The SR2S program will assess how often students in grades K-8 are walking or bicycling to school, identifying barriers to doing so and, to the extent possible, removing those barriers.  For 2012 the program is focused on non-infrastructure parts of the program including planning, education, encouragement and evaluation.  The  program involves all four elementary schools and middle school of the Kodiak Island Borough School district, and will contact over 1500 students. Based on the recommendations in these plans we have funding to proceed with engineering and design of infrastructure and to apply for construction funding or further programmatic funding in future years.

We’ve been asked, why are we taking on this project and not the school district?  At the moment the school district is rightly focused on student growth and performance in the classroom, and also have their hands full with large capital project to build a new high school.  Secondly, the school itself is only the one end of the route.  The “trailhead” for each day’s walk to school begins at home and crosses sidewalks, crosswalks, open spaces and natural surface trails along the way and principally takes place off of school grounds.  Third, we’re partnering with the school district, school board and local PTAs at all schools and at all levels, and will be working extensively with the KIBSD Wellness Committee.  Finally, at ITN we believe increasing opportunities for children to walk and bike to school safely will broaden travel and physical activity options for all segments of the community and contribute to the neighborhood connectivity we’re striving for with our trail systems.