Connecticut's first "Safe Routes To School" program launched in June by the Connecticut Bicycle Coalition has been widely embraced by public elementary and junior high schools from around the state. As of the deadline in late July, forty-four schools had submitted application to participate. Following a model first used in Denmark, the program facilitates the development of traffic calming and pedestrian safety projects along routes known to be taken by children walking to school through a planning process involving parents, teachers, administrators, municipal leaders and traffic safety officials. 

According to state statistics compiled by Safe Kids CT, pedestrian injury is the leading cause of death among children ages 5-14 in Connecticut. 

With funding for planning and construction from the Hartford Courant Foundation, the Ensworth Charitable Trust, and the Daphne Seybolt Culpeper Memorial Foundation, and sliding matching grants from municipalities, the Connecticut Bicycle Coalition hopes to work with between 5 and 8 schools during the first year of the project. According to Coalition Executive Director David Hiller, schools selected for the program will be those with a large percentage of students who walk to school and active parent groups that are near roadways with high traffic volumes or insufficient pedestrian amenities. Based on an initial review of applications, Hiller said that Safe Routes projects are likely in New Britain, Hartford, Manchester, New Haven, Waterbury, and Stamford.

If the already overwhelming demand for Safe Routes to School projects in Connecticut continues, the Connecticut Department of Transportation should look to the precedent set by cooperation between Transportation Alternatives and the New York City Department of Transportation. Currently, pedestrian -oriented projects are dramatically underfunded in Connecticut, receiving less than 1.4% of the total share of non-transit funding allocated in the state Transportation Improvement Program.

Transportation Alternatives launched the New York City program - the first in the United States - in 1997 in conjunction with the office of Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer and the New York Governor's Traffic Safety Committee. After completing traffic calming plans for 36 schools in the Bronx, Transportation Alternatives and the Bronx NYC Council delegation won the backing of NYC DOT (MTR #258). 

Next month, NYC DOT will take-over Transportation Alternative's Safe Routes program, expanding it city-wide with the commencement of a $2.5 million contract with consultant RBA Group. According to the contract, RBA will analyze pedestrian crash data and survey pedestrian facilities at all 1,357 NYC schools. Within the next 30 months, traffic calming projects will be completed around 135 schools, with 32 schools receiving extensive, state-of-the-art redesign of network roadways. The NYC DOT expects to spend up to $50 million on these projects, making the agency's Safe Routes To School program the largest thus far in the US.

Transportation Choices for Connecticut Policy Paper - "Better Options for Shorter Trips"

CT Legislators Would Fund Traffic Calming - February 5, 2001

Bronx Welcomes Safe Routes to School - November 21, 1999

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