Goals and Actions
The goals of the New Jersey Department of Transportation’s Safe Routes to School program are to encourage more students to walk and bike to school where it is safe to do so and to improve the areas where it is not safe.
The best way for your school, community and municipality to achieve these goals is to address the 5 E’s of the SRTS program:
- Education: Incorporate walking and bicycling activities into the school curriculum.
- Encouragement: Hold bicycling and walking activities, such as competitions and rodeos, throughout the year.
- Enforcement: Prosecute speeders and dangerous drivers.
- Engineering: Apply for SRTS funding to improve the infrastructure.
- Evaluation: Conduct annual walking and bicycling audits to assess needs and improvements.
Your goals should be tailored to your school’s situation and needs. They should be long-term and contain specific targets as well as actions that can be taken to achieve them. Using the framework of goal, target and action, will help to focus your efforts. Examples include:
Goal – statements about what you want to achieve.
Examples:
|
Target - milestones to help achieve goals.
|
Examples:
|
Action - steps to be taken, input that will be needed, and assignment of responsibilities for achieving targets.
|
Examples:
|
The following forms may be helpful in organizing the goals and process of your School Travel Plan:
- Goals and Action Plan Template: (MS Word version)
- School Description and Working Group Form: (PDF version) (MS Word version)
When developing a School Travel Plan, make sure to clearly define and identify the following:
- The party responsible for each action.
- A timeline for completion for each action.
- Projects and programs already in progress.
- Resources that might be needed (i.e. funding, staff, volunteers, etc)
