December saw the Colorado Department of Transportation accept the last round of applications for safe routes to school grants. The Safe Routes to School program is no longer required by federal law, so now it is up to each state to keep the program alive.

We want Colorado to keep Safe Routes to School alive

Safe Routes to School started in 2004. It’s a program that teaches kids about walking and biking safety,  teaches kids how to ride a bike and encourages them to walk or ride to school. Since then, more than 500 schools have received the program using grants from the transportation department. Our efforts and partnerships with school districts across the state have also spurred local investment in active transportation for students.

Communities and schools across the state have seen fantastic results:

95% of schools in the program report an increase in the number of children biking and walking.

This is a critical success at a time when Colorado’s childhood obesity rate continues to climb.

Partnering with amazing groups from health, education and safety, together we are working with the transportation department and the legislature to find the funding to keep it helping children to be healthy and safe by walking and biking to school.

We will need your help

Work is underway on a bill in the Colorado Legislature to keep the program alive, and we should have an announcement soon with details. Day 2 of our Colorado Bicycle Summit meets at the State Capitol to share the importance of this program to legislators.

Once a bill is introduced, please look for details from us on contacting your state representatives and ways to plug in. You can subscribe to eNews to receive alerts and updates.

The health and safety of Colorado’s children is too important to park the Safe Routes to School program at the curb.