School Site Planning & Access
NCTCOG will host a virtual webinar titled Connected Street Network and Subdivision Design on January 28, 2022 from 10:00-11:30 am. 1.5 APA CM credits will be offered. This webinar will discuss the benefits of more connected street networks for walkability, increased safety, and more direct routes, and designing street networks to enable students to safely walk or bike to school. The webinar will also introduce local examples from two municipalities of their strategies to encourage connected street grids and increase active transportation trips to schools.
This webinar is the first of a three-part Safe Routes to School webinar series for 2022. Other topics to be covered include:
- Building for fiscal sustainability and changing housing demands to enable safe routes to school
- Planning and coordination to site schools in neighborhood settings
Agenda for January 28, 2022 webinar
Register below!
Imagery Courtesy of Google Earth
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NCTCOG encourages school districts, local governments, and the private sector to work together to locate, or site schools so that they take advantage of existing infrastructure, enable students to walk and bike to school, avoid hazardous traffic conditions, promote orderly and efficient development in the region, and best serve and support students, families, and communities.
For information about NCTCOG Safe Routes to School Program, see Safe Routes to School webpage.
Quick Facts:
- Since 2010, an average of 21 new schools opened every year in the Dallas-Fort Worth region.
- Distance is one of the greatest factors in the decline in walking and bicycling to school. In the Dallas-Fort Worth region, 55 percent of K-12 students live more than two miles from school (2017 NHTS).
February 2019 - Building Schools, Building Communities: A School Siting and Collaboration Workshop
In February 2019, more than 40 school facility planners, architects, engineers, and land use planners came together to share information about school siting and facility planning, and discuss ways in which local cities and school districts are effectively coordinating to achieve common goals.
NCTCOG staff hosted a workshop in October 2015 to introduce elected officials on the Regional Transportation Council and school district officials to the new Community Schools and Transportation Program, and give an overview of upcoming activities and opportunities to be involved.
Regional School Coordination Task Force
The Task Force was intended to establish a structured dialogue between school district officials, city planners, engineers, architects, and others on topics such as school facility planning and transportation to and around schools, in order to better meet shared goals related to education, health, safety, transportation, and quality of life.
October 2016
July 2016
April 2016
December 2015
NCTCOG staff delivered a presentation on school siting and transportation coordination. Following the meeting, the City and ISD worked with NCTCOG to identify sidewalk needs near school sites, coordinate on planned roadway construction projects within the ISD’s jurisdiction, and prepare Safe Routes to School (SRTS) application materials.
- The Smart School Siting Tool, EPA (2016): This Excel-based tool is intended to help school agencies and other local governments work together to better align school siting and community planning processes, and evaluate and compare candidate sites for a new or renovated school.
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School Siting Guidelines, EPA (2011): These model guidelines are intended to encourage, inform, and improve consideration for environmental factors in local school siting decision-making processes.
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School Site Selection and Off-site Access, ITE: This briefing sheet was developed in partnership with the National Center for Safe Routes to School, and is intended for use by transportation professionals initiating or engaged in implementing safe routes to school (SRTS).
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Smart School Siting, ChangeLab Solutions: ChangeLab Solutions promotes healthier communities for all through better laws and policies. This website includes model policies for school districts, and fact sheets on smart school siting.
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- Helping Johnny Walk to School, National Trust for Historic Preservation (2010): The report describes steps that states and localities can take to encourage more schools that are centrally-located and accessible by many modes of transportation.
For more information, contact Erin Curry.