Walk to School Day This Week
DENVER – The Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) is encouraging parents and schools to get their students to participate in Walk to School Day on Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2015, as part of Colorado Pedestrian Month. By participating, these schools teach students how to safely walk and bicycle in their communities. It also helps inform parents and other drivers how to drive more safely around pedestrians and bicyclists.
Schools can register their Walk to School events at www.walkbiketoschool.org through the end of October. The website also contains useful resources such as promotional and educational materials, media toolkits, and low to no cost event ideas.
To date, about 140 schools have registered for this year’s event. In 2014, 164 schools participated in Walk to School Day.
Coinciding with Walk to School Day, CDOT now is accepting applications for 2016 Safe Routes to School (SRTS) funding. Awards for both non-infrastructure (education) and infrastructure (capital) projects are available. The goal of SRTS programs are to provide education to get more kids walking and bicycling where it is safe and to fix conditions where it is not safe.
Eligible applicants include schools, school districts, cities, counties, tribal entities, and/or any other local or regional government entity. Non-profits may apply by partnering with any of the above entities.
Colorado has one of the most sustainable SRTS programs in the nation. Each SRTS project selected must demonstrate in its application a strong commitment to program sustainability and ensure their SRTS efforts will live on long after the grant is concluded. SRTS grants also are performance based, with the before and after results reported.
Online applications are available at: www.codot.gov/programs/
