Oregon
Oregon cities receive state grants to make it easier to walk and bike to school – BikePortland
Faculty’s nearly out for summer time trip for a lot of college students in Oregon. However transportation planners of their cities and faculty districts are already pondering previous Labor Day, wanting to make it simpler for college students and oldsters to make use of energetic transportation to get to high school. By way of the Oregon Division of Transportation’s Protected Routes to Faculty program, college districts have the chance to use for grants for infrastructure and non-infrastructure tasks to encourage and facilitate secure methods for youths to stroll, bike or roll to high school.
“Supporting multimodal transportation reminiscent of strolling and rolling is a key a part of ODOT’s Strategic Motion Plan,” an ODOT press launch about latest grant awards says. “The Protected Routes to Faculty Program helps Oregon communities make it simpler to decide on alternate modes of journey.”
The Portland Bureau of Transportation has its personal Protected Routes to Faculty program, as do different communities across the state, like Eugene-Springfield, Salem-Keizer and Beaverton. These packages obtain funding from native sources, like Portland’s fuel tax and Metro. However statewide funding provides an additional enhance to tasks, and will be particularly helpful in rural areas, together with tribal communities.
ODOT’s Protected Routes to Faculty funding addresses each non-infrastructure and infrastructure wants in a faculty neighborhood. On the non-infrastructure aspect, ODOT funding will allow college districts to do issues like rent district Protected Routes to Faculty coordinators who can lead academic and consciousness campaigns. These coordinators may have the ability to join college districts to their metropolis transportation departments to entry funding for direct infrastructure tasks.
ODOT awarded 13 training grants all through the state to fund these teaching programs for the 2023 and 2024 fiscal years. Cities all through Oregon are represented on the checklist, from La Grande to Medford. The 4 training grants awarded to Portland-area packages are as follows:
Portland Public Faculties, $100,000 grant + $50,000 Session Companies paid for by ODOT
PPS desires to be an energetic chief and champion of a district-wide SRTS program. We imagine outcomes of SRTS program will end in a greater place not just for our kids however all metropolis residents. A metropolis the place residents are safer, more healthy, happier and higher related. The systematic SRTS strategy begins with a full-time devoted PPS SRTS Coordinator who will work with a advisor to develop an Implementation Plan. This plan will create a imaginative and prescient for a district-wide SRTS Program, in addition to set up targets, targets and initiatives which might be significant to the youth they serve. The primary part of the plan will focus totally on PPS’ 38 high-need colleges, with precedence given to elementary and center colleges that rating increased within the TDI. Moreover, we are going to carry collectively the best folks to type a PPS-led SRTS Advisory Committee, with participation from our supporting companions. The committee will meet often to judge, make enhancements and hold this system transferring ahead. Constant and clear communication will likely be important for a powerful SRTS program. The Coordinator will work intently with PPS Communications to succeed in our audience(s).
Bike Works by P:ear, $100,000 grant + $50,000 Session Companies paid for by ODOT
Bike Works by P:ear will proceed its partnership with Multnomah County’s SRTS to ship transportation well being programming to East County with a full time SRTS coordinator. We’re in a novel place to broaden our talents throughout jurisdictions, increase the present SRTS program, work collaboratively with different SRTS practitioners, and create equitable transportation choices for the neighborhood. Throughout 2022-2023, we are going to proceed to supply classes and outreach with Multnomah County SRTS and transition to offering the vast majority of in-person classes by 2023- 2024.
Metropolis of Portland, Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT), $35,000
Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) SRTS employees will practice Elevate Oregon’s highschool trainer mentors to guide a Transportation Academy. The Academy’s essential purpose is to show visitors security expertise. Secondary matters will likely be determined relying on the scholars’ wants, pursuits, and targets. Subjects embody multimodal literacy, local weather connections, transportation fairness, civic engagement, and Protected Programs. The Academy consists of classes led by Elevate academics, material consultants as audio system, scholar tasks, and a ultimate scholar presentation. Scholar tasks can embody however aren’t restricted to educating youthful college students on visitors security, photograph voice, serving as strolling college bus leaders or nook greeters, or creating a security messaging marketing campaign. Presentation varieties will depend upon the challenge and will likely be crafted to learn elementary or center college college students within the Parkrose neighborhood. These displays will likely be both throughout college or within the after-school program, Faculties Uniting Neighborhoods (SUN).This progressive challenge not solely engages highschool college students however advantages elementary and center college college students as effectively by means of academic displays.
Beaverton Faculty District, $87,722
The Beaverton Protected Routes to Faculty Program will work to extend energetic transportation (bike, scooter, skateboard, bus, and carpool) to high school and reduce single passenger journeys. The target is to extend security for college students as they journey to and from college, enhance the chance for college students to confidently select to make use of energetic transportation modes, and finally, enhance the protection and well being of your entire neighborhood by means of the discount of visitors and ensuing congestion. The training, occasions, and neighborhood engagement proposed will profit your entire district whereas direct service will focus totally on the fifteen Title 1 elementary colleges, seven further center/excessive colleges serving scholar populations with >40% low- earnings, and people colleges dealing with transportation and district boundary modifications. Beaverton Protected Routes will work with BSD, the Metropolis of Beaverton, Washington County, and THPRD to prioritize wanted tasks and occasions all through the district to create further alternatives for strolling and rolling to high school and all through the neighborhood.
Along with training grants, ODOT additionally introduced it is going to be working with 13 new rural communities to supply challenge identification help, which can contain these communities working with consultants to create their first Protected Routes to Faculty plans. These plans analyze present neighborhood situations and create a top level view folks can work with when taking a look at implementing insurance policies to assist youngsters stroll and bike to high school safely. You possibly can learn examples of previous plans on ODOT’s Protected Routes to Faculty web site.
Faculty districts and cities vying for infrastructure funding are in for a a lot harder competitors. This yr, 85 candidates requested to obtain cash for sidewalk infill and secure crossings close to colleges, their requests totaled greater than $80 million. ODOT solely has $26 million to spend, so many of those requests will go unfulfilled. The method for deciding who will obtain infrastructure funding continues to be ongoing, and the grants will likely be awarded in January of subsequent yr.
Town of Portland has requested for $3-4 million of this $26 million for 2 development tasks in east Portland: sidewalk infill and crossing enhancements close to Powell Butte Elementary Faculty establishing a paved walkway to serve Alice Ott Center Faculty college students. You could find the checklist of all 85 candidates right here.
Over the following a number of years, ODOT will add $30 million from the federal Infrastructure Funding and Jobs Act to the funding presently used for Protected Routes to Faculty tasks. It’s unclear precisely how this cash will likely be distributed, but it surely ought to present some further assist to fund extra infrastructure and training tasks.
It’s thrilling to see tasks within the works making it safer for youths to get to high school without having to be dropped off in a automobile. Many transportation advocates converse extremely of communities by which youngsters have the liberty and company to soundly stroll and bike. Simply take a look at the positivity radiating from the ‘bike buses’ Portland bodily training trainer and bike advocate Sam Balto has organized for the previous a number of weeks as a secure and enjoyable solution to get youngsters to journey their bikes to high school! With extra official funding for packages to get youngsters transferring and cut back household reliance on automobiles, extra communities will have the ability to reap these advantages.
Taylor has been BikePortland’s employees author since November 2021. She has additionally written for Avenue Roots and Eugene Weekly. Contact her at taylorgriggswriter@gmail.com