Georgia SRTS

Funded by the Federal Safe Routes to School (SRTS) program, Georgia's SRTS program is designed to encourage more kids to walk and bike to school safely. Program activities and funding is for projects with a 2-mile radius of primary and middle schools (grades K-8). Two types of services support the goals of making it safer for kids to walk and bike to school; and to encourage more kids to do so:

• Funding to local governments to improve the walking and bicycling conditions to schools; and
• Support for school-based Safe Routes to School programs through partnerships with the Resource Center.

Within these two types of services, the Safe Routes to School Program is organized around 5 ideas – also called the 5 Es:

• Engineering: Making the environment safer for walking and bicycling
• Encouragement: Encouraging kids to walk and bike
• Education: Teaching kids and parents safe ways to walk and bike
• Evaluation: Checking to see how many kids are walking and biking as a result of the program
• Enforcement: Changing driver, walker and bicyclist behavior as they travel together along the road

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What can I get funding for?

Support for encouragement, education and evaluation activities comes through becoming a Partner with the SRTS Resource Center. Some schools enrolled as a Partner with the Resource Center will receive assistance in planning for engineering (infrastructure) projects.

Click here to learn more about the Resource Center.

Click here if you are interested in becoming a Partner with the Resource Center.

Georgia provides funding for engineering projects around schools through local governments. Examples include:

• Make it easier and safer to cross the street with crosswalks, median refuges, raised crossings, new or upgraded traffic signals, pavement markings, and flashing beacons.
• Make it easier and safer to walk along the road by installing new sidewalks.
• Slow down traffic with traffic calming measures such as traffic circles, narrower streets and raised crossings.
• Make it easier and safer to bike in the street with new bicycle lanes, widened outside lanes or roadway shoulders, traffic signs, and pavement markings.
• Install places for kids to travel away from the street such as trails and pathways that are separated from a roadway.
• Install bike racks and lockers in designated areas with safety lighting, and covered bicycle shelters.
• Safety improvements on school campuses that reduce conflicts between autos and buses, and pedestrians and bicyclists.

Click here to learn how to apply for infrastructure funds and more about past awardees.

Georgia also provides funding for enforcement activities such as:

• Costs for law personnel to carry out SRTS program enforcement activities, such as overtime pay for police officers to conduct speed enforcement, crosswalk enforcement or safety education activities, etc.
• Special enforcement equipment such as mobile speed trailers.
• Officer training for speed enforcement, crosswalk yielding enforcement or other activities.
• Training and equipment costs for crossing guards including communications and safety equipment. (Note: On-going personnel costs for crossing guard programs are not an eligible expense.)

The Safe Routes to School program is located within the Georgia Department of Transportation. Click here for the Program Coordinator’s contact information.

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Resource Center Role and Services

The Georgia Safe Routes to School Resource Center works with elementary and middle schools to create opportunities for children to safely walk and bicycle to school. School communities who become Partners will receive support from Resource Center staff in identifying activities centered on Education, Encouragement, and Evaluation.

Resource Center services include 6 School Outreach Coordinators, a help desk accessible through a telephone hot line and email address, a quarterly newsletter and on-going events calendar, marketing for state-wide sponsored events, a school-based marketing toolkit (that includes templates for flyers, meeting notices, standard SRTS messages), incentive items such as the Way to Go frequent walker and biker program, and planning assistance to eligible schools to help with the preparation of School Travel Plans.

Through working with the Resource Center, schools may:

• Develop a customized SRTS plan
• Conduct walkability/bikability assessments
• Develop bicycle and pedestrian safety trainings
• Host a Walk to School Day event
• Sustain weekly walking and bicycling days
• Coordinate with local planners, engineers, and law enforcement regarding school safety issues

All schools (grades K‐8) will have an opportunity to become a Partner with the Resource Center. Schools enrolled in the Resource Center’s program are given priority when applying for SRTS infrastructure projects (e.g. sidewalks, traffic calming, bike lanes, etc).

Planning Assistance

Schools receiving planning assistance will be based on economic need, a high level of commitment or geographic representation.

Click here to enroll as a Partner with the Resource Center.

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Funds for Infrastructure Projects

The Georgia Department of Transportation accepts applications for infrastructure/engineering activities. The application period will be advertised on GDOT’s SRTS website, www.dot.state.ga.us/srts/ as well as through the Resource Center, mailings, and mass emails.

Applications are reviewed by a Project Selection panel that consists of members from Georgia’s Departments of Transportation and Public Health, the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety, the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority, and the Georgia PTA. Projects must exemplify the 5 E’s (Education, Encouragement, Enforcement, Evaluation, and Engineering) to be selected.

Thirteen communities serving 25 schools received funding for infrastructure projects in June 2009. The list of current awardees is below.

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SRTS Infrastructure Projects Selected for Funding in 2009

Congr. District	Agency Name	School(s)	Sponsor's Proposed Project Description	County
1	City of Willacoochee	Willacoochee Elementary School	Sidewalks, ADA ramps, curb and gutter; signals and signs.	Atkinson
2	Lower Chattahoochee RDC	Chattahoochee County Elementary School	Sidewalks, curb and gutter, storm drain and catch basin, ADA ramps, resting benches, bike racks traffic striping, School Zone Flashing Speed Limit Signage, and Pedestrian Crossing Signage.	Chattahoochee
3	Fayette County Board of Commisssioners	Peeples Elementary School Rising Starr Middle School	Multiuse path connecting to an existing path; bridge over a creek; pedestrian crosswalks.	Fayette
4	DeKalb County Government	Livsey Elementary School	Bulb-outs with bike pass-through, speed radar signs, sidewalks, raised crosswalk, traffic signal upgrades.	Dekalb
5	City of Atlanta	Morningside Elementary School	Speed radar signs, sidewalks, HAWK signal, intersection upgrades/signals.	Fulton
6	City of Milton	Crabapple Crossing Elementary School Summit Hill Elementary School Northwestern Middle School	School zone signage and flashers, high visibility crosswalks, SpeedCheck signs, safety improvements for unsignalized and signalized intersections, sidewalks, ADA upgrades, multi-use trail.	Fulton
7	City of Lawrenceville	Lawrenceville Elementary School Margaret Winn Holt Elementary School	Sidewalks with ADA ramps.	Gwinnett
8	City of Macon	Riley Elementary School Barden Elementary School Burghard Elementary School King-Danforth Elementary School Appling Middle School	Sidewalks with ADA ramps, crosswalks and stop bars, radar speed signs, multiuse trail.	Bibb
9	Gainesville City School System	Gainesville Middle School Gainesville Middle School New Holland Core Knowledge Academy Fair Street IB World School Centennial Arts Academy Enota Multiple Intelligence Academy	Sidewalks.	Hall
10	Unified Government of Athens-Clarke County	Barrow Elementary School	Intersection upgrades/signals, flashing beacons with radar speed signs.	Clarke
11	City of Bremen	H.A. Jones Elementary School	Intersection upgrades/signals, sidewalks.	Haralson
12	City of Louisville	Louisville Academy	Sidewalks replacement and widening, curb and gutter, traffic control, grading, striping roads, speed tables, crosswalks.	Jefferson
13	Douglas County DOT	Chapel Hill Elementary School	Sidewalks, ADA ramps, bus separation fence for safety, guardrail for pedestrian/vehicle separation, safety hand railing separation, lighting, crosswalks, pavement markings, and school zone flashers and signage.	Douglas

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