291C-3

State and county safe routes to school programs;

[§291C-3] State and county safe routes to school programs; coordinators; grants; reports. (a) There is established, within the department of transportation, a safe routes to school program that shall, among other things, enhance traffic safety around Hawaii’s schools, enable and encourage children to walk and bicycle to school, and make bicycling and walking to school a safer and more appealing transportation alternative.

(b) There is created, within the department of transportation, the position of safe routes to school program coordinator. The safe routes to school program coordinator shall provide a central point of contact for the federal safe routes to school program.

© A county designated office, through the county safe routes to school program coordinator, and in consultation with the department of education, department of health, and Hawaii Association of Independent Schools, shall provide safe routes to school funds for school-based and community-based workshops and infrastructure and non-infrastructure projects that will reduce vehicular traffic and congestion, encourage walking and bicycling, and promote health and safety around Hawaii’s schools.

(d) The director of transportation, through the safe routes to school program coordinator and in consultation with county safe routes to school program coordinators, shall develop a mechanism to provide funds to county safe routes to school programs from the safe routes to school program special fund established under section 291C-4 to be used for the implementation of county safe routes to school program projects.

(e) Implementation of the county safe routes to school program shall take into consideration the need to:

(1) Fill a permanent, full-time position of safe routes to school coordinator within the county designated office;

(2) Maximize the participation of school officials and stakeholder groups in the community;

(3) Work in conjunction with county designated safe routes to school stakeholders and train volunteer facilitators for school-based workshops and community-based projects, including flexible training schedules;

(4) Train potential grant requestors and stakeholder groups in federal and state requirements necessary for procurement, contracts, design, and construction; and

(5) Allocate not less than ten per cent and not more than thirty per cent of safe routes to school funds for non-infrastructure-related activities or activities to encourage walking and bicycling to school, public awareness campaigns, student sessions on bicycle and pedestrian safety, or other non-infrastructure activities as prescribed under section 1404 of the 2005 Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users, Public Law No. 109-59.

(f) Each grant proposal in the county safe routes to school program shall:

(1) Identify the modes of travel used by students to get to school;

(2) Determine the number of students using each mode of travel;

(3) Survey the parents of each student to gather information regarding the factors involved in the choice of transportation mode for the student and, where the student travels by automobile or bus, conditions that would need to change for the parent to permit the student to walk or ride a bicycle to school, and obstacles to walking and biking; and

(4) Identify traffic infrastructure elements in the immediate vicinity of each school, including multi-lane roadways, speed limits, and traffic calming features that, either by their presence or absence, contribute to the use of automobiles as a student’s mode of travel to school.

(g) The director of transportation, in consultation with organizations that have received non-infrastructure and pending infrastructure grants, shall develop a streamlined process for the safe routes to school program that meets federal and state requirements, simplifies the application process, and expedites release of funding after completion of school-based and community-based projects for infrastructure and non-infrastructure.

(h) The director of transportation shall submit to the legislature an annual report of the status and progress of the safe routes to school program, including an accounting of all grants provided through the program and a timeline for future grant awards, no later than twenty days prior to the convening of each regular session.

(i) Nothing in this section shall be construed as requiring actions or omissions that would render the State ineligible to receive funds for the safe routes to school program under the 2005 Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users, Public Law No. 109-59. [L 2012, c 317, pt of §2]