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International Walk to School Day

October 6, 2004

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE -- September 29, 2004

A healthful movement is emerging across the U.S., and around the world as well. It is called the Walk to School movement, and participants in 30 countries and all 50 states of the U.S. will be walking or biking to school on October 6, 2004, demonstrating the many benefits of this apparently unremarkable exercise. Here in Ann Arbor, the Ecology Center, GO! Outdoors, and the Washtenaw Bicycling and Walking Coalition encourage local participation.

The Walk to School movement is helping people become healthier and helping communities prosper. Because of these compelling outcomes, the movement is enjoying extraordinarily broad support at all levels. Last year, 3,000 schools in all 50 states of the US participated in the Walk to School program. In just a few years, the movement has spread to 30 countries. Check out the action at www.walktoschool.org and www.saferoutestoschools.org. See the government's downloadable PowerPoint presentation at www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/kidswalk. From the same site, the CDC freely distributes the large how-to manual, Kids Walk to School.

Walking to school has historically been taken for granted as a simple necessity, neither good nor bad. But now, with 90% of school children being driven to school (a 40% increase since the 60's), the non-walking effect is noticeable. Traffic congestion around schools has become a problem; air quality has declined; children have become heavier; and children's experiences of the natural world have become fewer. Communities, too, have suffered in direct ratio with walkability. An area unpleasant for walking suffers economically. Where pedestrians are present, the street is alive; creativity and activity ensue, and prosperity follows. Safe walking is now recognized as an inseparable characteristic of prosperous urban centers. Walking to and from school each day is now so well recognized by policy makers as vital to children's and communities' health, that the nascent Walk to School movement is catching on and spreading rapidly everywhere.

The federal government is a vital supporter of the Walk to School movement. The EPA (Environmental Protection Agency), the CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention), the NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration), and the FWA (Federal Highway Administration) are financing the PBIC's (Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center's) Walk to School and International Walk to School programs. The PBIC, under the umbrella of the PWA (Partnership for a Walkable America), has created a National Safe Routes to School Course (SR2S), which is just this month, September 2004, being completed and ready for nationwide implementation. Pointedly, the Safe Routes to School Course is targeted at traffic engineers, city government officials, and school-administration professionals: it is understood that a complete paradigm shift in transportation policy is needed - away from the old “cars go fast and hog the funds” paradigm, which engulfed policy during the 20th century, and toward a “pedestrians and bikes are traffic, too” mentality.

Safety is the number-one reason parents drive their children to school. Enhancements which create pedestrian and bicycle safety include multi-use bicycle and pedestrian trails and paths; bridges and tunnels over or under main arterials; bike lanes; sidewalk improvements; safer crossings at intersections; refuge islands at or between intersections; safety signs; traffic-calming devices; traffic-diversion improvements; bicycle parking facilities; and educational programs for students and motorists.

States are rapidly lining up to pass legislation requiring that safe pedestrian routes be created, often using existing federal traffic-safety or hazard-elimination funds. Colorado most recently passed such a law, Safe Routes to School, by a 28 to 7 margin. The Colorado Senate in April made children's health and safety a priority: public roads must now be safe for children, pedestrians, and bicyclists. School children are being given back the physical and mental health benefits of the daily walk to and from school, and the communities of Colorado will see immediate benefits as well.

The Midwest -- the fattest part of the country -- is lagging behind other states, but Governor Granholm is aware of the needs. The Governor's Council on Physical Fitness, Health, & Sports, in conjunction with statewide partners, and underwritten with Michigan Department of Transportation's transportation enhancements funding, launched a Safe Routes to School demonstration project in 2003 with five schools sprinkled across the state, and five more added to the project in 2004. None are in Ann Arbor. However, in alignment with the Ecology Center's vision of creating healthy communities, Ecology Center staff and community partners have spearheaded two Walking School Bus programs (www.walkingschoolbus.org), at Mitchell Elementary in 2003, and at Lakewood Elementary in 2004, in which a naturalist and adult volunteers/parents supervise a walking bus of students from nearby neighborhoods to their school.

Mayor Hieftje and the City of Ann Arbor are dedicated to improving walkability and bikability. Our Public Services and Planning departments are in the process of creating a Comprehensive Non-Motorized Transportation Plan, which is due to be finalized by year end. They have retained a consulting team, led by Greenway Collaborative, Inc. of Ann Arbor (whose maps of street enhancements for non-motorized traffic can be viewed at www.greenwaycollab.com). The city has secured permanent funding to implement these plans from legislation awarding 5% of transportation dollars to non-motorized transportation. The several new refuge islands and bike lanes you notice around town represent just the leading edge of these funds. The city is wasting no time enlarging transportation options in Ann Arbor and helping to make our community more healthy.

Walking and biking to school is becoming easier and safer
-- give it a try!

For More Information Contact:

Brenda Bentley-Goenka: 662-4735, bbgoenka@provide.net
John Hritz: 997-0409
-- Washtenaw Bicycling and Walking Coalition

Tawny Gapinsky: 761-3186
-- The Ecology Center

 

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