TxDOT Limits Funding of Safe Routes to School, Shuts Out Public from Process

Texas Community Project is working with neighborhoods to create walkable communities. We are working for a comprehensive network of safe sidewalks and bicycle lanes linking neighborhoods to schools, transit stations, shopping areas and employment centers.

One place to begin is with a comprehensive Safe Routes to School program. No reasonable observer can question the need for such a program. Many of our neighborhoods lack sidewalks, and our major streets usually lack bike lanes and safe, visible crosswalks. Parents often feel compelled to drive their kids to school, putting even more cars on the road during morning rush hour and worsening air pollution. The general neglect of our pedestrian infrastructure confronts walkers of all ages with tremendous obstacles.

In May 2001, the State Legislature passed the Matthew Brown Act (HB 2204), directing the Texas Department of Transportation to set up a Safe Routes to School program. The Act is named after a Plano youth who was killed while riding his bike to school. Yet so far, TxDOT does not seem to want to implement the program. In clear violation of federal guidelines, TxDOT failed to consult the public prior to releasing draft rules for implementing Safe Routes. Neither the Texas Bicycle Coalition, which was instrumental in getting HB 2204 passed, nor TCP, whose members have written over a thousand letters to TxDOT leaders urging them to fund Safe Routes, was given a chance to see the draft rules before they were released on March 28. The public has until May 31 to submit comment on the draft rules.

Not surprisingly, the rules fall far short of setting up a successful program. As currently drafted, they would not allow funding to be used to repair or widen sidewalks, close gaps in sidewalk networks, or put in curb cuts. Nor could funding be available for painting crosswalks, improving bikelanes, building curb extension at intersections to reduce curb-to-curb roadway travel widths, or improving pick up/drop off areas at schools.

TCP is deeply opposed to TxDOT’s refusal to involve the public in designing an effective program, and to the agency’s decision to draft rules which make full implementation of a Safe Routes program impossible. We are now working to persuade the agency to revise the rules in a way which allows genuine Safe Routes projects to be implemented, and to involve representatives of health, environmental and educational organizations in establishing project criteria and in deciding which projects will be built. Our children deserve no less.

You can help us persuade TxDOT to create a viable Safe Routes program which protects our children. Please write a letter to EACH of the people listed below and send it in BEFORE MAY 31, using the following sample letter as a guide:

Dear _________,

I am writing to urge you to direct TxDOT to fund a Safe Routes to School program with at least $3 million per year, and to write an effective set of rules for implementing this program.

These rules will allow the money to be used for repairing or eliminating gaps in sidewalks, painting crosswalks, improving bikelanes, building curb extensions at intersections to narrow the width of pedestrian crossings, improving pick up/drop off areas at schools, and making other improvements necessary for protecting our children as they walk and bike to school.

Please remember to include the public in drafting these rules, and in deciding which projects to fund. I look forward to your reply.

Carlos Lopez, Director Traffic Operations Division TXDOT 125 E 11th Street Austin, Texas 78701

Gov. Rick Perry PO Box 1248 Austin, Texas 78711