Last year, TSW worked with the City of Grove, Oklahoma, to develop their Safe Routes to School Plan. Safe Routes to School (SRTS) is an initiative focused on improving safety and ease for students to walk or bike to school. These plans set the direction and outline strategies and actions to enhance safe walking and biking for our youth, especially in areas close to schools. The most successful SRTS programs incorporate the “Six Es” – evaluation, education, encouragement, engineering, enforcement, and equity.

To kick-off the effort, TSW conducted an existing conditions analysis to better understand the community, school facilities, proposed plans, and potential challenges for students. One mapping exercise included a heat map of student locations within walking distance to schools. With this information, we were able to determine where improvements should be focused.

Community and stakeholder engagement activities helped provide guidance for the plan recommendations, including a stakeholder advisory committee, a walking audit, and presentation to City Council. The walk audit included walking common routes to schools to assess sidewalks, crossing challenges, and traffic flow issues.

Recommendations focus on strategic priority projects set to commence within a year, providing specific targets that can be completed, assessed, and continuously
improved upon as the recommendations are implemented. Many of the proposed sidewalk and sidepath routes aim to enhance connectivity, particularly in areas with a higher density of students or neighborhoods with concentration of households with lower annual household income. Additionally, the program recommendations detail specific actions to promote awareness, education, engagement, and encouragement of walking or biking to school.