August 8, 2006

New Program Promotes Bicycling and Walking to North Carolina Schools

- from the Institute for Transportation Research and Education

Raleigh, NC — Today, less than 15 percent of children travel to school by walking or biking. Thirty years ago, that number was 90 percent. This factor contributes to the growing child obesity rates in the United States, along with traffic congestion, air quality and safety.

The Bicycle and Pedestrian program at ITRE is working with the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) to develop a new Safe Routes to School program for North Carolina. This new state program will work to improve the health and well-being of children by enabling and encouraging them to walk and bicycle to school.

North Carolina’s Safe Routes to School program will follow guidelines set by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), which were developed after Congress established a National Safe Routes to School initiative in the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU) signed into law in August 2005. This law provides funding for surface transportation programs that guide spending of federal tax revenue. According to FHWA, parents cite traffic danger as one of their big concerns in allowing children to walk or bike to school.

The project will run throughout the year and will provide administrative and support services to promote safe walking and bicycling to schools in North Carolina. The program will take schools through the application process, where they can apply for infrastructure improvements and training, then through training workshops and planning meetings, to carry out their individual programs.

Schools, local, regional and state agencies, and non-profit organizations will also be able to apply for grant funding to improve infrastructures, such as building safer street crossings, and to implement education, encouragement and enforcement programs that are consistent with enabling children to safely walk and bicycle to school.

The Bicycle and Pedestrian Program is a part of the Institute for Transportation Research and Education, administered by North Carolina State University. ITRE is a non-profit organization that conducts research, education, and technical assistance projects on a wide variety of surface transportation issues with the goals of solving problems and creating new products, better services, and smarter workers. ITRE is located on NCSU’s Centennial Campus. For more information about ITRE and related programs, please visit our Web site at www.itre.ncsu.edu.

— kmt —

Media Contact:
Lisa Gullette, ITRE Communications Manager, (919) 515-8039; lisa_gullette@ncsu.edu

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