The law also provides funds for a national Safe Routes to School
Clearinghouse and stipulates that a national Task Force be formed to
help develop strategies.
More details on what the law says about the new program.
Location in
law:
Section 1404
What's
New: Federal
Program Guidance
The first
step in creating this wholly new program is for the Federal Highway
Administration (FHWA) to write a document that will guide the states
in creating and administering their programs. Groups that are part
of the
Safe Routes to School National Partnership are providing
comments to FHWA on this guidance. The Partnership will be
monitoring the progress of the guidance process which will be posted
on the Partnership website. Consider
joining the Partnership to have your say and keep informed.
The FHWA is
housing the national administration of the program in the Office of
Safety; most previous bicycle and pedestrian programs of FHWA have
been administered out of the office of planning and environment.
However, states will be free to administer the Safe Routes to School
program out of any of their departments or divisions.
The FHWA has
directed states to hire a full-time Safe Routes to School
coordinator by December 31st, 2005. You should follow
this process to ensure that these new responsibilities are not
simply added to the plate of an existing staff member.
Who
distributes the money?
The funding
will be distributed by the State DOTs, and projects can be funded at
100%. States must use some of the federal funds to hire a full-time
Safe Routes to School coordinator; the FHWA has instructed them to
do so by December 31, 2005. The FHWA expects that the funding will
go to non-traditional partners, such as school and community
groups. Between 10% and 30% of the funds must be used for
non-infrastructure-related activities.
However, the
way these funds will be disbursed is unspecified and will be one of
the issues dealt with in the Guidance.
More
frequently asked questions about SRTS.
Where can
I learn more?
State by state funding details
The
funding table gives annual
average funding levels expected to go to each state for SRTS.
The funding
actually distributed as a result of SAFETEA-LU will be higher than
the authorized level in most states because of the distribution of
an ‘equity bonus,’ formerly known as the ‘Minimum Guarantee.’ The
Equity Bonus program is meant to ensure that each state receives
a minimum rate of return on contributions to the Highway Trust Fund,
among other considerations. Most of the funds from this program are
distributed among many existing programs, and this distribution is
reflected in the funding table.
Click here to view the funding table.
