Safe Routes to School

Policy, Planning, and Systemic Change

This is the most significant level of use, as the map directly supports the development of safer transportation and infrastructure.

• Prioritized Infrastructure Spending: Guides city planners in allocating funds by visually identifying where the absence of sidewalks and crosswalks creates critical safety gaps.

• Evidence-Based Legislation: Serves as a practical, data-driven resource for city planners and policymakers to support new regulations or zoning requirements for pedestrian safety near schools.

• Transportation Development: Supports the development of improved pedestrian infrastructure by highlighting areas most in need of new or upgraded crosswalks and traffic calming measures.

Assessment and Strategic Research

This phase uses the map as a diagnostic tool to pinpoint problems and quantify risk in the walking environment.

• Critical Gap Identification: The map visualizes key pedestrian features alongside school zones to identify critical gaps in infrastructure that pose a risk to students.

• Safety Condition Flagging: It highlights specific areas where safety conditions may be compromised, indicating locations that require immediate attention from safety officials or engineers.

• Risk Assessment: Allows planners to evaluate the risk level for children by comparing pedestrian facility locations (sidewalks, crosswalks) to the proximity of school zones.

Community Engagement and Collaboration

This level focuses on using the data to mobilize community action and build consensus with local government.

• Advocacy Tool for Organizations: Provides community advocates with a data-driven resource to lobby for funding and infrastructure projects in their neighborhoods.

• Informed Dialogue: Gives parent-teacher organizations (PTOs) and neighborhood groups concrete visual evidence to start discussions with school boards and city officials regarding safe routes.

• Coordinated Effort: Facilitates collaboration between different stakeholders—schools, police, public works, and parents—to address safety concerns at specific, mapped locations.

Advocacy and Individual Empowerment

This is the most direct application, focused on the safety and navigation of individual children and families.

• Ensuring Reliable Routes: It is vital for children and families to ensure they have access to the safest and most reliable routes when traveling to and from school.

• Family Route Planning: Empowers parents to use the sidewalk and crosswalk data to personally plan the most secure walking path for their children, avoiding high-risk areas identified by the map.

Reporting Hazards: Allows residents to use the map's visualization as a reference point to accurately report the location of compromised safety conditions or missing infrastructure directly to authorities.