OHIO S SAFE ROUTES TO SCHOOL PROGRAM

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2 OHIO S SAFE ROUTES TO SCHOOL PROGRAM The Ohio Safe Routes to School (SRTS) program is funded by the Federal Highway Administration and administered by the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT). The program supports projects and programs that enable and encourage walking and bicycling to and from school. A summary of program features is provided below. For additional information please visit the ODOT SRTS website at The Ohio SRTS Program funds two types of projects: 1. Infrastructure Projects: Infrastructure projects, or engineering projects, include operational and physical improvements that establish safer and fully accessible pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure, such as crossings, walkways, trails and bikeways. All infrastructure projects must improve conditions for students walking or bicycling within two miles of the target school. 2. Non-infrastructure Projects: Non-infrastructure projects include education, encouragement, and enforcement activities intended to affect student or driver behavior, and evaluation activities to monitor impacts of the SRTS program. The Five Es of SRTS Engineering strategies create safer environments for walking and bicycling to school through improvements to the infrastructure surrounding schools. These improvements focus on reducing motor vehicle speeds and conflicts with pedestrians and bicyclists, and establishing safer and fully accessible crossings, walkways, trails and bikeways. Education programs target children, parents, caregivers and neighbors, teaching how to walk and bicycle safely and informing drivers on how to drive more safely around pedestrians and bicyclists. Education programs can also incorporate personal security issues, as well as health and environment messages. Enforcement strategies increase the safety of children bicycling and walking to school by helping to change unsafe behaviors of drivers, as well as pedestrians and bicyclists. A community approach to enforcement involves students, parents or caregivers, school personnel, crossing guards and law enforcement officers. Encouragement activities promote walking and bicycling to school to children, parents and community members. Events such as Walk to School Day, contests such as a Frequent Walker/Bicyclist challenge, or on-going programs such as a Walking School Bus or Bicycle Train can promote and encourage walking and bicycling as a popular way to get to school. Evaluation is an important component of SRTS programs that can be incorporated into each of the other Es. Collecting information before and after program activities or projects are implemented allow communities to track progress and outcomes, and provide information to guide program development. OHIO S SRTS SCHOOL TRAVEL PLANS A School Travel Plan (STP) is a written document that outlines a community s intentions for enabling students to engage in active transportation (i.e. walking or bicycling) as they travel to and from school. A comprehensive STP is created through a team-based approach that involves key community stakeholders and members of the public in both identifying barriers to active transportation and using the 5 Es (a set of countermeasures) to address them. 1

3 By completing an STP, a community will have a guiding document to assist in improving walking and bicycling conditions for students, including strategies for promoting and encouraging active transportation to school. Serving as a foundation for the school s SRTS program, the STP can be updated and modified as needed to fit community values and goals. STPs are a requirement for funding requests through the ODOT SRTS program, and must address all 5 Es. STPs can address the needs of either individual or multiple schools. This guide is specifically intended for consultants developing STP s for large school district (i.e., school districts with 15 or more schools). Communities can complete STPs on their own or apply to ODOT for assistance in developing the STP. More information is available on the ODOT SRTS website under SRTS Application. Once a community s application for STP development assistance is approved and processed, that community/school will be assigned to an ODOT SRTS task order consultant. All Ohio SRTS STPs must be reviewed and approved by your ODOT SRTS District Coordinator before a community is eligible to apply for funding through Ohio s SRTS Program. Once a STP is complete, the consultant should provide the district SRTS coordinator an electronic Word file of the STP. It will be the responsibility of the district SRTS coordinator to finalize the STP by gathering pledges of support, and to submit the STP to ODOT for approval. For reference, all Ohio approved STPs are stored electronically on the Ohio SRTS website under ODOT Approved STPs. How do I find my ODOT SRTS District Coordinator? ODOT SRTS District Coordinators are available to answer any questions you may have about the Ohio SRTS program. Contact information is available on the ODOT SRTS website ( under SRTS Contacts HOW TO USE THIS GUIDE The purpose of the Consultant Guide for Large Districts is to outline the process for STP development assistance in school districts with 15 or more schools. Although this guide presents the process as a series of steps, the steps are not necessarily sequential and may overlap or be accomplished in a different order depending on community needs and circumstances. A Consultant Guide for small school districts (4 schools or less) can be downloaded from the Ohio SRTS website ( under School Travel Plan HOW ARE THE LARGE DISTRICT STP AND THE SMALL DISTRICT STP DIFFERENT? There are important differences between the large district STP and small district STP. These differences are driven by differences in scale and complexity between the two district types. For example, traditional public input tools, such as public meetings and stakeholder interviews, are not cost-effective to implement in a large school district on a district-wide scale. Also, the large district STP process is likely to generate a much larger number of countermeasures than a small district STP process, enhancing the value of prioritization. Finally, data collection and analysis will likely be more cumbersome than in a small district, due to the size and complexity of the study area. Table 1 summarizes key difference between the small district STP and the large district STP. 2

