OPINION | Seattle Public Schools and City Government Must Support Safe Walk, Bike, and Bus Routes for South Seattle

by Katherine Hoerster and Julie Cella

Earlier this month, people everywhere celebrated Bike & Walk to School Day. But as parent leaders of a walking school bus for South Seattle K—5 students, active transportation is a meaningful — yet challenging — year-round ritual. For more families to access joyful, healthy, active transportation, Seattle leaders must drastically improve policies and infrastructure. These investments should center on South Seattle, where we experience a disproportionately high burden of driving-related casualties, compounding broad health inequities.

Walking and rolling to school is a gift. Our families are learning civic engagement and safety lessons. Our children support one another — pulling a wagon for an injured child or sharing excitement for the day ahead. We work to bridge language barriers to share school-related information. And we move! Moving is crucial for healthy bodies and brains — increasing learning and improving cardiovascular, metabolic, and mental health.

Despite many benefits, Seattle's car-centric infrastructure also poses countless, often terrifying, challenges. One of our schools' routes lacks a sidewalk for 0.5 miles. Our crossing guard has been asking for traffic calming at his intersection along hazardous Rainier Avenue South for nearly two years. And horrifyingly, we have experienced the aftermath of siblings being hit by a driver near the intersection he guards; miraculously, the siblings survived. Our community's list of accessibility challenges goes on and on. And we're not alone. Kate's team's work — described previously in the Emerald — shows the need for safe active transportation to extend to South Seattle's older Youth of Color as well.

We invite Seattle leaders to join us in ensuring equitable, healthy routes to school, especially in our South Seattle community:

• The Seattle Public Schools (SPS) transportation department should prioritize active routes.
  SPS' soaring transportation costs are almost entirely directed to school buses. There is only one SPS position that focuses on walking/biking, which is inadequate to support the needs of over 50,000 students. Most walking/biking buses are established and maintained by parent volunteers, which requires significant and sustained effort. SPS and the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) do provide much-appreciated supplies (bright flags, vests, umbrellas), signs, and technical assistance. A small SDOT grant has allowed one of our PTAs to fund a $10/week honorarium to walking bus leaders. SPS can demonstrate its commitment to active routes to school by covering costs associated with walking/biking buses and providing robust training to walking/biking school bus leaders. These practices should be commensurate with the investments made in other forms of district transportation (e.g., crossing guards, bus drivers). This is especially important in South Seattle, where nearly all of our schools are Title I.

• Transportation via walking/biking routes is a component of well-resourced schools.
  As SPS prepares for school consolidation to theoretically address budget shortfalls, transportation costs must be considered. According to the recent community engagement meetings held by SPS, maintaining walking-distance schools is a top priority for families. If SPS does abandon the walking-neighborhood school model, district transportation costs will balloon further beyond their current astronomical spending (around $3,300 per rider). Furthermore, there are many parents who can't drive, as powerfully brought to light by Disability Rights Washington's Week Without Driving. Further, this would worsen congestion, already largely fueled by parents transporting children in personal vehicles.

• SPS and SDOT must act urgently to improve infrastructure that protects families walking and rolling.
  Seattle walk zones around all schools should have more curb cuts, protected crosswalks (including protecting sight lines with paint and bollards), speed humps, four-way stops, sidewalks, and "closed streets." Schools with larger attendance areas (where fewer kids live within the walk zone) and choice schools should be prioritized for protected bike lanes. Two of Seattle's most dangerous roads — Rainier Avenue South and Martin Luther King Jr. Way — represent major walk, bike, and bus routes for South Seattle students and must receive focused attention. As leaders refine Seattle's budget, we implore them to prioritize and fund these evidence-based changes, while bolstering other much-needed investments in our community (e.g., access to affordable housing, childcare, and health care).

Instead of viewing these investments as too costly or far-reaching, we hope SPS and SDOT can join us in supporting the active routes we want to grow through Seattle. Just Imagine it: streets full of kids moving their bodies, building community connections, and readying their minds on the way to school.

Editors' Note: This article was updated on 10/17/2023 to correct language surrounding the timing of Bike & Walk to School Day.

This letter represents the personal views of the authors and does not necessarily reflect those of their employers.

The South Seattle Emerald is committed to holding space for a variety of viewpoints within our community, with the understanding that differing perspectives do not negate mutual respect amongst community members.

The opinions, beliefs, and viewpoints expressed by the contributors on this website do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs, and viewpoints of the Emerald or official policies of the Emerald.

Katherine Hoerster, Ph.D., M.P.H., is an associate professor at the University of Washington School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences.

Julie Cella, M.D., is an internal medicine specialist at Valley Medical Center.

📸 Featured Image: A group of students walk to school in yellow reflective vests. Photo via Evgenii Panov/Shutterstock.com