The state of Wisconsin has plans to use $4 million in federal transportation grants to encourage students to walk or bike to school. Much of the work will focus on improving road conditions to convince parents that walking or biking is safe.
"As children make their way back to classrooms, schools and municipalities in Wisconsin will start spending $4 million in federal transportation grants to encourage and help more of them make that trek by foot or bicycle."
"Milwaukee Public Schools will spend the largest planning grant, $242,000, to teach 6,000 grade school and middle school students how to walk or bike to school safely."
"That such an educational program is deemed necessary suggests how much society has changed from a time in the late 1960s when more than half of the students in the country walked or biked to school. That percentage has dropped to 15%, according to the Federal Highway Administration."
"Cities and school districts from Superior to Beloit will improve sidewalks, install radar speed displays, create pedestrian islands, upgrade warning signs and start teaching children how to maneuver in the traffic around their schools."
"Part of the plan is to make parents more comfortable about letting their kids out of the passenger seat and onto the sidewalk."
FULL STORY: Goal is to get students walking, bicycling
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