4 Table 1: Key differences between the small district STP and the large district STP Number of schools covered by STP. Must use STP Template? Small District STP 1-4 schools. Yes. Large District STP 15 or more schools. No. However, consultants should use the Cincinnati Public Schools District-Wide Travel Plan as a model. The Cincinnati Public Schools District-Wide Travel Plan is available at: tes (ODOT approved STP s) Estimated time to complete STP. Non-infrastructure countermeasures must be specified for each school. Countermeasures must be prioritized. Priority corridors are used to focus infrastructure countermeasures. Local (school district) SRTS coordinator 3-4 months. Yes. No. No. Not required 9-12 months No, in the large district STP noninfrastructure countermeasures are generally identified at the district level. The large district STP also includes a school district and city policy countermeasure table. Yes, prioritization is much more important in a large district plan due to the number of countermeasures likely to be generated. Yes, it is important to limit analysis of location-specific issues and countermeasures in some way due to the size of the study area and the number of schools that must be covered. Identifying priority corridors is a useful way to accomplish this. See section 5.6 Priority Corridors Analysis. Required. The school district SRTS coordinator will play a lead role and will likely serve as the primary point of contact and project facilitator on behalf of the local community. They can coordinate meetings, review of 3

5 Small District STP Large District STP deliverables, and contact with potential partners. See Section 3.3 School District SRTS Coordinator KEY STEPS IN DEVELOPING A LARGE DISTRICT SCHOOL TRAVEL PLAN FOR A COMMUNITY A school travel plan should be based on an understanding of the existing walking and bicycling environment at the school, including both barriers and supportive activities. It should be written with the input from a variety of key stakeholders who can provide knowledge to identify both issues and countermeasures encompassing all five Es of Safe Routes to School (education, encouragement, enforcement, engineering and evaluation). This guide presents a nine-step process for STP development assistance. The steps include: Step 1: Review Large District Guide and STP Example Step 2: Review SRTS Team and Target School Information Step 3: Meet with the School District SRTS Coordinator and the ODOT SRTS District Coordinator Step 4: Hold STP Kick-off Meeting Step 5: Gather Information on Existing Conditions and Policies Step 6: Identify Key Issues Step 7: Identify Countermeasures Step 8: Develop the Action Plan Step 9: Submit the Final STP STEP 1: REVIEW LARGE DISTRICT GUIDE AND STP EXAMPLE The first step is to read this guide thoroughly, taking special note of items that ODOT requires to be included in the STP. Consultants should also review approved large district STPs posted on the ODOT SRTS website ( under ODOT Approved STPs as examples of how a large-district STP can be organized. STEP 2: REVIEW SRTS TEAM AND TARGET SCHOOL INFORMATION ODOT requires that the following information be included in the large district plan: Name of school district s SRTS coordinator. Names of SRTS Team members and the E they are coordinating.. Names and addresses for schools covered by the STP. Grades served for schools covered by the STP. Demographic information for schools covered by the STP, including percentage of economically disadvantaged and percentage students with disabilities. The first step is to collect and review this information. Some of it will be provided by ODOT and some must be obtained online and through local sources. 4

6 2.1 INFORMATION PROVIDED BY ODOT As part of the application for STP development assistance, communities are required to provide some initial information to ODOT, including the district name, contact information for the school district SRTS coordinator, names of SRTS Team members, a list of target schools, student addresses for all K-8 schools in the district, and information regarding the district s survey research policies and the typical timetable for approving and conducting surveys. When a contracted ODOT SRTS consultant is assigned to develop an STP for a large school district, all of this information will be provided to the consultant. 2.2 INFORMATION AVAILABLE ONLINE Additional information about target schools may be obtained through the Ohio Department of Education data download webpage: Here, you can download spreadsheets with enrollment and demographic information for every school in the State of Ohio. The spreadsheets can then be filtered by district. See Figure 1 for image of the ODE download page with links to useful datasets circled in red. See Error! Reference source not found. for an example of how school demographic data can be presented in the final STP. Why do we need to provide demographic information? The Federal SRTS Program guidelines call on state SRTS programs to take measures to ensure that SRTS funds are accessible to diverse participants, including those with limited resources. For this reason, the Ohio SRTS program requires that school demographic information, including percentage of economically disadvantaged and percentage students with disabilities, be provided for each school included in the plan. 5

7 Figure 1 ODE data download page with links to useful datasets circled in red. 6

8 Figure 2 Example of how school demographic data can be presented in a large district STP. STEP 3: MEET WITH SCHOOL DISTRICT SRTS COORDINATOR AND THE ODOT SRTS DISTRICT COORDINATOR The consultant should schedule a meeting with the school district s SRTS coordinator and ODOT s SRTS District Coordinator within a week of receiving the assignment from ODOT. The meeting may be conducted via conference call but an in-person meeting is preferable. The meeting with the school district s SRTS coordinator and the ODOT SRTS District Coordinator has several purposes. Consultants should: Review the process for STP development, discussing the roles and responsibilities of both the consultant and the SRTS team, and specifically the role of the school district SRTS coordinator (i.e. help coordinate team and public meetings, etc.). Establish a timeline for completion of the STP. See Table 2 for an example timeline. 7

