1. Walkable Schools Walkable Schools How Smart Growth Principles Can
Help School Districts and Kids
Richard S. Geller Orange County District 1 Planning & Zoning Commissioner
Jürgen Duncan Transportation Designer, Canin Associates
Eliza Harris Urban Planner, Canin Associates
Orlando Metro Coordinator, Congress for New Urbanism

2. The State of the Sidewalks Decline in Children Walking to School
McDonald N. , “Active transportation to school: trends among U.S. schoolchildren,” 1969–2001. Am J Prev Med. 2007;32 (6):509 –516.

3. Why Should We Care?: Health Childhood Obesity Increasing
“there are consistent findings that overweight and obesity are associated with poorer levels of academic achievement.”
Taras and Potts-Datema. Obesity and Student Performance at School Journal of School Health
Source: Centers for Disease Control & Prevention
“the opportunity for physical activity within the school day affected the students’ performance in both reading and mathematics achievement”
The Impact of Physical Activity and Obesity on Academic Achievement Among Elementary Students, National Council of the Professors of Educational Administration

4. Why Should We Care?: Safety
Motor vehicle crashes are U.S. teens’ leading cause of death, amounting to more than one in three deaths in this age group.
Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

5. Why Did Kids Stop Walking? Metro Orlando: #1 in Pedestrian Danger
Orange County Sheriff’s car hits 6-year-old pedestrian walking home from school
The young girl, Marqueasha Sabrii Henderson, was walking with two of her sisters…. A driver honked their horn at the girl, which scared her and caused her to dart across the roadway.
Crossing guard's funeral is today
Crime Report
October 24, 2009|By Henry Pierson Curtis, Sentinel Staff Writer
Orange County
An 80-year-old Orange County sheriff''s crossing guard fatally injured last week at his school-crossing post will be buried

6. Why Did Kids Stop Walking? Roadways designed for cars, not kids
Old Winter Garden Rd. School Crossing
Lane Width = 12 ft. (same as an interstate highway)
Roadways have been designed to move vehicular traffic as fast as possible to increase roadway capacity.
Results: Unsafe and unpleasant for pedestrians and bicyclists.

7. Why Our Roads Are Dangerous Speed/Fatality Relationship

8. Why Our Roads Are Dangerous: Road Width/Fatality Relationship
Source: Swift-Painter-Goldstein study of traffic accidents in Longmont, Colorado

9. Safe Routes to School: Not Just Sidewalks
Sidewalks are an important element of the Safe Routes to School program
BUT
There is much more to it.

10. What Do Safer Streets Look Like More Than Just Sidewalks
A better and safer environment for kids to walk and bike.
Separation of traffic from walkways
Shade trees for buffer and comfort

11. What Do Safer Streets Look Like?
Celebration Elementary
Narrow, Slow Roads
On-Street Parking slows the traffic;
School Incorporated into Urban Fabric;
Windows place “eyes on the school”
Bump-outs shorten crossing distance

12. How Can We Get Safer Streets?
21st Century Walkable Smart Growth or
1960’s Era Suburban Sprawl

13. How Can We Get Safer Streets? Connection / Capacity Relationship

14. The Suburban Disconnect
O.C. Code (1)(d): 65 acre H.S. sites (excluding retention) on “roadways suitable for high volume traffic.” (f).
Olympia High School — Parking lot consumes about as much land as the buildings; disconnected from adjacent subdivisions; four-lane arterial requires driving;

15. Part of the Neighborhood
Winter Park High School—Built into the neighborhood;
Small Parking lot compared to Olympia

16. Saving the $$$ Walkability Can Reduce District Costs
High School Road(s) Walkable? Bus Eligible
Boone lanes Yes %
Edgewater     3-lanes Yes %
Winter Park   2-lanes Yes %
Olympia           4-lanes arterial No %
Freedom lanes arterial No %
Dr. Phillips     4-lanes arterial No %
Source: OCPS eh
Estimated annual operating cost per school bus: $62,000

17. Respecting the Street & The Students
Walnut Hills High School, Cincinnati, Ohio
Attractive architecture
Civic pride
Student motivation
Academic success

18. The Opportunity to Walk
Walnut Hills High School, Cincinnati, Ohio -
back of school incorporated into neighborhood without fences

19. Walnut Hills High School, Cincinnati, Ohio
The Advantages
Bus Pick-up and drop-off
Alumni Funded Expansion
Faculty Parking
On-street parking
Senior Parking
Enrollment: 2,065
Walnut Hills High School, Cincinnati, Ohio

20. Orient the School’s Main Entrance to the Street
Solutions
Orient the School’s Main Entrance to the Street
The side’s the front…
…and front’s the side jd
Windermere Elementary:
Architecture invites drivers more than pedestrians

21. Which school would you walk to?

22. A Safer Alternative: The Modern Roundabout
High Speed Turns, Right Turns on Red Lights, 43 crashes (in 2009) and 115 Feet of Pavement
View from Dr. Phillips YMCA. Dr. Phillips Elementary is caddy-corner.
Vehicles travel at mph
Reducing injuries 76% and fatalities 90%
Source: Federal Highway Administration jd
Windermere Roundabout

23. A Safer Alternative: The Modern Roundabout
Pedestrian Crossing:
Current Plans: up to 115 ft.
Roundabout: 26 ft. to island
Two crossing guards can stop all traffic movement. jd
Sidra Traffic Simulation
Current motorist delays up to several minutes would decrease to between seconds

24. Designing Walkable Great Resources
ITE-CNU: Designing Walkable Urban Thoroughfares
“Safe Routes to School” program website: saferoutesinfo.org
SmartGrowthSchools.org
Walkability / Bikeability Checklist

25. What Can OCPS Do?
When the School District reviews master development plans
Support interconnected, low speed, narrow streets and site new schools accordingly
Allow on-street parking to absorb demand
Adopt Smart Growth Schools Policies
Work with local governments to allow flexibility for setbacks, minimum acreage requirements and road types
Consider the neighborhood, walkability, and transportation costs when choosing whether to renovate or relocate an existing school

26. What Can OCPS Do? 3. Seek Alternative Funding Sources
T Orange County shall consider all available funding sources, including those at the State and Federal levels….
$29,116,392 granted to Florida ( )
School Alumni Associations
Developer Contributions

27. What Can OCPS Do: Be Opportunistic
4. Review Proposed Road and Intersection Changes and Advocate for Student Pedestrians
Propose narrow lanes, on-street parking, and other road engineering to lower travel speeds to 30 mph or less in front of schools and where students will likely walk
Support bike lanes
Support smaller curb radii for slower turns
Support bump-outs to shorten crossing distance
Consider roundabouts in lieu of road widening
5. Look for partners
Plant free trees on Arbor Day on routes near the school
Do “walkability checklist” with the PTA members
Participate in land use and transportation planning exercises