Safe Routes to School 
Where Art Thou?

"Walk to School Day" in The Bronx as part of T.A.'s Safe Routes to School program. It is time for the DOT to make its own SRTS program public.

After closely watching T.A.'s Bronx Safe Routes to School program, the Department of Transportation awarded a $2.5 million contract in early 2002 to the consulting team of Urbitran and RBA to create the City's own Safe School program. As step one, the DOT asked the consultants to create a computerized map and inventory of the surroundings of all 1,350 schools in New York City and select 135 schools with the worst pedestrian safety problems for detailed traffic calming plans.

Though it has been in progress for a year, the DOT has not breathed a word about the project to the public. This is particularly disappointing given that T.A.'s politically popular Bronx program, which developed traffic calming plans for 38 elementary schools, was rooted in intensive community outreach. Doubly disappointing is that the DOT and its school safety consultants is ignoring, rather than embracing, the parents, teachers, city councilmembers and community leaders who participated in the Bronx Safe Routes to School Program. It is a shame that the DOT has not taken advantage of the community interest in traffic calming at the 38 Bronx schools, especially since the agency often encounters community opposition to even modest changes. Rather than being secretive, the DOT should publicize the Safe Schools program. To start, the DOT should form a Safe Schools Citizen's Advisory Committee of elected officials, community board members, civic organizations, the Police Department, the Fire Department, business associations and others, as it has for traffic calming planning on Queens Boulevard. T.A. would certainly welcome the chance to share our expertise, which is based on five years of Safe Routes to School work in The Bronx, with the DOT.

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