9 Review and confirm information collected to in Step 2. Discuss additional information needs required for the STP. (It is recommended that the consultant send a list of these needs to the school district SRTS coordinator before the call to allow the coordinator time to prepare.) Provide guidance and assistance regarding collection and submittal of school travel tallies and parent surveys. Review SRTS Team membership to determine whether additional members are needed to supplement the existing team. Schedule a kick-off meeting for the full SRTS Team. Table 2 Example Timeline Month Steps 1 Review large-district guide and STP example. Review information about SRTS team and target schools. Meet with the school district SRTS coordinator. Submit surveys (e.g., Parent Surveys and Student Tallies) for school district approval. Develop appendix with target school demographics. 2 Hold STP kick-off meeting. Write an introduction for the STP, including information about the SRTS Team and target schools. Write a chapter describing the public input process. Begin gathering information on existing conditions and policies. 3 Continue gathering information on existing conditions and policies. 4 Continue gathering information on existing conditions and policies. 5 Continue gathering information on existing conditions and policies. Write chapter on existing conditions and policies. 6 Write chapter on issues and countermeasures. Develop action plan. 7 Submit draft STP to SRTS team for review. 8 Receive comments from SRTS team on draft STP. 9 Submit final STP. 8

10 3.1 SCHOOL DISTRICT S SRTS COORDINATOR The importance of a school district s SRTS coordinator for successful STP development and implementation cannot be overstated. Developing and implementing a district-wide STP for a large school district is significantly more complex and time-intensive than developing a district-wide STP for a small school district, because it covers more schools, involves more stakeholders (including, in some cases, multiple local government jurisdictions), and requires more partners for implementation. The school district s SRTS coordinator operates as the chief point of contact for the planning process, providing a critical link between the Consultant, the SRTS Team, and the school district s central office. The school district s SRTS coordinator also manages implementation of the SRTS program at the district level and leads efforts to educate the broader community regarding SRTS goals and the STP process. It is unlikely that a large district STP can be completed within a reasonable timeframe and budget without a dedicated school district SRTS coordinator. Ideally the person who fills this role will also be a school district employee. This is because coordinators who are also school district employees are likely to have greater access to the district s central office, making them more likely be in a better position to coordinate crucial aspects of STP development (i.e., student tallies and parent surveys) and implementation. 3.2 NOTES ON THE SRTS TEAM The SRTS team is the core group of people that commit to preparing, writing and following through with the STP and its strategies. The team members will be those helping to implement the SRTS program. The most successful SRTS programs are led by an SRTS team and involve both stakeholders and partners. Stakeholders are individuals or organizations that should be consulted when planning and implementing an SRTS program but may not necessarily be involved in project implementation. Critical stakeholders include school district officials/departments, local school administrators, local government officials, the Ohio SRTS Program Manager, and the ODOT SRTS District Coordinator. Partners are individuals or organizations that support the SRTS program by providing financial, material, or volunteer support for SRTS initiatives. Partners often include active transportation advocates, public health and safety advocates, local businesses, and local volunteer and service organizations. An individual or organization may be both a stakeholder and a partner. Partners are especially important in the large-district context, due to the scale and complexity of implementing SRTS non-infrastructure countermeasures in a large district. CORE MEMBERS OF THE SRTS TEAM The STP process will be guided by a core team of representatives from affected and interested agencies and organizations. The SRTS Team must include representatives from the school district and the local government. It is strongly encouraged that these representatives have decision-making authority within their agency or organization to facilitate the STP process. The SRTS Team must designate a captain for each of the five Es who will 9

11 take ownership of this element of the plan. It is suggested that identification of captains consider the expertise of each individual and the organizations they represent. OTHER POTENTIAL MEMBERS OF THE SRTS TEAM This list provides examples of other potential members of the SRTS team. SCHOOL DISTRICT: Chief operations officer Transportation director Security director/ student safety division representative School board members Health and wellness committee members District PTA/PTO representatives SCHOOLS: Principals School resource officers School SRTS champions LOCAL GOVERNMENT: Transportation or traffic engineer Planning department official Public health department official Public works department official Law enforcement official Local pedestrian and bicycle coordinator COMMUNITY: Local volunteer and service organization leaders Neighborhood or community association leaders Local health care organization leaders Local business owners Local pedestrian, bicycle and safety advocates Local child safety advocates Local youth anti-violence advocates STATE: Ohio SRTS Program Manager ODOT SRTS District Coordinator 10

12 Tips and Helpful Information for Putting Together Your SRTS Team: Keep your SRTS Team to a manageable number of participants, up to individuals. You will have an opportunity to consult the larger community as you work to identify issues and countermeasures. Think carefully about the specific knowledge base that each team member will bring. STEP 4: HOLD STP KICK-OFF MEETING The consultant should work with the school district s SRTS coordinator to plan and execute an STP kick-off meeting involving the SRTS Team, key partners, and key stakeholders. The goals of the STP kick-off meeting are to: Educate attendees about SRTS. Explain the STP development process. Understand and encourage attendees interest in SRTS. Establish a vision for the SRTS program. Reinforce stakeholder interest and commitment. Identify additional partners or stakeholders who should be engaged in the process. Review information already gathered and collect additional feedback. Publicize SRTS and the STP development process. The following subsections elaborate these goals. 4.1 EDUCATE ATTENDEES ABOUT THE SRTS PROGRAM Educate attendees about the basic goals and features of the national SRTS programs, including the 5 Es of SRTS. As part of this discussion, the consultant should emphasize the comprehensive nature of SRTS, since those new to SRTS often conceive the program more narrowly (e.g., as an infrastructure-only program). Also, educate attendees about Ohio s SRTS program, including the support and resources that are available through the program. For information on the Ohio SRTS program, see the Ohio SRTS website at EXPLAIN THE STP DEVELOPMENT PROCESS Explain the purpose and structure the large district STP, including how it differs from the small district STP. Small district and single-school STPs are far more common than STPs for large districts. Meeting attendees need to understand that the large-district STP will be more policy-oriented and provide less detailed infrastructure countermeasures than the small district or single-school STPs they may be familiar with. Also, review the timetable for development and implementation of the large district STP. Large district STPs can take up to a year to develop, and some countermeasures may take years to fully implement. People unfamiliar with transportation planning are unlikely to anticipate such lengthy timetables, which can lead to disappointment and disaffection with the planning process if expectations are not effectively calibrated at the beginning of the planning process. Emphasize the timetable for development and implementation of the STP during the STP kick-off meeting and reiterate it in subsequent communications with the SRTS team and key stakeholders. 4.3 UNDERSTAND AND ENCOURAGE ATTENDEES INTEREST IN SRTS 11

13 Ask attendees why they agreed to come to the meeting and what they hope to contribute. For example, a law enforcement official may be very interested in reducing speeds in school zones and therefore may be willing to assume responsibilities for the Enforcement component of the SRTS program. 4.4 ESTABLISH A VISION FOR THE SRTS PROGRAM Ask the team to imagine what they would like the district and surrounding community to be like in five years. What does the team want to see? Common goals for SRTS programs include: Increasing the number of student walkers and bicyclists. Making walking and bicycling routes safer for students who are already walking. Improving students physical activity and health. Creating a more walkable and bikeable community in general. Improving air quality and reducing traffic congestion around the school. ODOT requires that the large-district STP contain a vision. 4.5 IDENTIFY ADDITIONAL STAKEHOLDERS AND POTENTIAL PARTNERS Set aside time during the meeting to brainstorm about stakeholders and potential partners that may not be present yet should be engaged in STP development and/or SRTS program implementation going forward. 4.6 REVIEW INFORMATION ON EXISTING CONDITIONS Describe what you know about existing conditions based on your background research, information supplied to ODOT, and conversations with the school district SRTS coordinator. Solicit feedback from meeting attendees regarding their sense of existing conditions and how it compares to the information you have presented. 4.7 PUBLICIZE SRTS AND STP DEVELOPMENT PROCESS Work with the school district s SRTS coordinator to generate publicity for the meeting. The STP kick-off meeting is a tremendous opportunity to increase public awareness and support for SRTS and the STP development process. Encourage local media outlets to cover the event by sending out press releases announcing the meeting, describing its purpose and likely attendees, and providing basic information about the local, state, and national SRTS programs. The STP kick-off meeting is a key component of the public input process, which may be required by federal law depending on the funding source. STEP 5: GATHER INFORMATION ON EXISTING CONDITIONS AND POLICIES The purpose of this step is collect basic information about student travel patterns and support for walking and bicycling to school. After completing this step, you should be able to answer the following questions. How many students live within walking and bicycling distance of the school? How many students are currently walking and bicycling to school? What are the primary walking or bicycling routes? Does the district have any policies that affect walking and bicycling to school? Do local schools have any policies that affect walking and bicycling to school? 12

14 How do parents and caregivers feel about their children/students walking and bicycling to school? Have there been any specific safety incidents or concerns relative to students walking or bicycling to this school in recent history? Does the school currently conduct activities that support or encourage walking and bicycling to school? How is the commitment to SRTS demonstrated? Table 3 shows sources you can use to answer these questions. A more detailed explanation of each source follows the table. Table 3 Questions and Potential Sources Question Source How many students live within walking and bicycling distance of the school? Priority corridor analysis How many students are currently walking and bicycling to school? Student travel tally summary report What are the primary walking or bicycling routes? Feedback from local school administrators, priority corridor analysis, walk audits Does the school district have any policies that affect walking and bicycling to school? Online documents listing school board/district policies, feedback from the SRTS Team Do local schools have any policies that affect walking and bicycling to school? Principal surveys How do parents and caregivers feel about their children/students walking and bicycling to school? Parent survey summary report. Have there been any specific safety incidents or concerns relative to students walking or bicycling to this school in recent history? Crash statistics, feedback from local school administrators, feedback from SRTS Team, walk audits Does the district currently conduct activities that support or encourage walking and bicycling to school? How is the commitment to SRTS demonstrated? Feedback from the SRTS Team Do local schools currently conduct activities that support or encourage walking and bicycling to school? Feedback from the SRTS Team, feedback from local school administrators 13

