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Concord Safe Routes to School program reports expanded participation, seeks signage and infrastructure funding
Summary
Safe Routes to School volunteers and town staff reported growing participation in school walk/bike events and recommended applying for small 'signs-and-lines' grants now and larger MassDOT/FHWA infrastructure grants later to address crosswalks and intersection safety near Thoreau and other schools.
Phil, the committee’s Safe Routes to School coordinator, told the Concord Transportation Advisory Committee that the program aims to increase safe walking and biking for elementary through high school students through education, events and targeted infrastructure work. “The idea of the program is to encourage kids to walk and roll,” he said, and noted the program relies on parent volunteers, police escorts at busy crossings and planning staff support.
Phil said this year’s local events drew more than 300 participants and reported no injuries. He described arrival/dismissal walk audits at the Thoreau School that identified deteriorated crosswalk markings and aging signage. The audits led to an application for a small signs-and-lines grant intended to fund quick interventions such as refreshed crosswalks and better-placed signs.
Committee members asked whether larger infrastructure grants can fund work on school-owned property or only town-owned roads. Phil said state and federal Safe Routes infrastructure grants typically apply to municipal property and town infrastructure, not to school buildings or interior campus drives, and cited examples where significant projects (road diets, sidewalks, curb extensions and protected shared-use paths) were funded through TIP lists and FHWA funding.
Members also discussed measurement and evaluation. Phil acknowledged the data gathered so far were informal counts done during events and by volunteer observation; he said the program has seen an uptick in everyday walking and biking but that there is not yet a continuous, formal measurement program.
The committee encouraged continued outreach to parent groups and schools to make the program self-sustaining and suggested using the smaller grant work as a step toward larger infrastructure applications that would require coordination among DPW, planning and MassDOT.
