The Ohio Department of Transportation’s (ODOT) Office of Research and Development, in partnership with Ohio Safe Routes to School and the Federal Highway Administration, has published “Developing a Methodology for School Travel Plan Development for Large School Districts.”  The report outlines a process to allow large school districts (defined by ODOT as those with more than 15 kindergarten through 8th grade schools) to develop comprehensive, district-wide School Travel Plans (STP).

In order to develop this process, a pilot district (Cincinnati Public Schools) was chosen in order to test and refine methodologies. Methodologies were developed around three key areas identified by ODOT: mapping, infrastructure project identification and prioritization, and non-infrastructure project identification and prioritization.

The report includes “Lessons Learned” and “Recommendations” that may be generalized to assist other large school districts to develop STPs that incorporate both infrastructure and non-infrastructure items.