15 How is the commitment to SRTS demonstrated? 5.1 STUDENT TRAVEL TALLY SUMMARY REPORT Student travel tallies provide information on how many students are currently walking and bicycling to school. ODOT requires SRTS grantees to collect student travel tallies using the standardized Student Travel Tally forms provided by the National Center for Safe Routes to School. ODOT also requires that SRTS grantees submit the completed tally forms to the National Center for processing. The National Center provides several services that may be useful to consultants as they analyze student tally data, including a summary report function that enables users to aggregate responses at either the school or district level. For more information, go to It is critical for consultants to understand school district policies regarding survey research at the outset of the large-district STP development process, since these policies can significantly impact the timeline for STP development and options available to the consultant for collecting survey data. 5.2 PARENT SURVEY SUMMARY REPORT Parent surveys provide information on how parents and caregivers feel about walking and bicycling to school. ODOT requires SRTS grantees to collect parent surveys using the standardized Parent Survey forms provided by the National Center for Safe Routes to School. ODOT also requires that SRTS grantees submit the completed Parent Survey forms to the National Center for processing. 5.3 FEEDBACK FROM LOCAL SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS Local school administrators can provide information on: Official and unofficial policies that directly or indirectly encourage or discourage walking and bicycling to school (e.g., a ban on bicycling to school, early dismissal of walking/cycling students, age restrictions or special permissions related to walking/bicycling). School activities designed to support and encourage students to walk and bicycle to school (e.g., International Walk to School Day, pedestrian and bicycle safety education, or bicycle rodeo). Key student walking and bicycling routes. Safety incidents and concerns. In single school or small district STP, local school administrators might participate directly in the local team or provide feedback in one-on-one interviews. This approach may not be feasible in a large school district. One alternative is to collect feedback from local school administrators through an online survey (example provided in Appendix X). If a survey is conducted, it is important that it be as short and to-the-point as possible, while still providing the consultant with the information it needs to develop the STP. The consultant and/or SRTS Team should also be prepared to provide multiple reminders to local administrators to complete the survey. Local school administrators must respond to multiple issues, and SRTS will not always rise to the top. Regular reminders help ensure that completing the survey remains on local school administrators to do list. 14

16 5.4 FEEDBACK FROM THE SRTS TEAM The SRTS Team can provide information on: District- and school-level policies that directly or indirectly encourage or discourage walking and bicycling to school, including busing policies. District and school level activities designed to support or encourage walking and bicycling to school. Safety incidents and concerns. Feedback can be gathered from SRTS Team members through regular meetings or through one-on-one interviews (e.g., the consultant can interview E captains regarding activates and policies in their area of responsibility). 5.5 CRASH DATA Crash data is useful for evaluating safety incidents and concerns. Information on traffic crashes should focus on pedestrian and bicycle related crashes occurring within the past three years and within two miles of the K-8 schools covered by the STP. Traffic crash information is available on the ODOT SRTS website at under School Crash Statistics. 5.6 PRIORITY CORRIDORS ANALYSIS Priority corridor analysis provides information on: Number of students who live within walking and bicycling distance of a school. Key student walking and bicycling routes. Priority corridors are defined as routes where a significant number of students are currently walking and biking, or could potentially walk and bike. The consultant can identify priority corridors by analyzing the spatial relationship between school locations, student addresses, sidewalks, and pedestrian crossing locations in GIS. The analysis should include no more than a two-mile radius around each school and may cover a smaller radius around each school if narrowing the study area makes sense based on district policies or community priorities. Decisive factors for this analysis include the presence of sidewalks as well as signalized and marked locations for crossing higher volume streets. See Figure 3 for an example priority corridor map. 15

17 Figure 3 Example priority corridor map from the Cincinnati Public Schools District-wide Travel Plan. 5.7 WALK AUDITS Walk audits can be conducted at local schools within school district. They involve observing how drivers, pedestrians, and bicyclists interact with each other and the built environment (e.g., roads, sidewalks, intersections) and documenting unsafe behaviors or conditions. Walk audits provide information on: Key student walking and bicycling routes. Safety concerns. It is unlikely that walk audits can be conducted at all of the schools in a large school district. However, consultantled walk audits at select schools can be used to train SRTS Team members to conduct walk audits at additional schools without consultant assistance. Walk audits also enable key stakeholders to experience pedestrian and bicycle conditions, share perspectives, and build consensus around potential solutions. Invite SRTS Team members, school administrators, local government officials, police officers, elected representatives and anyone else with influence over SRTS program implementation. 16

