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G8.1 Project title:
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Unified Government Comprehensive SRTS Outreach & Education Program
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G8.2 Project description: |
The Comprehensive Safe Routes to School (SRTS) Outreach & Education Program in Unified Government (UG) Wyandotte County, Kansas City, Kansas (KCK) includes both bicycle and pedestrian safety education and encouragement efforts. These programs empower youth to bike and walk to school and improve their neighborhood. This program also links infrastructure investments with non-infrastructure programs to improve engineering, education, encouragement, enforcement, evaluation, and equity to create vibrant, connected, sustainable communities around school areas with emphasis on walking and biking as the main modes of transportation.
Components: -Bicycle Safety Education -Pedestrian Safety Education -Walking School Bus -Active Ambassador Training -Public Engagement. Arrival/dismissal evaluations, SRTS technical assistance, and built environment assessments will inform programmatic need and implementation stage.
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G8.3 Project contact: |
BRENT THOMPSON-DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC WORKS ENGINEERING DIVISION
913-573-5700
bthompson@wycokck.org
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G1. Project Type: |
Non-Motorized Transportation - SRTS Non-Infrastructure
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G2. Funding Stream: |
TAP
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G3. TIP Number: |
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G4. State: |
Kansas
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G5. Project county: |
1. Wyandotte
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G6. Project municipality: |
1. Unified Government
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G7. Multiple agencies / jurisdictions?
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No
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G8.4 Purpose and need:
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Rates of preventable diseases and inactivity are high among youth in the Kansas City region. 50% less students walk and bike to school today compared to 40 years ago. Students lack the resources, skills, and necessary safety knowledge needed to make active transportation an easy choice. Additionally, barriers to biking and walking to school are plentiful. This project also addresses lack of pedestrian infrastructure around schools, poor air quality, academic achievement, and high student busing costs.
The Comprehensive SRTS program in the UG aims to instill a desire for active living through biking and walking as forms of transportation.
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G9. Origin and ending
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Route:
From:
To:
Length (Miles):
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G10. Functional Classification:
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Not Applicable
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G11. In Transportation Outlook 2040?
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No
Decade:
--Select--
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G12. Muli-Agency Plan?
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Yes
Yes, this project shares the goals and strategic plans included on several metro area plans and implements the UG Complete Streets plan, MARC’s MetroGreen plan, the Healthy Communities Wyandotte multi-sectoral plan, UG Sidewalk and Trail Master Plan, and the Rosedale Master Plan.
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G13. Included in a CIP?
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No
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G14. Planning stage:
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Final Plan
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G15. Reviewed by state DOT?
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Yes
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G16. Right-of-Way acquisition: |
All acquired or none needed
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G17. ROW by local public agency process manual?
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No
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G18. Other unique local goals and objectives?
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Yes
This project supports the following TO 2040 Goals: Economic Vitality, Transportation Choices, Safety and Security, Environment, Climate Change and Energy Use.
Additionally, unique goals supported by this project include: engagement, learning, and equity. We are creating valuable relationships with the “eyes on the street” method of engagement. Evidence suggests a positive relationship between physical activity, grade point average, and classroom behavior. Another goal is equity. This program practices the SRTS model of the 6 E’s, the last E being equity. Not everyone has access to environments that support good health. We are targeting schools in some of the most underserved areas in KCK.
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G19. Transportation Disadvantaged Population:
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This project will primarily focus on providing education and resources to students in low-income communities. While underserved communities will not be the only audience, equity will be the guiding criteria for selecting schools to work with. Many of the schools to be served are in communities where the number of zero-car households is two or three times above the regional average and students suffer disproportionately from obesity-related diseases. Serving communities with profound transportation disparities will be central to this project. Schools participating in current SRTS programs have an average demographic profile of 66% African-American or Latino, and 80% free/reduced lunch.
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G20. Relevant Public Engagement:
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The UG is embedded in the community in a variety of ways and has worked alongside local transportation nonprofits, SRTS experts, and various Kansas City, Kansas stakeholders and school district staff to determine a need for student safety education and engagement around transportation options.
Hundreds of meetings with school officials, parents, students, law enforcement, neighborhood associations, and community members have demonstrated a critical need for active transportation programming and education for students. This project has arisen from several years of public engagement across the region and five years of existing SRTS programming and outreach.
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G21. Planned Public Engagement:
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The UG has a strong, working relationship with local bike/ped advocates, community partners, school district personnel, and individual schools. Through the success of SRTS programs to date, the UG will continue to employ a culturally sensitive and appropriate engagement strategy. One of the ways we do this is by recognizing that each school environment and internal culture is different and requires a tailored approach and engagement strategy to ensure adequate participation and program success. Additionally, the UG works with program partners and district translation services to ensure that marketing and program materials are culturally appropriate for the different neighborhoods we engage.
