Today marks the 30th International Walk and Roll to School Day. This annual event celebrated by schools around the world is designed to encourage students to walk, bike, skate, ride scooters, use public transit or otherwise get to school without using cars.
Most schools in the Alameda Unified School District participate, with activities ranging from having students place stickers on large charts to show how they typically get to school (e.g., walking, riding, via car or via public transit) to whole school exercise sessions and guest appearances by elected officials.
Alameda County’s Safe Routes to Schools program, which is run by the county Transportation Commission, organizes the day and provides incentives such as bike lights, pencils and snacks to participating schools and students.
Walking and rolling to school has multiple benefits, including providing opportunities for exercise and community building, avoiding emissions of carbon dioxide emissions (a primary contributor to climate change) and local pollutants, reducing traffic and letting middle and high school students build and exercise their much-needed autonomy.
The AUSD strongly supports safe pedestrian and bicycle routes in Alameda and is grateful for the continued support of Safe Routes to Schools, which also does assessments of our campuses to identify traffic safety issues, creates “Safe Routes to Schools” maps for each campus, sends a BikeMobile specialist to visit schools for bike repairs and provides walking and cycling safety lessons to teachers and full school assemblies. You can find the Safe Routes to AUSD campuses online at bayareane.ws/AUSDsaferoutes.
We also want to be sure the community knows that the city has released its draft Active Transportation Plan with pedestrian improvements and an all-ages and all-abilities bicycle network that could directly impact students, staff, and families. The city is in the midst of a three-week public engagement period (through Oct. 23) that includes events, a survey, presentations to boards and commissions and more.
Mark your calendars for the in-person open house this Sunday and a special meeting of the Transportation Commission on Oct. 20. In addition, the city this month is seeking feedback in meetings on draft concepts for two projects that will affect AUSD families and staff: the Clement Extension/Tilden Way (Tuesday and Thursday this week) and the Lincoln/Marshall/Pacific Improvements (Oct. 25 and 27). Details about these meetings and the Active Transportation Plan are available online at ActiveAlameda.org.
Susan Davis is the Alameda Unified School District’s senior manager for community affairs. Reach her at 510-337-7175 or SDavis@alamedaunified.org.
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