18 STEP 6: IDENTIFY KEY ISSUES After holding the meeting with the school district s SRTS coordinator and the ODOT SRTS District Coordinator (Step 1), holding an STP kick-off meeting (Step 2), and gathering information on existing conditions (Step 3), you should have the information you need to identify the top 5-10 issues impacting student walking and bicycling in the district. These issues may be barriers to walking and bicycling or critical ingredients for building and sustaining the SRTS program. Examples of key issues include: Building support for SRTS at the city, district, local school, and parent levels. Student safety and comfort, including: o Pedestrian and bicycle safety education. o On-campus pedestrian and bicycle accommodation. o Driver awareness of school zones. o Driver behaviors. o Volume of vehicle traffic along student walking and biking routes. o Student safety and comfort at intersections and crossings. o Student safety and comfort along the school route. o Arrival and dismissal procedures. o Adult supervision. o Personal security. SRTS program sustainability. ODOT requires that key issues impacting student walking and bicycling be discussed in the large-district STP. See Section 4 of the Cincinnati Public Schools District-Wide Travel Plan for example issue write ups. STEP 7: IDENTIFY COUNTERMEASURES Each issue discussion should be followed by a set of related countermeasures. For the purposes of the largedistrict STP, a countermeasure is a specific action or set of actions meant to address one of the key issues identified in Step 6: Identify Key Issues. The countermeasure may be to change school district or local government policies (school/city policy countermeasures), to implement an activity or program (non-infrastructure countermeasures), or to alter the built environment in some way (infrastructure countermeasures). ODOT requires that large-district STPs include countermeasures that address key issues impacting student walking and bicycling. Each of the issues identified in Step 6: Identify Key Issues may be addressed by one or more of these countermeasure types and may draw from one or more of the five Es. See Section 4 in the Cincinnati Public Schools District-Wide Travel Plan for an example of how countermeasures can be presented. 7.1 SCHOOL/CITY POLICY COUNTERMEASURES School/city policy countermeasures address changes to school district and local government policies that are needed to make walking and bicycling to school safer, more comfortable, and more convenient. Examples of school/city policy countermeasures include implementing a city pedestrian master plan, developing or improving city policies for sidewalk inspection and maintenance, and amending the school district s wellness policy to encourage walking and bicycling to school as a way for student to obtain regular physical activity and reduce motor vehicle traffic. 17

19 7.2 NON-INFRASTRUCTURE COUNTERMEASURES Non-infrastructure countermeasures address the four non-infrastructure areas of SRTS: education, encouragement, enforcement, and evaluation. EDUCATION SRTS education strategies often target pedestrian, bicycle, and traffic safety, as well as personal security, but can also just be ways to create awareness about the benefits and goals of SRTS. Activities include safety assemblies, pedestrian and/or bike safety lessons, bicycle rodeos, and education for parents and students on personal security issues (bullying, personal violence, etc.). ENCOURAGEMENT Encouragement strategies are about having fun they generate excitement and interest in walking and bicycling to school. Special events, mileage clubs, contests and on-going activities can provide ways for parents and children to discover (or rediscover) the benefits of walking and bicycling. ENFORCEMENT Enforcement strategies can involve many people, not just law enforcement, and are used to reinforce correct behavior of all modes of transportation (walkers, bicyclists, and motor vehicles). This can include obeying traffic laws or even following school dismissal procedures. Students may also be able to play a role in enforcement through student safety patrols. EVALUATION Evaluation will help measure the impact of the SRTS program. Evaluation will also help the SRTS Team keep track of the progress made toward their goals, and may alert them to any changes or updates they may want to make to the STP. The two main indicators that the SRTS program is having an impact are increases in students walking and bicycling to school and improved safety. ODOT requires that student travel tallies and parent surveys be conducted every year as a way to assess changes in travel mode and parent perception of safety, so be sure to include this in the STP. The SRTS Team may also want to assess any infrastructure improvements made over the year that improve the safety of the walking and biking environment. 7.3 INFRASTRUCTURE COUNTERMEASURES Infrastructure countermeasures include changes to the built environment (e.g., roads, sidewalks, intersections) designed to improve conditions for walking and bicycling to school. As described in Step 5.6 Priority Corridors Analysis, the priority corridors are the routes where a significant number of students are currently walking and biking, or could potentially walk and bike. Due to the large geographic area that the district-wide STP covers, it is recommended that proximity to the schools and the priority corridors are a determining factor in identifying infrastructure countermeasures. Not all of the schools and priority corridors can be field surveyed to identify key issues and recommend countermeasures; however, nearly up-to-date infrastructure conditions can be obtained by utilizing Google Earth. Due to the number of infrastructure recommendations likely to be generated, it is 18

