We’ve built Safe Routes to School improvements at every public school in Seattle

Students bike to school at Dunlap Elementary and South Shore PK-8 in Rainier Beach as part of a ‘Bike Bus’ group. Photo: SDOT

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At-a-glance:

We’ve achieved the Levy to Move Seattle commitment to build Safe Routes to School improvements at every public school in Seattle.
Since 2015, we’ve built over 260 school-focused projects across the city.
This includes upgrading sidewalks and crosswalks, adding speed cushions, and installing other types of traffic calming measures.
While we’ve met our goal through the Levy to Move Seattle, we’ll continue to build more street and sidewalk upgrades to help students safely walk, bike, and roll to school.
Earlier this week, we installed several upgrades at Olympic View Elementary in Maple Leaf. New features include all-way stop signs, marked crosswalks, and speed humps.
In this blog post, you can read about:
Visit our Safe Routes to School website to learn more or check out this recent blog post for more highlights. Thank you.

A project at every Seattle public K-12 school in Seattle

We’ve delivered on our commitment to build one or more Safe Routes to School upgrades at every public school in Seattle since voters approved the Levy to Move Seattle in 2015. These improvements at over 260 locations help make biking, walking, and rolling to school safer, easier, and more accessible for our youngest travelers and their families.

Our work is not done. Our Safe Routes to School program will continue to add more infrastructure enhancements around schools. We look forward to building on this momentum in the months and years ahead.

“Safe streets are essential for public safety and I am proud of Seattle’s award-winning Safe Routes to School program for reaching this milestone of delivering improvements at every public school in our city. These investments make a real difference in both protecting students on their way to class and as part of our larger commitment to help young people learn, grow, and achieve their potential.” – Mayor Bruce Harrell

“Eight years ago the Levy to Move Seattle set an ambitious goal of building a safe route for students to walk, bike, and roll to every public school in our city. I’m thrilled to have reached the exciting milestone of not only meeting this goal, but exceeding it.” – Greg Spotts, SDOT Director

Olympic View Elementary upgrades

At Olympic View Elementary, we recently installed speed humps to calm vehicle speeds and added all-way stop signs to help prioritize people walking as they cross the street.

Speed cushions are effective. We analyzed arterial streets where we installed speed cushions near schools and found a 21% reduction in speeds.

Map showing the location of all way stops with a stop sign icon, speed humps with a blue line icon, and speed cushions with a purple line icon, near Olympic View Elementary School in Seattle, between 5th Ave NE, NE 94th St, 8th Ave NE, and on NE 96th St. — *Map of new Safe Routes to School upgrades near Olympic View Elementary in Maple Leaf. Graphic: SDOT*

Several children and adults stand on a sidewalk during school pick up time. A speed hump is to the right. Large trees, cars, and homes are in the background. — *Olympic View Elementary students at pick up, with a newly installed speed hump to the right. Photo: SDOT*

Highlights from the 2023-2024 school year annual report

We recently published a new annual report and travel tally report for the previous school year, showing how Seattle students are getting to school. We encourage you to check out the reports for yourself to learn more. Here are a few top highlights shown below.

An infographic with a yellow background and blue and white text and icons. The title is "In the 2023-2024 school year, our Seattle's Safe Routes to School program:". It then shows 260+ projects in 9 years, a 21 percent reduction in speeds, 11 middle schools added to the Let's Go bike education program, 137+ walking and biking packages distributed, 9 equity priority schools worked with, 12+ events engaging students, and 55 K-5 public schools who conducted a travel tally. — *2023-2024 school year highlights for SDOT’s Safe Routes to School program. Graphic: SDOT*

School spotlight: John Muir Elementary

John Muir Elementary in Southeast Seattle had a 43% walk/bike/roll rate in our latest Travel Tally. It is a priority equity school according to Seattle Public Schools’ equity analysis, so we prioritized staff time, engagement, and funding at this school.

We completed new all-way stops, signal improvements, and signage upgrades leading to the school. Our Neighborhood Greenway team also installed greenway improvements like speed humps and pavement markings along S Walden St. The Parent Teacher Student Association (PTSA) and staff are active partners in improving the walking and biking infrastructure for their students. Our Home Zone program has also selected this area for future Home Zone improvements.

John Muir’s Physical Education teacher leads the School Safety patrol and teaches kids biking skills through the Let’s Go Program. SDOT and Seattle Public Schools support the school’s PTSA with mini-grants, yard signs, flyer design, supplies, and prizes to support their 2 daily walking school bus routes.

A John Muir Elementary parent recently shared their experience with the walking school bus:

“It’s such a joyful, healthy, and empowering experience for kids. And extremely helpful for families for whom this fills a meaningful transportation gap.”

We worked with Seattle Public Schools to make the travel tally as easy as possible and got record participation. This is how we know about John Muir’s impressive walking and biking numbers. Go Muir Lions!

New ‘Bike to Books’ artwork in Rainier Beach

Take a walk or ride along the Healthy Street from Othello Playground to the Rainier Beach Library. Look for Bike to Books art created by Dunlap Elementary and South Shore PK-8 students along the way.

Four young people riding their bikes in the street, while looking at an artwork placed on the street. The artwork shows a yellow sunflower riding an orange bike while reading a book. Parked cars and a playground are in the background. — Several young students on their bikes pose with student-created art installed along the Bike to Books Healthy Street route in Rainier Beach. This ‘Sunflower Bike’ design was created by student artist Riley Saetern. Photo: South Shore PK-8 parent

Map of the locations of Bike to Books artwork. Graphic: SDOT

Recap of Walk, Bike, and Roll to School Day on October 9

Hundreds of Seattle students participated in this year’s Walk, Bike, and Roll to School Day on October 9. This is part of a national initiative that supports kids to get moving and enjoy an active way to get to class.

We offer supply packages to support schools to run with their own events. Check out this page for more information. Last school year we supplied 137 packages to 48 schools – a 92% increase from the previous year.

An Instagram social media post from Dunlap Elementary School thanking SDOT for putting in new crosswalk lights. Several people including kids and an adult cross the street at a marked crosswalk with flashing lights and signs nearby. — *A recent Instagram post by Dunlap Elementary School showing kids crossing the street at a marked crosswalk with new flashing beacons. Image courtesy of Dunlap Elementary School.*

Safe Routes to School helps surround students with the support they need at schools across the district. This makes walking and biking to school a more viable and enjoyable option for more families.

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We’ve built Safe Routes to School improvements at every public school in Seattle | LEVY DOLLARS AT WORK