Today is Bike to Work day! Need to drop your kids off at school? Take them with you by bike! Show your kids how to plan a comfortable route and drop them off at school on your way to work. Biking is fun and it’s not just for kids!
Throughout the city, SDOT is making safety improvements for walking and biking to school. Since 2007, SDOT’s Safe Routes to School program, funded in part by funding the Bridging the Gap levy, has improved safety at 39 schools in Seattle. SDOT is also building neighborhood greenways to schools all over town. These safer, calm residential streets are getting kids to school in West Seattle, Beacon Hill, Ballard, Wallingford, Greenwood, and Wedgwood.
In celebration of Bike to School month, SDOT’s Safe Routes to School program is sponsoring walk and bike to school events. These events encourage families to get outside, have fun, and use newly improved infrastructure around schools like sidewalks, curb bulbs, planting strips, street trees, public art, and street lighting.
On Saturday April 26th SDOT’s partners Cascade Bicycle Club, Feet First, and Seattle Greenways organized The Day of Play at Olympic Hills Elementary in Lake City, promoting healthy ways of getting to school. More than 115 kids were fitted with helmets and received prizes for successfully making it through a bike rodeo that taught safe bicycling skills. The Seattle Fire Department’s Senior Fire Cadet Program brought a shiny red fire truck for kids to see and taught kids about fire safety and how to dial 911 in an emergency.
Roxhill Elementary School’s Block Party was held on Mother’s Day, celebrating the important role mothers play in keeping kids safe, healthy, and active. Feet First and Cascade Bicycle Club were again teaching kids the skills for walking and biking in their neighborhood. 50 kids received new bike helmets and navigated through a bike rodeo. Two beautiful brand new bikes were raffled off. Roxhill Principal Sahnica Washington and PTA President Alejandra Diaz joined in the fun riding on the Walking School Bus.
The fun continues today at Roxhill with an All School Walk Day where school buses drop kids off a few blocks from the school and everyone walks to school together. Denny Middle School marching band will provide tunes for the walk, and State Representative Eileen Cody and School Board Member Marty McLaren will be there to support walking to school.
For more information about Safe Routes to School, visit http://www.seattle.gov/transportation/saferoutes.htm.