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G22. Sustainable Places Criteria:
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Access to Healthy Foods---Active Transportation/Living-----------
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Mixed-Density Neighborhoods---Natural Resources Protection-----------
Renewable Energy---------------
-----Unique Community Characteristics
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G22.1. Describe CSP relationship:
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While this is a non-infrastructure project, it will result in more children walking and biking to school. More importantly it will increase the public’s understanding of the relationship between public health, transportation, active living, land use, community design, and the environment. Education, equity, and encouragement are critical components in a 6 Es approach to sustainability and public health. Safe Routes to School is a foundation that underlies most of the PSP and CSP work being done in the region.
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G23. Implements Sustainable Places Initiatives?
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Yes
Creating Quality Places identifies neighborhoods that have a distinct identity to help define their boundaries and fosters pride and sense of place among residents. Our interaction with participating SRTS schools will not just be a Safe Routes to School project, it will be community focused and community led, with an emphasis on the health and wellness of a community as it relates to SRTS. With our partnerships we can help focus community pride on health and wellness via walking and biking, using the school as the center.
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G24. Serves Regional Activity Center?
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Yes
Highest-Intensity and Most-Walkable Centers
The project serves the entire Kansas City, Kansas community, including many activity/employment centers. The county’s school districts are collectively one of the top employers in the community. Many school sites are adjacent to activity and employment centers. Providing opportunities for kids to walk and bike to school reduces the transportation burden on parents. This is especially true for lower income households with limited access to automobiles and/or reliance on public transit for getting to work.
Additionally, the most intense programming will be offered in the areas of highest density and walkability. This will ensure that the areas where biking and walking to school are most practical are receiving the greatest programmatic interventions. Here in the KC region, it is often the case that areas of highest density are also the most underserved and have the greatest health disparities. This is where the greatest opportunity exists for major improvements.
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G25. Environmental justice tracts?
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Yes
The majority of Kansas City, Kansas is in an Environmental Justice tract and/or a Medically Underserved Area. Increasing walking and biking to school is a crucial strategy for addressing environmental justice issues. Air quality, sidewalk conditions, crime, vacant buildings, and quality of street life all contribute to the health of student who walk or bike school, and are important determinants in whether of students walk or bike at all. Safe Routes to School improves the quality of life in Environmental Justice areas by reducing congestion, improving air quality, reducing crime, and improving the built environment.
This program educates children and parents in the Environmental Justice tracts about walking and biking in and around their neighborhoods using the 6 E’s approach. The majority of schools participating in SRTS programming in Kansas City, Kansas are within environmental justice tract areas.
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G26. Reduces greenhouse gas emissions?
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Yes
We have already seen measured increases in walking and biking to school following the implementation of our existing education and encouragement programs. For example, observations conducted through the current UG SRTS program show more than double the numbers of kids walking or biking to school in one year post-program. This is decreasing the reliance on cars for parent drop-off/pick-up. It’s not just about VMT reduction -- idling engines are a significant problem around schools -- getting more kids walking and biking to school could have an even bigger impact on emissions than changing adult commuting habits.
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G27. Natural Resource information:
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While this project does not directly impact natural resources, it does drive wider community interest in things like trail development, open space preservation, and more sustainable land use planning.
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G28. Community Links at Watershaed Scale:
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In the long run, reducing the number of kids driven to school in buses or private automobiles reduces demand on the motorized transportation system. Communities can ultimately build fewer roads and smaller parking lots, reducing stormwater runoff and air pollution.
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G29. Explain local land use or comprehensive plans:
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SRTS concepts and the overall goal of increasing bike/ped mode share is a central element of many plans across the region. In KCK, these include: the Unified Government’s strategic plan, Complete Streets, the UG Sidewalk and Trail Master Plan, and Healthy Communities Wyandotte. In addition, this project has support of the City-Wide Master Plan, Quality of Life Plans (Downtown, Douglass-Sumner, and St. Peter Waterway neighborhoods), and various Area Plans (Armourdale, Downtown, Prairie-Delaware-Piper, Rosedale, Southwest Boulevard/Merriam Lane, 47th and Mission Road). MARC plans include the Regional Bikeway Plan and MetroGreen.
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G30.1 Complies with MARC’s CSP?
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Yes
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G30.2 Exception to the MARC CSP?
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No
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Traveler Type (All Ages & Abilities)
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Pedestrians:
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Mobility Aids:
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Bicyclists:
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Transit Riders:
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Cars:
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Trucks:
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Motorcycles:
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Buses:
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Green Streets:
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