Parents of students attending Red Pine Elementary School in Eagan, Minn., are feeling better about letting their children walk or bike to school these days thanks to a new web-based tool that provides information on safe traveling routes within their neighborhoods.

The school hired professional consulting services firm SEH to develop this new interactive web mapping application, which allows parents and/or students to insert their address and then receive a visual scope of the best route to bike or walk from their home to the school. The site also provides remote drop-off locations and safe walking and biking tips.

“The school was awarded a ‘Safe Route to School’ Grant funded with Federal Highway Administration Funds. The grant covered the expenses for SEH to conduct a traffic and safety assessment of the area around the school, make recommendations regarding safe pedestrian and bicycle access to and from the school, and identify the safe routes to school,” SEH GIS Analyst Nathan Aamot said. “The funds were also used to develop the web mapping application that provides easy public access to the safe routes information.”

“Safe Routes to School” are determined based on an evaluation of traffic volume, roadway conditions, traffic signing, crosswalk and sidewalk availability, crossing assistance, and the number of walking/biking students.

A fairly new initiative in the Federal Transportation Bill, this program is designed to improve the experience and the conditions associated with bicycling and walking to school. The program also addresses the 30-year drop in the number of children walking or biking to school and presents children with more opportunity for increased physical activity.

“For those children who have the option of walking or biking to school, this is an amazing tool for parents to use to increase their child’s safety and their level of physical activity,” Red Pine Elementary School Principal Gary Anger said. “I’ve received numerous calls from other schools and municipalities who are interested in implementing a similar program.”