The Salinas Safe Routes to Schools Plan identifies barriers to safe, convenient transportation and will guide future improvements around 44 city schools in four school districts. Recommendations included in the Plan are designed to help address school-based traffic congestion and improve student health by fostering increased biking, walking, and carpooling. The project team, comprised of staff from the Transportation Agency, County Health Department, City of Salinas Public Works and Planning, School Districts and non-profit Ecology Action, have engaged administrators, parents, and students in school bike/walk assessments, mapping activities, street demonstrations, and surveys.
The Salinas Safe Routes to School Plan kicked off in Spring 2020, despite having to cancel the planned community workshops due to shelter-in-place restrictions. In 2020 and 2021, the planning team drafted and received community input on a list of infrastructure and non-infrastructure recommendations around the 44 schools included in the Plan and conducted school site audits and two street demonstrations on E. Alisal St and McKinnon St.
The project team is now seeking input on the Draft Salinas Safe Routes to School Plan, including non-infrastructure recommendations for the Transportation Agency for Monterey County. The full Draft Plan can be reviewed on the project website (see web attachment). The Executive Summary is included as an attachment to this report. Please send comments via the survey on the project website by the end of October. The final Plan is anticipated to be adopted in December 2022. Once the Plan has been adopted, the City of Salinas and TAMC staff will pursue funding to implement recommendations in the Plan.