Posted by Founder, Bicycling Monterey
Safe Routes to School — Monterey County
Short link to this post: http://bit.ly/SafeRoutesMoCo
A new Safe Routes to School website for Monterey County was launched in February 2021 by the Transportation Agency for Monterey County: https://saferoutesmonterey.org
Rutas Seguras a la Escuela / Safe Routes to School — New site for Monterey County: https://bikemonterey.org/new-site-for-safe-routes-to-school-monterey-county.html
For some Bicycling Monterey posts since 2009 related to Safe Routes to School (not all), use the following link: https://bikemonterey.org/category/advocacy-and-infrastructure/safe-routes-to-school
When we presented on Safe Routes to School for an @mpusd_now elementary in 2014, committee uninterested in biking, etc; their focus was simply getting cars to slow in parking lot—still grave concern in 2022.
Temp projects to show what's possible can help.https://t.co/rV9UL7nMHP— Bicycling Monterey 🚲💚🌎#ActOnClimate (@BikeMonterey) September 2, 2022
Twin Cities bicycling #infrastructure first really came to our awareness in 2011, thanks to meeting the late Jim Oberstar ("legislative father of Safe Routes to School") at Bicycle Leadership Conference in Monterey in 2011 (scroll down): https://t.co/tAdEG0AhvH#transportation pic.twitter.com/8RUXYbg5th
— Bicycling Monterey 🚲💚🌎#ActOnClimate (@BikeMonterey) September 13, 2022
New Monterey County site by @TAMC_News:
Safe Routes to School https://t.co/DfPfXqi73o.Enseñar a los niños del #CondadoDeMonterey a ir a la escuela de manera segura en automóvil, caminando, andando en bicicleta, o en patineta. https://t.co/AopNvdFrBWhttps://t.co/MkI1pT71HS pic.twitter.com/wec2QNecxD
— Bicycling Monterey 🚲💚🌎#ActOnClimate (@BikeMonterey) February 13, 2021
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The information below was published 30 January 2018.
The Safe Routes to School Launch Program, a joint project of Safe Routes to School National Partnership and UC Berkeley SafeTREC, had its pilot year in 2017. Since then, among communities it has helped is the City of Monterey; see Monterey’s Action Plan: http://safetrec.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/monterey_srts_action_plan_final.pdf
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"Nearly half of fifth grade students in the Monterey Peninsula Unified School District [@mpusd_now] were overweight or obese in 2015." https://t.co/TNkeWguFLf@jmreyes831 rpts on #SafeRoutesToSchool Marina, Seaside. #MontereyCounty #publichealth #diabetesprevention #bike #walk
— Bicycling Monterey 🚲💚🌎#ActOnClimate (@BikeMonterey) September 7, 2018
“@TAMC_News promotes the benefits of these Class 4 bike lanes because they reduce crashes by 50 percent.”—Quinton Roland, #urbandesign consultant & #PacificGrove resident who has 8-yr old attending Robert Down Elementary https://t.co/zeNz4UcXWx #SafeRoutesToSchool #MontereyCounty
— Bicycling Monterey 🚲💚🌎#ActOnClimate (@BikeMonterey) September 8, 2018
Unless otherwise indicated, all links below go to Bicycling Monterey posts or pages that provide general info about those topics.
Among the many, many different ways you can advocate for bicycling— and other active transportation (e.g., walking, skateboarding— is to attend Transportation Agency for Monterey County (TAMC) Bicycling and Pedestrian Facilities (“bike-ped”) Advisory Committee meetings. Among the numerous topics addressed at meetings throughout the year is Safe Routes to School (SRTS).
See some highlights below from
TAMC’s Safe Routes to School Program draft.
Among the multiple benefits of children and teens having safe routes to school (and other support for biking/walking/skating for transportation) are the benefits to their physical, mental, and emotional health. There is also a growing body of research regarding the boost to academic success.
Perhaps you’ve seen Bicycling Monterey’s post “Bike to School – Elementary, middle, and high school resources in Monterey County” AKA http://bit.ly/KidsBikeToSchool.
As mentioned in the “Bike to School” post, when Dr. Hugh Stallworth retired from the Monterey County Health Department after a 42-year career in the field, he told Sara Rubin for the Monterey County Weekly that the most challenging public health issue here is one shared by the nation: childhood obesity. He warned that changing this is going “to have to be an entire community effort. If we don’t solve that one, the prediction is this is the first generation where parents might outlive their kids.”
