policy will insure that
the efforts undertaken by administrators to set up existing bicycle
and pedestrian programs will continue through the years, even if
faculty and staff changes occur. Organizing continuous SRTS
programming will lead to sustainability. Once SRTS becomes part of
school district policy, it will be easier to make SRTS part of the
fabric of your community.
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We are now
booking Bike to School Events for the month of May! If your community
is interested in hosting a bicycle rodeo or a Bike to School Day,
contact Cross County Connection at (856) 596-8228.
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Sponsored by the New Jersey
Department of Transportation with funding from the Federal Highway
Administration. The Federal Government and the NJDOT assume no
liability for the contents.
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