20 recommended that infrastructure countermeasures be presented in general terms following each issue write-up from Step 6: Identify Key Issues and that detail regarding location-specific infrastructure countermeasures be presented in an appendix. For example, a write-up for the issue of student safety at intersections and crossings might be addressed in these countermeasures (described in general terms): install median crossing islands where feasible and appropriate, reduce pedestrian crossing distance where feasible and appropriate, and mark and sign crosswalks at key student crossing locations. Additional detail regarding these countermeasures, including specific locations where they are recommended, might be included in an appendix. STEP 8: DEVELOP THE ACTION PLAN This step involves two phases: 1) prioritizing the countermeasures identified in Step 7, and 2) adding the prioritized countermeasures to an action plan. 8.1 PRIORITIZING COUNTERMEASURES Prioritization is an important part of action plan development. ODOT requires consultants to prioritize countermeasures identified for large school districts. Prioritizing countermeasures is especially important in the large district context due to the number of countermeasures likely to be generated and the local community s need to distinguish some countermeasures for additional focus. INFRASTRUCTURE COUNTERMEASURE PRIORITIZATION A matrix for prioritizing infrastructure countermeasures is included in Appendix X. The matrix includes weighted prioritization criteria in five general categories: 1. Pedestrian and bicycle potential. This criteria category is meant to distinguish projects likely to benefit more students from those likely to benefit fewer students. Criteria in this category include: A) the number of K-8 schools within a ½-mile of the project; and B) project is on a priority corridor or within a ¼-mile of a priority corridor and on a connecting street. 2. Deficiency. This criteria category is meant to distinguish projects at locations were safety is more of a concern from projects where safety is less of a concern. Criteria in this category include: A) project is on block with missing sidewalk; B) project is along or facilitates crossing a road where traffic speed or traffic volume may be a concern based on roadway classification; and C) project is within 500 feet of a pedestrian or bicycle crash location that has occurred within the last 5 years. 3. Feasibility. This criteria category is meant to distinguish projects that are more feasible from projects that are less feasible. Criteria in this category include: A) estimated project cost; and B) project requires rightof-way acquisition. 4. Support. This criteria category is meant to distinguish projects near schools that have participated in SRTS activities from those that had not. It is also meant to distinguish projects that the local schools, the SRTS Team, and the consultant feel should be priorities from other projects. Criteria in this category included: A) project is within ¼ mile of a K-8 school that has delivered a child pedestrian or bicycle safety education program in the last 2 years; B) project is located within ¼ mile of a K-8 school that has participated in the international Walk to School Day in the past year; C) project identified as a priority by local SRTS leadership; D) project identified as a priority by SRTS Team; and E) project identified as a priority project by consultant to address safety concerns. 19

21 5. School demographics. This criteria category is meant to distinguish projects close to schools with higher percentages of economically disadvantaged and disabled students from projects with lower percentages of economically disadvantaged and disabled students. Criteria in this category include: A) percent of children at K-8 school closest to the project that are classified by the Ohio Department of Education school report card as economically disadvantaged; and B) percentage of students with disabilities at school closest to the project is above state average. The consultant may wish to prioritize infrastructure projects through an iterative process. For example, rather than asking the SRTS team to review all infrastructure countermeasures to determine SRTS Team priorities, it might be better for the consultant to calculate weighted scores without the SRTS Team priority criterion initially. The SRTS Team can then assign priority to the projects with the highest initial scores, and the consultant can factor the SRTS Team s input into the final prioritization calculations. NON-INFRASTRUCTURE COUNTERMEASURE PRIORITIZATION Non-infrastructure countermeasures should also be prioritized; however, the methodology for prioritizing noninfrastructure countermeasures will likely be different. One method is to present the list of non-infrastructure countermeasures in a sortable Excel spreadsheet that the SRTS Team can then review. The table should include all of the fields that will be included in the final STP, plus additional fields that may help the SRTS Team with prioritization. Examples include: 1) level of SRTS Team effort (high, medium, low); 2) external partner needed for implementation (yes, no); and 3) likelihood of support from key external partners (likely, unlikely, unknown). To facilitate discussion, it may be helpful for the consultant to pre-populated these fields as well as other fields deemed important for prioritization, including estimated cost to SRTS program, timeframe (i.e., the time period during which the countermeasure would first be implemented), and frequency (i.e., how often the countermeasure was proposed to be implemented and at what time of year, if known). If the list of noninfrastructure countermeasures is long and SRTS Team time is limited, it may also be helpful for the consultant to pre-populate the priority field, if the SRTS Team requests it. The consultant can then meet with the SRTS team to discuss the countermeasures, respond to questions, and confirm and adjusted priorities, timeframes, and other information prepopulated by the consultant. 8.2 CREATE ACTION PLAN This is where you put everything together into a series of three tables, one for city and school policy countermeasures, one for non-infrastructure countermeasures, and one for infrastructure countermeasures. The tables provide information essential to countermeasure implementation, including priority, timeframe, and responsible party. Table 4 shows the fields that should be included in each countermeasure tables. 20

22 Table 4 Fields that should be included by countermeasure table. Column Title and Explanation Countermeasure Use this column to provide a brief description of each countermeasure. Issues addressed Use this column to indicate which issue(s) identified in Step 6 are addressed by each countermeasure. Es Supported Use this column to indicate which Es are supported by each countermeasure. Map ID Use this column to indicate the map ID that corresponds to each locationspecific infrastructure countermeasure. Location Use this column to provide a brief description of the location of each location-specific infrastructure countermeasure. Schools affected Use this column to indicate which schools are impacted by each infrastructure countermeasure. Weighted score from matrix Use this column to indicate the weighted score generated from the prioritization matrix for each infrastructure countermeasure See section 8.1 Prioritizing Countermeasures for more information. Priority Use this column to indicate the priority of each countermeasure. See Section 8.1 Prioritizing Countermeasures for more information. City and School Policy Countermeasures Table Non- Infrastructure Countermeasures Table Infrastructure Countermeasures Table 21

