Moscow, Idaho is a community of 25,000, located eight miles from Washington State with a bike path that connects the University of Idaho in Moscow to the University of Washington. Initially, active transportation efforts were focused more on enjoyment of the outdoors and connection with schools, with little attention paid to the safety component. This started to change roughly 10 years ago when the University of Idaho partnered with the City of Moscow on the area’s Safe Routes to School initiatives – the city took on engineering with the University covering the rest of the E’s. 

Safe Routes to School has grown leaps and bounds in the Phoenix area since the inception of the program. When MAP21 came along, Arizona DOT subcontracted the Safe Routes to School and Transportation Alternatives programs to MPOs and Councils of governments, which kept the ball rolling in the right direction. Phoenix has steamrolled ahead with a dedicated employee who works with 75 schools every year in the spring and fall with various pedestrian and biking events, including some law enforcement education. This work reaches tens of thousands of students each year.

As the weather began to warm in spring 2017, something else was heating up too – the Safe Routes Partnership’s new Safe Routes to School Launch Program!  With five cities participating in the 2017 pilot year, the intensive program helped communities move to a new level of safety and support for students walking and biking to school.  The Safe Routes to School Launch Program is a joint project of the Safe Routes Partnership (Safe Routes Partnership) and UC Berkeley Safe Transportation Research and Education Center (SafeTREC), designe