Safe Routes to School program getting ready to roll

Nov. 17, 2017

For more information: Shelley M. Snow, 503-986-3438, shelley.m.snow@odot.state.or.us

SALEM – The transportation funding package passed by the 2017 Oregon Legislature, HB 2017, sets aside $10 million per year for investments that improve safety around schools. A Rules Advisory Committee is meeting next week to begin discussions on procedures, such as how to divide and award those funds. The committee will meet at 1 p.m., Mon., Nov. 20 at the Chemeketa Center for Business and Industries, 626 High Street NE, in Salem. The group’s meeting is open to the public. Accommodations will be provided to persons with disabilities, and alternate formats of printed material are available upon request. Please call (503) 986-3317 at least 48 hours prior to the meeting (statewide relay 7-1-1).

A new Safe Routes to School program manager will assist the committee and coordinate the new rules, awards process and more. LeeAnne Fergason will join ODOT in mid-December. She currently serves as the deputy director of the Street Trust in Portland and has more than a decade of experience in working with the Safe Routes to School program.

In addition to funding improvements to walkways, bikeways and intersections along school routes, Safe Routes to School includes a program for non-infrastructure investments, such as education and training. ODOT has hired Heidi Manlove to coordinate that program. As Bicycle and Pedestrian Safety program manager, Manlove will use her public health experience to help communities around the state improve bicycle and pedestrian safety.

Rules Advisory Committee meetings will be held monthly until the rule is drafted and program guidance developed, with a goal of completing this process by spring 2018.

To learn more about this program, visit the Safe Routes to School website at: http://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/Programs/Pages/SRTS.aspx.

###ODOT###