in outer SE Portland.
(Photos © J. Maus)
Portland has been selected to host the Safe Routes to School National Conference in 2009.
The decision (announced today) was made by the National Center for Safe Routes to School and the Safe Routes to School National Partnership after a competitive application process.
The application for the conference was submitted by the Bicycle Transportation Alliance (BTA), the Portland-based non-profit that contracts with the City of Portland to provide the federally funded Safe Routes to School program in 25 Portland Public Schools.
The BTA was assisted in their application effort by the Initiative for Bicycle and Pedestrian Innovation (based at Portland State University). The IBPI coordinated strategy meetings with BTA leadership, bike program staffers from the City of Portland’s Office of Transportation, local bike planning consultants, and a coalition of other local agencies and non-profits.
Environmental School in
SE Portland.
The BTA has enlisted health care giant Kaiser Permanente as a partner in hosting the conference.
When the conference was first held in Dearborn Michigan in November of 2007, over 400 Safe Routes program reps, state transportation administrators, engineers, planners, elected officials, parents and community members took part.
The BTA’s government and public affairs director Karl Rohde says they expect an even better turnout in ’09. “Safe Routes to Schools is growing around the country,” he says, “and because Portland is a nationally recognized model for cycling, this conference will attract a lot more people.”
accepting an award from the US
Surgeon General at an event in
North Portland last April.
Rohde also says that with a new adminstration in the White House and the re-authorization of the Transportation Bill in Congress, the timing of the conference (slated for summer or fall of 2009) couldn’t be better; “There will definitely be a lot of discussion going on around those topics.”
Safe Routes to Schools first received national transportation funding when it carved out $600 million out of the $244 billion transportation bill in 2005 (known as SAFETEA-LU).
Director of the Safe Routes to School National Partnership Deb Hubsmith is one of the most respected and influential voices in the Safe Routes movement. In a press release issued by the BTA, she said that, “We’re very pleased to have the opportunity to work with the Bicycle
Transportation Alliance… It’s going to be an exciting event in a great location.”
For more information on the BTA’s Safe Routes to Schools program, visit their website.