School Travel Planning: dealing with the tricky transportation conundrums at the Lyseth Elementary and Lyman Moore Middle School campus in Portland

Congratulations to Lyseth Elementary and Lyman Moore Middle School for their new campus School Travel Plan!

Lyseth and Lyman Moore were chosen by the Portland Safe Routes to School Team to be the pilot schools for a federally-funded School Travel Plan process – to clean-up traffic congestion and ultimately boost the number of students who can safely walk and bike to school.

Evaluation:  Through the School Travel Plan process students, families, school staff, other local stakeholders and experts identified physical barriers to students walking and biking – as well as reviewed current policies that impact travel at and near the school.

The process has produced a School Travel Plan that offers recommendations for the rest of the 5 Es:

• Engineering: The plan will make suggestions for specific bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure improvements – and designate safer walk and bike routes to the schools.
• Enforcement: Positive feedback and enforcement strategies to reduce traffic speeds near the schools and also engage students in safety patrols, etc.
• Education: Regular safety education for students and families
• Encouragement: organizing walking school buses and other activities to incentivize and otherwise encourage walking and bicycling to school

The Portland Safe Routes to School Team consists of partners from the Bicycle Coalition of Maine, Greater Portland Council of Governments, the Maine Dept. of Transportation, Portland Planning Division, Portland Public Health, Portland Public Services, the Portland School District, and Portland Trails.