Visit our Safe Routes StoryWalk® project page!
The Joy of Reading Meets the Joy of Walking and Rolling
StoryWalk® combines the love of reading with the joy of physical activity. StoryWalk® projects display the pages of a children’s book along a designated route that is accessible to the community. People can read the story as they walk, bike, or roll along the route. StoryWalks are installed at parks, schools, libraries, trails, and even storefront windows. Each StoryWalk® display is unique, from the location to the materials to the featured book. These fun, creative projects are encouraging physical activity in small towns, large cities, and everywhere in between.
StoryWalk® was created in 2007 by Anne Ferguson of Montpelier, Vermont in collaboration with Rachel Senechal, and is a registered trademark of Kellogg-Hubbard Library.
StoryWalk® with a Safe Routes Twist
The Safe Routes StoryWalk® project was inspired by a growing movement to enhance safety and access to public libraries. Libraries, like schools, are essential community destinations that serve a diverse population. A visit to the library is not just about checking out books. Traveling to a library safely increases access to essential services, especially in low-income communities and communities of color. Libraries offer everything from family movie nights to tax filing assistance to vaccinations – all at no cost to visitors. Libraries also welcome visitors from all backgrounds, making it a prime location for public participation and engagement in traffic safety initiatives.
Across the country, libraries and transportation professionals have been teaming up to increase safety along library routes. This includes inviting library staff to participate in transportation planning processes, using library meeting rooms for public meetings, and implementing infrastructure projects around libraries. Libraries are also playing a role in promoting safe road behaviors. Safe Routes programs are hosting bike rodeos in library parking lots. Library bike mobiles are attending Walk and Roll to School Day celebrations. StoryWalk® projects are popping up, elevating the importance of pedestrian and bicycle safety, and providing a point of community connectedness.
The Safe Routes StoryWalk® takes the traditional StoryWalk® concept and adds a unique element – traffic safety messages geared toward different road users. The Safe Routes Partnership received a grant from the District of Columbia Highway Safety Office to pilot a safety-themed StoryWalk® at local libraries. To our knowledge, the Safe Routes StoryWalk® project is the first of its kind. We began this project with many questions, having never done a StoryWalk® but being excited about the idea. How can we collaborate with libraries to engage the public? What would a traffic safety story look and sound like? How can we create a StoryWalk® that represents the local community and honors the importance of public libraries? Who do we need to engage to bring this StoryWalk® to life?
We partnered with library staff, visitors, local artists, and community organizations to create two safety-themed StoryWalk® projects in Washington, DC. A year of partnership building, public participation and engagement, and collaborative planning resulted in Safe Routes StoryWalk® installations at Benning Library in Ward 7 and Bellevue Library in Ward 8. DC’s Wards 7 and 8 encompass predominately Black neighborhoods that are disproportionately impacted by traffic fatalities and serious injuries, according to the City’s Vision Zero data. The Safe Routes StoryWalk® aims to meet three goals: 1) Encourage walking, biking, and rolling to the library, 2) Reduce traffic fatalities and serious injuries, and 3) Promote safe walking, biking, rolling, and driving behaviors. Both installations feature artwork inspired by the people and places in the neighborhood, accentuated by traffic safety messages written in verse. The whimsical yet educational display reflects our desire to make traffic safety fun, accessible, and relevant to people of all ages.