C-U Safe Routes to School Project, C-U Public Health District, and schools in Champaign and Urbana will join schools from around the country to celebrate National Bike to School Day on May 7.
Champaign and Urbana schools will participate in the second year of the National Bike to School Day campaign. Students will be riding or walking to school on Wednesday of the week along with parents, teachers and community leaders.
The event will begin early in the morning when kids, parents, and community leaders leave home on two wheels and head to school. Other special activities associated with the event include free t-shirts for students whose parents register them on the CU Bike Month website and backpack zip-pull reflectors for students who bike to school at participating schools in C-U.
Bike to School Day is a nationwide bike-focused celebration for students in the month of May and builds on the popularity and success of Walk to School Day, which is celebrated across the country – and the world – each October.
Bike to School Day events raise awareness of the need to create safer routes for bicycling and walking and emphasize the importance of issues such as increasing physical activity among children, pedestrian safety, reducing traffic congestion, and concern for the environment. The events build connections between families, schools, and the broader community.
The event is being organized by C-U Safe Routes to School Project (C-USRTS Project) and C-U Public Health District. C-U SRTS Project is a community-based organization with representatives from the Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District (MTD), Champaign County Regional Planning Commission, the Cities of Urbana and Champaign, law enforcement, Urbana and Champaign School Districts, bike organizations and more. C-U SRTS Project helps to educate the community on pedestrian, bicycle, and school zone safety issues.
