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Safe Routes Wins Federal Funds
Federation and partners prepare for first-ever federal appropriation

By David Callahan

In addition to federal funding, Safe Routes to School now has a logo, designed by graphic design volunteer Elisa Elder

The health and safety of Illinois children has finally become a priority in national transportation spending with the historic passage of Safe Routes to School legislation.

The federal transportation bill enacted last month will - for the first time - fund Safe Routes to School programs in the states, sending approximately $20 million to Illinois to improve walking and bicycling conditions for the trip to school.

In anticipation of this funding, Chicagoland Bicycle Federation and its partners laid groundwork in two ways:

Through the advocacy of the League of Illinois Bicyclists, CBF, the Center for Neighborhood Technology and others, we got Illinois House Bill 744 passed and signed into law, establishing a Safe Routes construction program in Illinois to be administered by the Illinois Department of Transportation.

Then, we established a Northeast Illinois Task Force to create a regional plan for presentation to IDOT.

The initial, July 29 meeting of the Task Force brought together a broad cross-section of stakeholders, including officials from suburban and Chicago schools, the Illinois Secretary of State’s office, the office of Lt. Gov. Patrick Quinn, the Consortium to Lower Obesity in Chicago Children, suburban village boards and park districts, the Illinois PTA and the League of Illinois Bicyclists.

Later this month, the task force will convene again. CBF Safe Routes Director Melody Geraci said there still is room for community leaders to come aboard.

Safe Routes to School originated in Denmark in 1976, when that nation had Western Europe’s highest rate of childhood deaths from collisions involving motor vehicles. Following the implementation of a pilot program, the Danish were able to reduce crashes involving pedestrians and bicyclists by 85 percent.

In the U.S., pedestrian and bicycle crashes with motor vehicles ranks as the second greatest cause of accidental death among children (the first is being a passenger in an automobile crash). The good news is that pedestrian and bicyclist mortality rates drop substantially when the automobile is traveling at 20 miles per hour or less.

Creating an environment in which children are not exposed to higher speeds than 20 mph is one element of Safe Routes, which also has educational and encouragement components.

To find out more about the Northeast Illinois Safe Routes Task Force, contact Geraci at (312) 427-3325, ext. 240, or visit the Safe Routes to School Web site.

David Callahan is managing editor of Bike Traffic