Creating safe routes to schools often requires improvements to the walking and bicycling facilities or infrastructure. Such improvements may include installing traffic lights or signs, designing traffic calming measures to reducing speeds, and establishing safer crosswalks around a school or in a neighborhood.

Community Bicycle and Pedestrian Meetings:

• Santa Rosa’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Board - The BPAB has its regularly scheduled meetings on the 3rd Thursday of every other month from 4 to 6 PM.
• Petaluma Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee meetings –The meetings will be on the first Wednesday of each month at 6:00 pm.
• County Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee meetings – Third Wednesday of the month, 7:00 pm. Deals with bicycle issues on roads in the non-incorporated areas of the county. 
• Rohnert Park Bicycle Advisory Committee - Meets on the 4th Monday of every month at 5:30pm.
• Windsor Bicycle Pedestrian Action Committee/SRTS Task Force - Meets bi-monthly, dates & agenda posted on Town of Windsor Public Works web site.
• Sebastopol Complete Streets Advisory Committee - contact City of Sebastopol for details on meeting dates/time/location.
• The SCTA - RCPA holds public meetings on the second Monday (except holidays) of each month at the Sonoma County Transportation Authority offices at 411 King Street in Santa Rosa.  Meetings include the Countywide Bicycle Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC).

Sonoma County Engineering Efforts:

Engineering efforts require coordination between Public Works departments, schools, and an interested public. Often these efforts are preceded by the development of transportation, bicycle and/or pedestrian plans that contain needs assessments, policy guidance, and project priorities. Additionally, all jurisdictions are required to have a General Plan, which contains a ‘Circulation Element' addressing transportation policies. These plans may already identify some of the SRTS needs in your community - which will provide support for SRTS grant proposals - or there will be an opportunity to suggest including such projects in the next plan update. The Sonoma County Transportation Authority is the link to information about transportation throughout Sonoma County. The SCTA acts as the countywide planning and programming agency for transportation related issues: securing funds, project oversite, and long term planning. The Sonoma County Transportation Authority is responsible for the Countywide Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan, which includes 10 components: the Countywide Master Plan OVERVIEW, the APPENDICES, and an INDIVIDUAL PLAN for each of the 8 participating jurisdictions: Cloverdale, Healdsburg, Town of Windsor, Sebastopol, Sonoma, Rohnert Park, Cotati, and Sonoma County.  

Tools For Creating a School Travel Plan:

• School travel plans are a critical component of Safe Routes planning. A travel plan is a written document that outlines a school community’s intentions for making travel to/from school more sustainable and safe. See the complete step-by-step guide, an example travel plan, and create one for your school based on this template. (Materials produced by the Illinois Department of Transportation and are PDFs.)
• Community members can also assess areas for infrastructure improvements by conducting Walkability or Bikeability Audits.
• Planning efforts frequently utilize data gathered through Safe Routes Surveys.
• The National Center for Safe Routes to School website details Engineering strategies such as slowing down traffic around the school and in the school zone, among others.
• The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration offers a "Safe Streets" toolkit that has descriptions of common SRTS engineering projects and general suggestions on funding options for infrastructure improvements.

Local / State Contacts:

Contact the Sonoma County Department of Public Works or the Public Works Department of individual cities for more information on engineering projects and who can help bring improvements to your neighborhoods and schools.

• City of Santa Rosa Public Works
• Town of Windsor Public Works
• City of Healdsburg Public Works
• City of Cloverdale Public Works
• City of Sebastopol Public Works
• City of Rohnert Park Public Works
• City of Cotati Public Works
• City of Petaluma Public Works
• City of Sonoma Public Works

  Thank you to the Humboldt County Partnership for Active Living for assisting in providing content to help develop this page.