Groups Applaud Fairfax Walk/Bike to School Initiative
November 18, 2009
Contact:
Bruce Wright, Fairfax Advocates for Better Bicycling
(703) 328-9619 (c); bruce.wright@comcast.net
Stewart Schwartz, Coalition for Smarter Growth
202-244-4408 x121 (w); (703) 599-6437 (c); stewart@smartergrowth.net
MEDIA RELEASE
Area groups applaud Fairfax leaders for support of walking and bicycling to school
Fairfax could seek federal funds to create safer walking and bicycling routes
Smart growth and bicycle advocates in Fairfax and the Northern Virginia region praised members of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors for their support for efforts to encourage walking and bicycling to school. Facing budget shortfalls and high school transportation costs, county leaders are looking at common-sense solutions and savings. Fairfax Supervisor Jeff McKay (Lee District) has suggested that schools should do more to encourage walking and bicycling to school, and Board of Supervisors Chairman Sharon Bulova has said she supports the idea of having more children walk if they can do so safely, according to today’s Washington Post.
“In a time of very tight budgets and concern about rising child obesity rates, creating safer walking and bicycling routes to school is just a clear win-win solution,” said Bruce Wright, Chair of Fairfax Advocates for Better Bicycling.
“Fairfax has invested a lot of funds in creating better and greener schools. Walking and bicycling to school are the cleanest transportation modes,” said Stewart Schwartz, Executive Director of the Coalition for Smarter Growth.
The federal Safe Routes to School Program provides funds to make it easier to walk and bicycle to school. Of the $13 million of federal funds have been made available to Virginia for Safe Routes to School, less than $20,000 has been claimed by Fairfax, by far the state’s largest county.
“We have to do a lot more to engineer active living back into children’s lives. Fairfax should make safer streets for kids a top priority,” said Wright.
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Fairfax Advocates for Better Bicycling, a project of the Washington Area Bicyclist Association, works to make bicycling an integral part of the transportation network of Fairfax County.
The Coalition for Smarter Growth is a Washington, D.C. regional non-profit organization focused on ensuring that transportation and development accommodate growth while revitalizing communities, providing more housing and travel choices, and conserving our natural and historic areas. www.smartergrowth.net
