Schools

Supporting Parents to Make Walking, Biking, and Rolling to School Safer in Durham

EK Powe mom crossing Ninth Street with bicycle

The morning commute for these EK Powe families looks a little different now that a bike train (also called “bike bus”) has been firmly established.  Every Wednesday morning, a group of parents and their children meet at the park in their neighborhood and bike together to school.  “My kids know that we value physical activity and bike riding to school is another way we can make a lifestyle choice that promotes sustainability,” said EK Powe parent Kyle Simmons. 

Photo of EK Powe parents David Bradway and Kyle Simmons with their bicycles and Kyle’s daughter peeking through

Another EK Powe parent, David Bradway, who also co-chairs the Bike Durham Advocacy Committee, partnered with staff at Bike Durham and EK Powe Physical Education Coach Walker in the Fall to include the bike train in the school’s Walk and Roll to School Day.  Now David, and his daughter, Amelia, are the first to arrive Wednesday morning, radio on and energy high as they greet the other parents and students.

Pulling out at 7:45am the short ride has them at school in plenty of time for the morning bell.  The parents often grab coffee after the drop off, “Bike riding and walking to school together is a way to build community,” said Scotty Mathess, long time bike advocate and EK Powe parent.

Through our Safe Routes to School Bike and Walk Safety programs and support of both the Fall and Spring Walk, Bike and Roll to school events, Bike Durham is implementing a broader strategy to engage parents, and the school community to identify the barriers to increased bicycling and walking and to effectively advocate for change.  

In 2022, Bike Durham, with a grant from Duke Doing Good in the Neighborhood, conducted walk audits with the Old West Durham and Watts Hospital-Hillandale neighborhoods in developing a traffic calming plan.  Safety issues on 9th street in front of the school were obvious and we recommended strategies to slow traffic and “daylight” the crosswalks.

The community successfully lobbied for infrastructure investment and this Fall the city has used “daylighting” to make the mid-block crosswalk more visible by using posts to block off parking within 20-feet.  They have also shortened the crossing distance on Knox Street by closing off a right-turn “slip lane” with new posts.  The city and school system are working to install additional bike racks on campus.  In addition, the speed in front of the school has been reduced from 35 to 25 matching the speed limit in front of the shops on 9th street.  Building on the momentum, Bike Durham recently met with parents to hear other ideas like shutting the street down during drop off and pick up which would increase safety.

Our goal is to replicate this strategy of building relationships through our bike and walk safety classes; bring school-wide, ‘Walk Bike and Roll’ events to more DPS schools to increase awareness around the benefits; identify and partner with parent leaders to conduct safety audits; and lend our support to effectively advocate and realize needed changes.  

“Starting with kids getting to and from school is starting with the foundational and basic trip that every individual has taken throughout their childhood and educational career, notes Jacopo Montobbio, Bike Durham Education Program Manager, Safe Routes to School is about putting policies, physical infrastructure, and programs in place to enable families to choose to walk and bike to school, as well as other places, safely.”

Kristen Brookshire, the community transportation planner for DPS, believes that advocating for Safe Routes to School isn't just benefiting the students, but the community in Durham as a whole.  “If we’re making it better for kids, it’s going to be better for everyone,” said Brookshire. “It’s going to be better for the parent with a stroller. It’s going to be better for the grandfather with a cane. It’s going to be better for the person trying to get to work.”

Bike Durham will continue to work to deepen partnerships with the 13 schools receiving our bike and walk safety program this school year.  We are making strides now to conduct a safety audit at Eastway Elementary.  The community around Hope Valley Elementary school held a summer block party with a main topic of conversation focused on how to safely walk and bike to school; they are interested in learning from the leaders of the bike train at EK Powe.  Bike Durham serves an integral role in connecting parents and partners to learn from one another and build a network of families advocating for increased investment in bike and pedestrian infrastructure to ensure accessibility and safety for all families in Durham.

If you would like to help lead efforts to increase walking, bicycling and rolling to your school and within your community, please email us at saferoutes@bikedurham.org with the subject line Safe Routes to Schools.  

Bike and Walk to School Day at Merrick-Moore Elementary

Fourth grade students walking around Merrick-Moore Elementary on Bike and Walk AT School Day

Fourth grade students walking around Merrick-Moore Elementary on Bike and Walk AT School Day

Tuesday morning I biked from Sherwood Park in east Durham to Merrick-Moore Elementary School at 2325 Cheek Road in east Durham where students were getting outside to walk around the school campus as part of national Walk and Bike to School Day.*  It was good to see the kids outside, and they clearly enjoyed the break from the classroom, but this was certainly not walking and biking TO school.  The reason this was a walk AT school event was clear when Dr. Vannessa Alford, principal at the school, asked the Kindergarten students why none of them walk to school.  One of them called out “No sidewalks!”

Where the sidewalk ends at Merrick-Moore Elementary

Where the sidewalk ends at Merrick-Moore Elementary

Merrick-Moore Elementary is located on Cheek Road, a two-lane road with no shoulder and incomplete sidewalks.  The school is a key institution in the Merrick-Moore neighborhood, a historically Black neighborhood that has a history of advocating for more walkable streets. “My community has lobbied for many years for safer streets. Sidewalks are needed more than ever,” Bonita Green, neighbor and President of Merrick-Moore Community Development Corporation told me in an email.

This isn’t just an issue at Merrick-Moore Elementary.  Bike Durham’s Safe Routes to School Program Manager Jen McDuffie identified fifteen Durham Public Schools’ elementary schools that don't have safe streets for walking or biking around them.  That’s more than half of the 29 DPS elementary schools.  We know that parents aren’t going to allow their kids to walk or bike to school unless they feel that it’s safe.  Investing in these connections to schools, and addressing other safety concerns that parents and children feel, have to be priorities before every child can experience the joy and independence of walking or biking to school. 

Events like these are one way to raise awareness of the benefits that biking and walking to school can bring to the kids and also the parents.  Two of our daughters attended E.K. Powe Elementary, right around the corner from our house, connected with sidewalks.  When they were in fourth and fifth grades, they would walk independently to and from school.  It was a great feeling of independence for them, and it freed my wife and me from having to race home from work to pick them up each day. 

These events are also an opportunity to identify the obstacles, like poor or missing infrastructure.  This event at Merrick-Moore was organized by Stephen Mullaney, an accelerated teacher at the school, and supported by Bike Durham’s Safe Routes to School Program Manager Jen McDuffie.  It was attended by School Board member Natalie Beyer, City Council members Jillian Johnson and Pierce Freelon, and Durham Transportation department staff Bill Judge and Dale McKeel.  Along with Dr. Alford, we had good conversations about the need to connect Merrick-Moore and the surrounding neighborhoods with sidewalks, and other strategies to advance the outdoor education at the school.

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As I left the school, I was thankful for a lot of things:  that Bike Durham has this new partnership with the City and DPS to provide Safe Routes to School programming; that there are teachers like Stephen Mullaney and principals like Dr. Alford who are leaders in getting kids outdoors and active; that we have elected leadership that supports investing in sidewalks and bicycle facilities; and that all the pick up trucks were giving me wide berth as they passed me along Cheek Road.  

 *May 5th is actually the national Walk and Bike to School Day.  However, there wasn’t any biking or walking to public schools in Durham today because Wednesdays are Wellness Days for Durham Public Schools, meaning that students don’t have class in-person or remote.