In October, Alpine Elementary School half-way between Salt Lake City and Provo, Utah, received the 2010 James L. Oberstar Safe Routes to School Award for outstanding achievement among more than 10,000 Safe Routes to School programs.
Named for the former representative from Minnesota who sponsored the legislation in the 2005 surface transportation reauthorization that created the federal program, the Oberstar award went to Alpine after the school increased biking and walking by students to 50 percent of the total enrollment. That is up from 35 percent of the student body in September 2008.
It all came about after two car crashes involving student pedestrians on their way to the school and in spite of the Alpine School District being the lowest funded school district in the nation, according to the National Center for Safe Routes to School. Alpine Elementary received $71,500 in federal funding through the Utah Department of Transportation to install four solar-powered speed limit signs designed to slow traffic and improve student visibility at crosswalks, build a new walking/bicycling trail, make improvements to the bicycle storage area, and to support encouragement and educational activities. Alpine City also donated approximately $125,000 in labor and materials toward improving routes to school.
Alpine’s program also has benefits beyond just learning how to safely walk or bike to school. The Alpine students partnered with the Candle Light School in Nairobi, Kenya. Through the Safe Routes program, students have walked more than 72,000 miles and raised enough money through private donations to purchase three months’ worth of lunches for the entire Candle Light student body.
