WakeUP is a proud partner in today’s Bike to School events. This morning, we biked to Powell Elementary School from the nearby Food Lion with over a hundred kids, their parents and community leaders. This 3-4 minute drive is still only 4 minutes by bike! Nicole Stewart, Raleigh City Council Member, parent of two children attending Powell, said, “This is a fantastic event and an opportunity for kids to get some exercise and learn how to safely bike to school.”
Since its inception, WakeUP has successfully advocated for complete streets, which supports safety, mobility and transit use. This includes infrastructure, policies and programming for walking and biking. Safe Routes to School is part of this effort.
We have been specifically advancing the policy and systems change needed to support kids and their parents safely walking and biking to school. Five years ago, WakeUP and partners wrote a grant which was generously funded by The John Rex Endowment to make this work possible. WakeUP’s role is working with elected officials, planners and other staff at the municipal and school system level. We’ve educated on the benefits of walking and biking including improved academic performance and decreased disciplinary issues, greater safety, decreased congestion in carpool lanes and around schools, lower transportation costs and improved air quality and health.
Some of our outcomes, accomplished by working with community partners:
- WCPSS school design guidelines now emphasize facilities that support active transportation.
- The WCPSS School Wellness Policy now includes language supporting safe routes to school.
- WCPSS shares information on how schools and parents can participate in the national walk-to-school and bike-to-school days.
- More municipal comprehensive plans as well as land use and transportation plans include policies to support infrastructure connections (like roads and sidewalks that are designed “all users”).
- We’ve also been part of improved road/crosswalk/crossing light and sidewalk connections in some specific locations – talk about “concrete!”