Transportation choices have a great effect on the environment and human health. In Washington, DC students use various forms of transportation to get to and from school; most students walk or use public transportation, others use private vehicles or bicycles. Anti-idling policies for vehicles decrease air pollution, and the Safe Passage initiative and School Safety program are targeted to ensure students get to and from school in a safe and timely manner.
Performing a transportation audit can help schools identify the transportation choices students and teachers are making and, identify strategies and resources that can be brought to bear to make students’ travel to and from school safe and timely while helping to develop healthy and green alternatives. The relationships between neighborhoods, air quality, commuter safety, and health all play a role in understanding how transportation is intricately connected to the urban environment.
Lesson Plans: Consider utilizing one or more of the following curricula resources to teach about transportation.
Multiple Grades
Elementary School
- Maps of Familiar Places: , , and maps (Pre-K-Grade 2)
- (Grades 1-3)
- (Grades 3-5)
Middle and High School
Student Audits and Actions: Consider utilizing one or more of the following resources to encourage student action on transportation at your school.
- Setting up a
- Plant an (and learn about )
- alerts school communities to local air quality forecasts so they can take actions to protect children, especially those with asthma.
- has sample observation forms, pledge forms, and more
- Students score points when they walk, cycle, carpool, park-n-ride, or use public transport to get to school. Competition promotes alternative modes of transportation.
Celebratory Events: Consider bringing awareness to your school’s transportation initiatives by celebrating these national/international awareness days at your school.
- : May
- : October
Teacher Resources: Consider taking advantage of the following resources to address transportation at your school.
- , section 606 amended the related to engine idling near schools
- : type in an address to get a score for walkability, transit, and bikeability. Includes the y of how the score is calculated. walkability, transit and bikeable numerical score assigned.
- Transportation programs for students: , , , , and
- Air Quality Data: , regional and national ( and )
- for Educators
- (NASA article)
- Gets Cleaned Up (can order one free copy in English and Spanish)
- from US Geological Survey
Contacts: Consider reaching out to the following contacts for transportation initiatives.
- : School Safety
- OSSE Department of Student Transportation
Capital LEAF Links: