Safe Routes
Safe Routes Minnesota provides funding to community and school groups to make improvements to the routes your children use to walk and bike to school.
National SRTS links
- National Center for Safe Routes to School
- Safe Routes Partnership
- FHWA Safe Routes
- Walk to School Week
- Kids Walk, CDC
Related links
Program overview
The Safe Routes to School (SRTS) program was created in Section 1404 of the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users Act (SAFETEA-LU). The legislation was signed into law on August 10, 2005 providing State DOTs with five federal fiscal years (FY2005-FY2009) of funding for the SRTS program. In 2010 a Continuing Resolution provided more funds for the program.
The program provides communities with the opportunity to improve the built environment and promote bicycling and walking to school with infrastructure and non-infrastructure projects. The goals of the program are threefold:
- To enable and encourage children, including those with disabilities, to walk and bicycle to school;
- To make bicycling and walking to school a safer and more appealing transportation alternative, thereby encouraging a healthy and active lifestyle from an early age; and
- To facilitate the planning, development, and implementation of projects and activities that will improve safety and reduce traffic, fuel consumption, and air pollution in the vicinity of schools.
See project structure and funding and special requirements for more details.