Safe Routes to School

The city was awarded a $150,000 Regional Travel Options grant through Metro to fund a full time Safe Routes to School Coordinator for two years. The coordinator is working with the seven elementary and two middle schools in Tigard. The goal is to initiate Safe Routes to School programs at the schools where there is not already some kind of presence; and to broaden and deepen the programming at the three elementary schools already involved in the initiative and sustain the program by creating systems that can be easily replicated and delivered.

Education | Encouragement | Enforcement | Engineering | Evaluation

• Safety in Numbers: get a group of kids from the neighborhood to walk or bike together.
• Take it one step at a time: drive part of the way and then walk the rest, to get the feel for walking to school on a comfortable route.
• Pedestrian Safety Lessons: this is a great time to go over pedestrian safety skills with your child.

Travelling to school safely is everyone’s priority and the City of Tigard Safe Routes to School Program is here to help!  

Learn more about Tigard’s Safe Routes to School program.
¿Qué es Safe Routes to School (Rutas seguras a la Escuela) (SRTS)?

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Walking School Bus
A walking school bus is a group of children walking to school with one or more adult. It can be as informal as two families taking turns walking their children to school to a structured route with meeting points, a timetable, and a regularly rotating schedule of trained volunteers. Find out more or view the Walking School Bus Video.

Park & Walk
Sometimes students live outside a comfortable walking distance from school, but parents still want help relieve the congestion of traffic around schools and students still want to be able to walk. A great option is to Park & Walk — where parents drive (or carpool with others) partway to school and then their students walk the rest of the way. You can really Park & Walk from anywhere, but some ideas include city parks, church parking lots, or other meeting spots. You can even get a group to meet at the central location for kids to walk together.

What is an Action Plan? 
The City of Tigard is working with parents, school staff, and the school district to develop school specific Action Plans. Action Plans identify the key barriers to walking and biking and then prioritizes strategies to address these barriers. Strategies can be encouragement events, education, engineering/ infrastructure, and enforcement. 

• Steps to writing a Safe Routes to School Action Plan 

What are your barriers?
In order to develop an Action Plan that will fully address the barriers to walking and biking to school, we need to hear from you!

• Use this online geoform survey to submit information about the barriers or issues you face in the walk or bike to school.
• See the fully interactive SRTS Barrier Map for all Tigard-area schools.
   

Walking Wednesdays… learn more about monthly events where families can meet and then walk or bike to school together.

The following are some of the current Safe Routes to School initiatives at each school: 

Alberta Rider Elementary:

• Alberta Rider participated in International Walk & Bike to School Day on October 7, 2015. With the goal to build off this event for future SRTS activities including National Walk & Bike to School Day in May and other program components. 
• The SRTS Coordinator has done some initial work with the Alberta Rider PSO.

CF Tigard Elementary:

• CF Tigard kicked off its work on Safe Routes to School with an International Walk & Bike to School Day event on October 7, 2015. Events are a great way to establish early interest and provide a springboard for future SRTS work.
• The SRTS coordinator is working with the CF Tigard Safety Meeting as a way to integrate work on a Safe Routes to School Program.

Deer Creek Elementary: 

• While outside the city limits, Deer Creek Elementary has many students from Tigard. School staff is working with Washington County Safe Routes to School, City of Tigard, and Tigard-Tualatin School District to plan a walk audit and identify safety improvements.

Durham Elementary:

• Durham hosts Walk & Bike to School Day events each October and May. These events usually include two large walking school buses, with over 50 students in each group.
• Durham Elementary currently has a crossing guard to assist students crossing Durham Rd. at 79^th Ave. While an expanded crossing guard program is needed throughout the Tigard-Tualatin School District, many parents have cited that the presence of a crossing guard on Durham Rd. is one of the primary reasons they allow their children to walk or bike to school.
• With support from the principal and some interested parents, Durham Elementary School’s SRTS Task Force established an Action Plan. The plan identifies the barriers to walking and biking to school and prioritizes strategies to address those barriers. Essentially an Action Plan establishes a school specific roadmap for a comprehensive Safe Routes to School Program.

Mary Woodward Elementary: 

• Mary Woodward kicked off work on Safe Routes to School with International Walk & Bike to School Day. October was the first time the school participated. The event was wildly successful with parents and volunteers leading a number of walking school buses (groups of students walking to school), including a park and walk from the Walnut St. Fire Station.

• With engaged parents and support from the principal, Mary Woodward Elementary’s SRTS Task Force established an Action Plan. The plan identifies programmatic barriers and sets recommendations for future infrastructure improvements.

• Although nearby neighborhoods to the west are in the Beaverton School District, Mary Woodward Elementary draws students from as far as the Bull Mountain area of Tigard. Steep terrain and busy arterial streets are manageable pedestrian barriers when students have the confidence a Safe Routes to School program instills. 

• Mary Woodward Elementary has a monthly “celebrity walk,” which allows students to walk to school with well-known local figures. The walks take place on the first Wednesday of each month, and leave from Summerlake Park.

Metzger Elementary: 

• Metzger hosts Walk & Bike to School Day events each October and May. These events are highly successful with widespread participation.
• A couple of trail projects are improving connections to Metzger Elementary.
  • Oak Way Trail: In September 2014, the City partnered with neighbors, staff, and volunteers on a new bike and pedestrian path connecting Metzger Elementary School and the Learning Tree Child Care Center.
  • Lincoln Street Trail: This 300 foot soft-trail project will complete a key connection for students and parents walking to Metzger Elementary. The future trail will connect Oak St. to Lincoln St. near the southwest corner of Metzger Elementary. The project was approved in January 2016 with completion scheduled by May/ June 2016.  
• The city and the school district have entered into a joint use agreement for the fields at Metzger Elementary to allow public use as a park outside of school hours. Access to the Metzger School Park, and thus the school, will be a major component of the project. This future park will serve an area of the City without easy access to developed parks and will engage the community in planning and programming for the park.

