City-School partnership for safe school travel

Published on March 15, 2023

The City of Menlo Park was selected, along with four other cities, to participate in a school travel fellowship, a project lead by the San Mateo County Office of Education and San Mateo County Health Policy and Planning. The school travel fellowship is an opportunity for cities to partner with local schools to support safe and active student travel.

The City applied for the fellowship with local school Laurel Elementary Upper Campus. A team was put together including a city planner, a Laurel Upper Campus representative, parents and a Menlo Park Complete Streets Commission representative. The team will receive technical assistance through a series of four workshops and personalized support from Alta Planning + Design, an active transportation firm dedicated to creating active and healthy communities.

The first workshop was held Feb. 15, 2023. Each fellowship team identified their goal and created a project plan. The Menlo Park team’s goal is to increase the percentage of families – living within 1 mile of school – who walk or bike to school to 50% by fall 2024. The team members also mentioned the importance of safer connections between the different schools of the vicinity (Laurel Elementary, Silicon Valley International School, KIPP Valiant Community Prep) and neighborhoods through better infrastructure, providing Safe Routes to School programs, and shifting family vehicle trips to carpooling and busing.

Over the next seven months, the team will create walking and biking connections between Laurel Lower and Laurel Upper campuses. The project may include infrastructure (traffic calming measures) and non-infrastructure elements (data collection, safety campaigns, community outreach and engagement). The project is to be completed by September 2023.