Thousands of Kids to Take to the Streets!

On Wednesday, October 8th Eugene will be celebrating with the rest of the world the idea that getting to school under your own power is not only self-empowering but also safe, healthy, and FUN! There are more than 20 schools signed up to participate in National Walk + Bike to School Day in Eugene, a record number! The streets will be filled with elementary kids walking with their parents, middle school students riding in a peloton of backpacks, and even high schoolers eschewing the car to try out some active transportation choices. It’s the big day for Safe Routes to School (SRTS) programs around the country and as the Eugene SRTS program grows so has participation in this event. Every school is holding their own event, some are stretching it over a whole month with celebrations, prizes, and food while others are simply making the announcement to try walking and biking to school on that day. If you’re a parent, make sure your school is holding an event and if they aren’t go to walknbike.org to sign up and get more information.

As we roll out of this big celebration there are a lot of great things happening in the coming years for the Eugene SRTS program. Over this past year we’ve built up a strong team of City, 4J, University, health, and community members. We’ve received our second grant cycle from ODOT and will be working on some exciting projects over the next couple of years including a resource kit for schools on how to start an SRTS program, an expanded bike education program (with a new trailer to transport a fleet of bikes), a new website with Safe Route Maps and other resources, continued signature bike events and fundraisers, more work with the city to make our streets inviting to more types of bike riders and pedestrians (like families and young children), and expanded work with the school districts to create policies that encourage active modes of transportation.

We’re excited about the possibilities as we work to get the next generation enraptured and educated about biking and walking and we hope you are too! There are ways you can help; volunteer for bike education community rides, come out to fundraising rides, bring your family down for Kidical Mass, write letters to the editor, city staff, and elected officials to tell them you’d like streets that work for all road users, start an SRTS program at your school, spread the word, or simply walk or bike to where your going; it’s not only good role modeling, it’s crazy fun!