In January 2018, Monterey Peninsula Unified School Board Trustee Wendy Root Askew tweeted: in some Monterey County communities, nearly 50% of children are now overweight or obese.
Would you like to help more Monterey County children and teens bike to school, or walk or skate to school? Get involved in local Safe Routes to School efforts.
Among items on the agenda for TAMC’s February 7, 2018, 6 p.m. bike-ped meeting is a draft of the Safe Routes to School (SRTS) Program, a countywide effort funded through voter-approved Measure X: http://www.tamcmonterey.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/COUNTYWIDE-SRTS-PROGRAM-Guidelines_Draft_Jan2018.pdf.
Here are examples from TAMC’s SRTS draft.
Refer to the draft for more information. For any updates to the draft, contact the bike-ped coordinator at TAMC: http://www.tamcmonterey.org/contact/staff/.
- TAMC anticipates their SRTS education programs will include, for example (not a complete list): pedestrian and bicycle safety rodeos (such as those by Ecology Action of Santa Cruz), balance bike kits and clinics (such as those by Families of Color Monterey County—http://focmc.org), and street smarts public awareness campaigns in English and Spanish (much needed, including because outlets such as the Gannett-owned Californian published accurate info about bikes on sidewalks only in their English edition, considering it “opinion,” which they don’t translate for their Spanish language El Sol).
- TAMC’s draft indicates their SRTS efforts also aim to support high school bike maintenance instruction. It will be great to see more such instruction finally coming to Monterey County! As of January 2018, Monterey County’s only high school (level) bike maintenance instruction, to Bicycling Monterey’s knowledge, is at the Youth Center—a bike education program founded by Bicycling Monterey: Youth Center – Teach Teens Well: 7th year of Monterey County’s first high school bike tech class.
- TAMC staff will work with local law enforcement (such as these) and community centers to provide opportunities to train neighborhood volunteers to lead walking school buses. (Idea for bike advocates: Advocate with TAMC to train volunteers for bicycle trains too: http://guide.saferoutesinfo.org/walking_school_bus/bicycle_trains.cfm.)
- TAMC plans to work with local law enforcement, schools, and high school/community bike shop classes to give repaired bikes to kids in need.
- TAMC’s SRTS draft proposes sponsorships for Open Streets events such as Ciclovía Salinas in other communities around Monterey County.
- Complete Streets for Pajaro (Monterey County’s northernmost—and often overlooked—community) and Castroville are among the priority projects planned for fiscal years 2018-2023.
- TAMC’s focus for Bike Month in May 2018 is the National Bike Month Challenge, and that’s also among TAMC’s SRTS proposals. (Note that this proposal has an added challenge for many people, because it requires online participation http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/03/22/digital-divide-persists-even-as-lower-income-americans-make-gains-in-tech-adoption/).
- Also planned is an Online Safe Routes to School Resource Hub. TAMC no longer has the Bicycling Resources page found on their website in the past. Instead, it now has a short “Information & Resources section” here: http://www.tamcmonterey.org/programs/bike-pedestrian/. As compared to that section, or to Bicycling Monterey/ Information Hub for Biking Monterey County, the new TAMC resource hub, which will be maintained by TAMC, will focus solely on Safe Routes to School.
Attend the meeting and learn more about Safe Routes to School possibilities ahead, along with other topics.
Note that the Feb 7, 2018 agenda packet also indicates that in FY 2019/20, mini grants will be available for bike safety instructor certification, as well as school-based Safe Routes to School encouragement programs, high school bike maintenance classes, traffic gardens, traffic safety equipment, crossing guard equipment, and training and neighborhood enforcement programs.
Can’t get to TAMC’s Wednesday evening bike-ped meetings? Consider participating via conference call. Questions? Contact TAMC: http://www.tamcmonterey.org/contact/staff/.
Below: East Market Street in the Alisal / East Salinas, part City of Salinas infrastructure improvements.
Headsup, parents and others driving motor vehicles
At the Safe Routes to School meeting below, the #1 concern of parents and educators attending may be surprising to you. It was people driving too fast in the pick-up zones and parking lots! Please, don’t be one of those people.
This post was published on 30 January 2018. One or more changes last made to this post on 17 September 2022.