Vision 2020’s Bike/Walk Committee is preparing a plan to create more safe routes for area students to walk and bike to school.

The Bike/Walk Committee spent the last school year collecting data about how students get to school to take advantage of the state’s Safe Routes to School program. The committee’s goal is to get more people walking or biking rather than driving. After looking at what other communities have done, they decided to try the Minnesota Department of Transportation’s program, which assists communities in the process.

“The more kids are walking and biking, the safer it is, and the greener it is as well,” Director of Vision Creation Laura Helle said.

The final plan, as well as survey results, should be made available sometime this summer.

While some would argue it is less safe for children to walk to school, Helle explained there is safety in numbers. When it’s part of a school’s culture that most children walk or bike, more people watch out for others, and there are safer trails and paths to use. In addition, the efforts to help children get to school fit with the committee’s goal to have the community walk and bike more.

“Both from a student perspective and a community perspective we thought the schools were a good way to start,” Helle said.

Helle said research shows when children walk or bike to school, they’re more likely to be alert, and they tend to get better test scores and perform better in school.

But Helle wasn’t the only one who thought it a good idea to start with students.

“Safety on the trails, safety on the streets, and what better place to start than with the safety of our kids,” Chairman of the Vision 2020 Bike/Walk Trail Committee Steve Kime said.

The program costs are covered by MnDOT, and will be implemented in six Austin schools: Ellis Middle School, I.J. Holton Intermediate School, Neveln Elementary, Banfield Elementary, Southgate Elementary and Sumner Elementary Schools. The application included a grant proposal to MnDOT in February of 2013, and a guided planning process throughout the last school year.

The committee started work with a MnDOT-designated consultant team, Alta Planning and Design, in the fall of 2013. Kime said the consultant team should have final recommendations by the fall, and the committee will be able to start deciding what they want to implement in each school.

“That will be our next step, to decide which of those will be our next priority,” Kime said.

Helle said Austin’s layout will work well with creating different paths for walkers and bikers.

“We’ve learned a lot about how infrastructure can either encourage or discourage,” Helle said.

Since Austin is laid out in neighborhoods and each has a school, having easy access to walking paths would be a good start to the overall goal.

The last year has allowed committee members to collect data through surveys and observation.

The committee asked parents from different schools to fill out school travel pattern surveys for their children. Results show most students either ride the bus or get a ride in a family vehicle. Helle explained the results vary depending on which school the student attends, yet data shows similar travel methods. From Ellis Middle School and I.J. Holton Intermediate School, only 5 percent of students walk and only 1 percent bike. Results from Neveln Elementary School show only 12 percent of students walk, and 1 percent bike.

Besides surveys, Kime said they were able to collect data during a two-day workshop at the end of April by walking around the schools and observing parents picking up and dropping off their children, noting where bike racks were and finding access to walking trails.

“We were able to just document what the situation is right now and we’re coming away with recommendations for each school,” Helle said.

Kime said both parents and students have given feedback. He recalled one parent who said a flashing yellow crossing light near Banfield Elementary was difficult to see at certain times due to the sun. He also recalled one little girl during the workshop discussing a corner she didn’t feel safe at due to the many cars.

Although the committee does not yet know what they will implement next year, some ideas include implementing a walk/bike to school day twice each school year, safe walking routes, speed enforcement using speed signs, and promoting safety in numbers. There could also be bigger projects, such as adding more signal lights, more safe school crossings and more education in schools on road and bike safety.

Helle said committee members have created an action list of ideas for each of the six schools.

“We’re not sure what we’re going to do first,” Helle said. “[It will] probably vary school by school what we tackle first.”

Helle said MnDOT consultants were impressed by Austin’s reason for implementing the program. In many communities, accidents or tragedies happen before people look into safe routes to school programs, but nothing like that happened to motivate Austin.

“We’re a proactive community, in a way we always have been,” Helle said. “This is one more way that it shows.”