Templeton Elementary: 

• A SRTS Task Force comprised of parents, school staff, district staff and city representatives meets monthly to plan and implement a Templeton Safe Routes to School Program.
• The Templeton SRTS Task Force adopted the Templeton Action Plan in April 2016. This Action Plan lists the known barriers to walking, biking or rolling to Templeton Elementary and identifies the potential engineering and programmatic strategies to address those barriers.
• Walk Audits were held on November 16 & 17, 2015 to observe conditions at Templeton drop-off and pick-up as part of the Action Plan development process. Parents, students, the principal, and city staff walk the neighborhood to observe and record barriers to walking and biking to school.
• Templeton has established a monthly walk & bike event, where the first Wednesday of each month is Templeton Walk & Bike to School Day. A monthly date helps establish a routine of walking or biking to school, and demonstrates to parents that kids can use active transportation to school year-round. Additionally, a number of parents are using this monthly date to establish informal walking school buses or bike trains, with a goal of increasing the frequency of their students walking and biking to school.

Check out these resources for more information on Safe Routes to School:

• Safe Routes to School National Partnership
• Safe Routes - Pacific Northwest  
• Oregon Safe Routes to School
• Washington County Safe Routes to School
• Introduction to Safe Routes to School 

• Metro’s Sustainable Living – Getting Around

The Golden Sneaker Award for elementary schools was awarded to Templeton Elementary School. Templeton gave students who bus to school a “walking experience” by temporarily moving the bus drop-off location to Twality Middle. Although these walkers weren’t counted toward the school’s winning total of over 44% participation, the students were able to walk around the track before starting their school day. 

Fowler Middle School won the Golden Sneaker Award for middle schools, with 18% participation. Students from Mr. Harvey’s Leadership Class volunteered to make signs for the event in the weeks leading up to October 4. On the morning of the event, students showed up early to distribute prizes to students who walked or rolled to school. The school’s bike racks, in addition to extra racks brought in by the city, were full. Mr. Harvey’s students had fun promoting the event with handmade signs along Tiedeman Avenue and Walnut Street.            

The City of Tigard’s Safe Routes to School Program is providing FREE yard signs to residents who want to encourage safe driving in their neighborhoods. You can pick one up for free at one of the following locations:

• Tigard Permit Center (13125 SW Hall Blvd.; 503-718-2708)

 More information:

• Signs should be placed on private property in your yard.
• Please don’t place the sign on someone else’s property without their permission.
• Make sure not to block driver visibility for pulling out of driveways, seeing pedestrians, etc.
• Make sure the signs do not block walkways, bikeways, or drainage ways.
• Do not place signs on traffic sign posts or utility poles.
• Please promptly remove any broken or vandalized signs; replacements are free!
• You may call ahead of time to make sure your pick-up location has the sign you want. Phone numbers are listed above. 

Unfortunately, local recyclers do not accept corrugated plastic yard signs. If you no longer want the sign in your yard, please let someone else use it, or return it to one of the pick-up locations.

Questions?
Contact Safe Routes to School Coordinator
Phone: 503-718-2708
E-mail: SafeRoutestoSchool@tigard-or.gov

Five Tigard Schools Participated in 2018 Walk + Roll Challenge
Tigard’s Safe Routes to School challenged all elementary and middle schools to go beyond one-day national bike to school day events and promote active travel to and from schools. Five schools rose to the challenge and selected a four-week period from April 30 through June 14 to encourage active transportation.

Together the initiative reached 2,827 students from kindergarten through fifth grade promoting activities like walking school buses, helmet fittings, punch cards for frequent walk and rollers, bike and helmet awards, and walking and biking safety programs.

With funding from Metro’s Regional Travel Options grant, Tigard’s Safe Routes to School Coordinator worked with each school to fund an $1,000 incentive package that matches the unique needs of the school and their community.

Charles F. Tigard Elementary School activities included:

• Walking School Bus
• Punch cards for frequent walk and rollers
• Helmet fitting and sale at school carnival
• Tigard Bike Rodeo
• Bikes & helmets awarded to students with perfect attendance

Awarded $1,000 to supplement the cost of helmets for students, selling them for $1 to students and $6 for parents at school sponsored events.

Durham Elementary School activities included:

• Walking School Buses
• Punch cards for frequent walk and rollers
• Helmet fitting and sale at school picnic
• Bike and walking safety class
• SRTS parent survey

Awarded $1,000 to relocate bike parking that construction at the adjacent Durham Education Center will remove this summer.

Mary Woodward Elementary School activities included:

• Walking School Buses
• Punch cards for frequent walk and rollers
• Monthly Celebrity Walk & Bike to School Days
• Ground breaking on bike shelter construction
• SRTS parent survey

Awarded $1,000 to add a bike fix-it station and Safe Routes to Schools wayfinding signage to their new bike shelter.

Metzger Elementary School activities included:

• Metzger Walk & Roll to School Day held on June 11
• Helmet fitting and sale at Metzger Walk & Roll to School Day
• Bike safety education (10 classes each) for all fifth grade students

Awarded $1,000 to supplement the cost of helmets for students, selling them for $1 to students and $6 for parents at school sponsored events. Metzger Elementary School also reserved a portion to support bike parking, safety equipment and/or traffic calming measures.

James Templeton Elementary School activities included:

• Bus riders unloaded at nearby location & walked to school
• Punch cards for frequent walk and rollers
• Helmet fitting and sale at school picnic
• SRTS parent survey

Awarded $1,000 to supplement the cost of helmets for students, selling them for $1 to students and $6 for parents at school sponsored events.