Oregon has become a national leader walking and biking to school. Our state had the highest rate of school participation out of 48 states in America who participated in International Walk and Roll to School Day on October 7th.
The news comes from from the Oregon Department of Transportation and is based on numbers from the National Center for Safe Routes to School. That organization crunched data from the 2024 event and found that 210 schools registered for the event out of a total of 921 K-8 public schools. That percentage was higher than California, Virginia, Washington D.C., and Massachusetts.
“The enthusiasm for Walk & Roll to School Day across Oregon reflects our shared dedication to building safer, more connected communities,” ODOT Safe Routes to School Program Manager Heidi Manlove said in a statement. The participation number is almost back to what it was prior to the Covid pandemic. In 2020, just 61 schools participated. But in 2019 the number was 263 schools.
Now imagine if ODOT actually funded the Safe Routes to School program at the level it needs.
It’s clear that House Bill 2017 (the previous transportation spending package passed by the Oregon Legislature in 2017) has helped spark more school-based biking and walking programs statewide. That bill carved out $10 million per year starting in 2018 and $15 million per year starting in 2023 from the State Highway Fund for Safe Routes to School. The funds are distributed through a grant program that can be used to build infrastructure projects or for educational and encouragement programs.
While the amount was unprecedented and hailed by advocates at the time, it’s not nearly enough to keep up with demand. On August 21st, ODOT’s own Safe Routes to School Advisory Committee wrote a letter to Oregon Transportation Commission (OTC) Chair Julie Brown and ODOT Director Kris Strickler. The purpose of the letter was to push back on ODOT’s low-ball estimate for what the program needs going forward as lawmakers look to pass a new funding bill in 2025.
In a document shared at an October 16th meeting of the Joint Committee on Transportation Public and Active Transit Workgroup, ODOT pegged the annual Safe Routes to School need at $50 million per year. That number was based on the average of all project requests in each grant solicitation cycle since the passage of HB 2017.
But leaders of the ODOT Safe Routes to School Advisory Committee say that’s not enough. They say schools request five times the amount available every two-year cycle. In 2024 there were $138 million worth of grants requested for Oregon’s $30 million in available funds. “With this recent oversubscription, as well as the ongoing issue of cost increases for construction projects that we have had to mitigate for with our existing funds, we believe the investment in Safe Routes to School could benefit from up to $75 million per year over the next 30 years to effectively meet the needs of every school in the state.”
The fact that an ODOT committee is publicly asking for more money than ODOT themselves should raise eyebrows. It speaks to the frustration of having a very impactful and popular program that is starved for cash while ODOT continues to pour money into freeway expansion megaprojects statewide. At a meeting of the OTC last week, commissioners approved another $72 million for the $815 million (current estimate) I-205 Abernethy Bridge project — a project whose cost has risen 228% in recent years.
As insiders and lawmakers survey the political landscape ahead of the 2025 legislative session, the debates about program-level funding are likely to get heated. Governor Tina Kotek has outlined a budget that assumes the legislature will raise at least $1.75 billion to pay for transportation projects and programs like Safe Routes to School. But with ODOT saying they need twice that amount it’s unclear what they’ll sacrifice to get a bill passed.
Safe Routes to School is likely safe, but whether it gets the funding it truly deserves is anyone’s guess.
