Last week, Long Island was the recipient of $4.3 million in aid from the federal Safe Routes to School program, a program to improve infrastructure to enable and encourage children to walk [...]]]>

Fulton Elementary School, in Hempstead, will receive a half-million dollars for safety improvements. The school is bordered by two state highways.

Last week, Long Island was the recipient of $4.3 million in aid from the federal Safe Routes to School program, a program to improve infrastructure to enable and encourage children to walk and bike to school in a safe environment. The grant was part of a $27 million disbursement spread throughout New York State.

While targeted to areas in and around school zones, this funding will improve pedestrian and cycling infrastructure for all of Long Island’s citizens. The allocation, administered by the New York State Department of Transportation’s Region 10, is the first of its kind for Long Island.

According to Region 10′s press release, some of the Long Island school districts and municipalities awarded funding include:

• Uniondale Union Free School District, Nassau County–$550,000 for pedestrian safety improvements.
• Village of Hempstead, Nassau County–$509,905 for pedestrian improvements at Fulton Elementary School.
• Port Washington Union Free School District, Nassau County–$521,850 for bicycle and pedestrian safety improvements.
• Village of Southampton, Suffolk County–$421,000 for pedestrian safety improvements.
• Town of Riverhead, Suffolk County – $475,019 for a sidewalk enhancement and traffic calming project on North Griffing Avenue.

While this is fantastic news for many communities in Nassau and Suffolk Counties, the fact that the grants are so badly needed is an indictment of the auto-centric planning that has dominated Long Island since the end of World War II, and which Region 10 still subscribes to today. Unless this funding allocation spurs a more pedestrian and cycling-friendly mentality at Region 10, Long Island will continue to take two steps backward for every step it takes towards livable streets.

Image: Google Maps satellite image.

Commissioner Glynn was responding to [...]]]> New York City will receive approximately 39.5% of the State’s allocation of federal Safe Routes to School (SRTS) funding for the period 2005-2009, according to a recently received letter from NYSDOT Commissioner Astrid Glynn. That equates to about $12.5 million over five years to improve pedestrian safety near schools.

Commissioner Glynn was responding to a letter written jointly by Transportation Alternatives and the Campaign, requesting that the distribution of these federal funds be based on both school-age population and crash rates for schoolchildren. Under such a formula, NYC would receive approximately half of the State’s allocation, or close to $16 million.

NYSDOT, in an effort to be consistent with how the funds are apportioned nationally, decided to distribute funds based exclusively on school-aged population. There is some logic behind this decision. But the Campaign and Transportation Alternatives continue to feel that including crash rates would make the formula significantly more robust. Commissioner Glynn cited limitations in crash data that make it difficult to determine if a crash occurred when the child was on her way to or from school. But the Campaign argues that determining the trip purpose is irrelevant. The reason for including crash data is to target the funding to areas where school-aged pedestrians are more likely to be injured or killed in a traffic collision. NYC bears 70% of the state’s total pedestrian crashes, indicating that children in the 5 boroughs suffer a disproportionate risk compared to kids living in the rest of the state. It would stand to reason that this disparity holds true regardless of why the children are walking.

That said, the larger issue is that there simply is not enough federal funding set aside for the SRTS program. The full nationwide program received just $612 million over 5 years, representing just one-third of 1% of total federal highway funding. With SAFETEA-LU coming up for reauthorization in the fall of 2009, it is critical that advocates demonstrate the need for additional funding for this important program.