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Safe Routes to School proposals seek $150,000 for education, pedestrian kits and a traffic garden in Bend
Summary
At the TAC meeting, Commute Options and Bend‑La Pine Schools presented linked Safe Routes to School proposals: Commute Options seeks $150,000 in SHF funds for sustained programming and mapping; Bend‑La Pine Schools requested funds for pedestrian education kits and staffing and proposed a traffic garden as a community resource.
Three Safe Routes to School (SRTS) proposals were presented to the Bend MPO Technical Advisory Committee on Oct. 7 aimed at education, outreach and facilities that support walking and biking to school.
Brian Potwin, executive director of Commute Options, said his organization applied for $150,000 in SRTS funding over the program period (noted in materials as $150,000 total, roughly $50,000 per year) to scale a sustainable 02train‑the‑trainer02 model, expand pedestrian safety kits, and run encouragement events and mapping. "We are really focusing on sustainability within the school's programming and a train‑the‑trainer model with our pedestrian safety kits," Potwin said.
Potwin described new mapping work for Bend‑La Pine Schools that identifies low‑stress walking and rolling routes and gaps, and he said the funding would cover materials, staff time and travel to reach all schools in the district.
Michelle Rhodes, active transportation coordinator for Bend‑La Pine Schools, presented the district's request for two pedestrian education kits and staffing support to deliver classroom and assembly instruction, in‑school walking school buses and community events. Rhodes said about two‑thirds of elementary students in the district arrive by single‑occupant vehicle, with roughly 15% walking, and that education is needed to shift behavior. "We want to flip that narrative so that two thirds of our students are walking and rolling to school," Rhodes said.
Rhodes also presented a separate traffic‑garden concept: a motor‑vehicle‑free, asphalt‑based learning space with road markings (including a small roundabout) to teach biking and pedestrian skills. The district said it envisions siting traffic gardens on school playgrounds or at a park and expects the first installation to be a community resource that could be replicated at other schools.
Presentation Q&A covered program details, outreach to families (including multilingual materials and partnerships with county public‑health and school family advocates), enforcement and e‑bike safety courses, and the need for communitywide publicity so drivers understand new crossings and routes. No funding decisions were made at the meeting; SHF scoring and ODOT eligibility checks are pending.