23 Column Title and Explanation Timeframe Use this column to indicate the timeframe for implementation of each countermeasure (e.g., within 1 year, within 2 years, within 5 years, over 5 years). For infrastructure countermeasures, this column will provide an estimate of the amount of time that would likely be required to implement the recommended countermeasure once the project is approved and funding is programmed. Be sure to include a local engineer or planner in estimating how long it the timeframe for infrastructure countermeasure implementation. For policy and non-infrastructure countermeasures, this column will indicate the timeframe during which the countermeasure will first be implemented along with the frequency of implementation once implementation commences. Estimated cost Use this column to indicate the estimated cost of the countermeasure. For infrastructure countermeasures, costs should include design and construction and should be estimated according to the following scale: high cost= $150,000 or above, medium cost = between $20,000 and $150,000, and low cost = $20,000 or less. -Work with the local engineer to estimate costs for infrastructure countermeasures. For non-infrastructure countermeasures, costs should be estimated according to the following scale: high cost = $5,000 or more, medium cost = $1,000 to $5,000, and low cost = less than$1,000. City and School Policy Countermeasures Table Non- Infrastructure Countermeasures Table Infrastructure Countermeasures Table 22

24 Column Title and Explanation Possible funding source Use this column to indicate potential funding sources for the countermeasure. In considering Possible Funding Sources, be sure to consider and include sources other than the ODOT SRTS program, such as Capital Improvement and Transportation Enhancement funds. Be creative in identifying other non-government funding sources as well. Many private foundations provide funding to support active and healthy living programs. Or consider local businesses, hospitals and non-profit organizations as potential sources of support. NOTE: Not all countermeasures may be eligible for ODOT SRTS funds. For more information, contact your ODOT SRTS District Coordinator. City and School Policy Countermeasures Table Non- Infrastructure Countermeasures Table Infrastructure Countermeasures Table Responsible party Use this column to indicate the organization or agency primarily responsible for implementing each countermeasure. SRTS Team lead Use this column to indicate the SRTS Team member responsible for overseeing implementation of the countermeasure. Potential partners Use this column to list organizations or agencies that are willing, or might be willing, to help implement each non-infrastructure countermeasure. Status Use this column to indicate the current implementation status of the countermeasure (e.g., implemented, currently implementing, not yet implemented). Encourage the SRTS Team to update the status column periodically. See Section 5.0 of the Cincinnati Public Schools District-Wide Travel Plan for example action plan tables. STEP 9: SUBMIT THE FINAL STP In Step 9 the consultant should make updates to the draft STP based on feedback from the SRTS Team. After incorporating this feedback, the consultant should submit the final STP to the district SRTS coordinator, the SRTS Team, and ODOT. While the consultant may provide guidance and technical assistance, the SRTS Team will be 23

25 responsible for making sure the STP is approved by the officials responsible for implementing the plan. By receiving endorsements and pledges of support from key stakeholders, the STP and SRTS program has a strong chance of success. 9.1 ENDORSEMENTS Consultants should provide the following guidance to the SRTS Team: Endorsement documents can be as simple or as complex as you choose, but a one-page pledge of support is recommended. See Section 6.0 of the Cincinnati Public Schools District-Wide Travel Plan for an example endorsements section. People pledging support for the SRTS program should be in a decision-making role and have the authority to speak for the agency or organization they represent. The SRTS Team Members, especially those representing the 5 Es, should be included in the pledge. People, agencies and organizations that could pledge support include: School district officials, including: o Superintendent o Board of education members o Administrators from key district departments (e.g., transportation department) o School district PTA/PTO president Local government officials, including: o Mayor o City/county council members o Administrators from key agencies (e.g., transportation department, planning department, police department, or public health department) SRTS Team Members Representatives of partner organizations Finally, consultants should remind the district SRTS coordinator that once the pledges of support have been incorporated, their Ohio STP is complete, and they may electronically submit a Word or PDF version to their ODOT SRTS District Coordinator. addresses can be found on the ODOT SRTS website at under SRTS Contacts. Also remind them that approval of the STP is required in order to apply for funding through Ohio s SRTS Program. Funding cycles are from the first Monday in January through the first Friday in March each year. Updating the STP Inform the ODOT SRTS District Coordinator that updating the STP will be the responsibility of the community. The STP specifically the action plan should be revisited routinely (at least annually) to update the status of each countermeasure and to add new countermeasures as needs arise. Encourage the SRTS Team to arrange regular meetings to discuss the progress of the STP. Updates to the action plan and recommendation table are required if applying for ODOT SRTS funding. 24