Demonstration Programs

The New Jersey Safe Routes to School (SRTS) Program is the result of a series of planning and developmental activities resulting in a comprehensive and flexible strategy to assist New Jersey communities in developing and implementing projects that encourage safe walking and bicycling to school. One key to the success of the New Jersey SRTS Program was to "test the waters" with two pilot demonstration programs. The lessons learned in these early stages helped to shape and guide the program over time.

In 2005, the Demonstration Program consisted of pilot testing the New Jersey SRTS program in three communities - urban, suburban and rural - to determine the similarities and differences among these three community types. In 2008, the purpose of the Urban Demonstration Program was to determine what obstacles to SRTS exist in New Jersey's cities, to verify how they are different from the challenges faced in other areas of the state and to develop a quality SRTS Action Plan for six urban schools that could be replicated elsewhere. In 2009, the Urban Demonstration Program was extended to two additional schools.

2005 - Demonstration Program This demonstration program explored the ways New Jersey public schools and municipalities could collaborate in launching SRTS activities by conducting a trial run in three New Jersey communities. The outcomes were a list of short- and long-term physical improvements recommended for the walking and biking infrastructure and a collaborative Action Plan outlining future school-led SRTS activity. Schools were selected based on applications that demonstrated that both the schools and municipalities together were "ready, willing and able" to participate. Objectives were to select schools representing a range of conditions, such as community context (urban, suburban, rural) and geographic location.

Selected schools/municipalities:

• Ashbrook Elementary School, Lumberton, Burlington County
   
• JFK Elementary School, Jamesburg, Middlesex County
   
• Rand Elementary School, Montclair, Essex County

• organized a SRTS Workshop: “A Day of Discovery”
   
• conducted student and parent surveys
   
• gathered key information to identify issues and opportunities

Results: Action Plans were prepared for each school/municipality. Each Action Plan recommends priority projects and activities that the school, municipality and community can advance to promote safe walking and biking to school. The files listed below are in Portable Document Format (PDF). You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view these files, which is available at our state Adobe Access page.

Jamesburg recommendation from Action Plan

Results: Action Plans were prepared for each school/municipality. Each Action Plan recommends priority projects and activities that the school, municipality and community can advance to promote safe walking and biking to school.

• Ashbrook Elementary School, Lumberton, Burlington County
  (pdf 604k)
   
• JFK Elementary School, Jamesburg, Middlesex County (pdf 648k)
   
• Rand Elementary School, Montclair, Essex County (pdf 954k)

Highway Administration's (FHWA) SRTS Program Development Guidance in providing technical assistance to diverse participants (urban, rural and disadvantaged) to ensure that they can "fairly compete for SRTS funds". Two schools were selected in Trenton, in Camden and in Newark based on the severity of pedestrian crashes, their designated status as "Major Urban Centers/Urban Aid Communities" or "Abbott School Districts", unsuccessful 2007 SRTS funding applications and previous requests to the New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) regarding SRTS concerns. With the understanding that the majority of students in these schools were already walking, the New Jersey SRTS Urban Demonstration Program resulted in six unique community SRTS Action Plans that provided the tools and resources to improve the students' walking or bicycling trips to and from school within the context and culture of their neighborhoods.

Selected cities/schools:

• Newark
  Hawthorne Avenue Elementary School
  Ivy Hill Elementary School
• Trenton
  Joyce Kilmer Elementary School
  Grace A. Dunn Middle School
• Camden
  Harry C. Sharp Elementary School
  Camden's Promise Charter School

Goal: Ensure that all children, regardless of where they live, can benefit from SRTS programs.

Process: The Program actively engaged urban school and community members, including its youth, to become resources of empowerment and stewards for behavior change. Challenges and opportunities were identified through a series of interviews, research, filed investigations and workshops.

Results: Six unique community SRTS Programs that, with school and community commitment, provide the tools and resources to phase in changes for improving students' walking and biking trips to school.

2009 - Extended Urban Demonstration Program
Given the commitment to SRTS exhibited by the Camden stakeholders, the unique partnership established between neighboring public and charter schools, and at the City's request, NJDOT agreed to provide additional resources to help Camden jumpstart their city-wide SRTS program. In 2009, NJDOT launched their Extended New Jersey Safe Routes to School Urban Demonstration Program in Camden, which built on lessons learned from the previous Urban Demonstration Program, and provided SRTS assistance to two additional Camden schools.

• Camden
  Rafael C. Molina Elementary School
  LEAP Academy Charter School

Goal and Process: As an extension of the Urban Demonstration Program, this effort followed the same goal and process.

Results: Two additional community SRTS Programs in Camden.