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Safe Routes to School

The City’s Safe Routes to School Program aims to create safe, convenient, and fun opportunities for children to bicycle and walk to and from schools. The goal is to reverse the decline in children walking and bicycling to schools, increase kids’ safety and reverse the alarming nationwide trend toward childhood obesity and inactivity.

The program is organized by a Safe Routes to School Coordinator, who  works with Charlottesville City Schools to teach K-8 students about safe, active transportation. 

Looking for a safe walking route to your child’s school? Check out our Safe Routes to School Maps.

Safe Routes to School Maps

  1. Safe Routes to School Map -Buford
  2. Safe Routes to School Map -BurnleyMoran
  3. Safe Routes to School Map -Clark
  4. Safe Routes to School Map-Greenbrier
  5. Safe Routes to School Map-JacksonVia
  6. Safe Routes to School Map -Johnson
  7. Safe Routes to School Map -Venable
  8. Safe Routes to School Map-WalkerUpper

Planning Activities

The Charlottesville Activities and Programs Plan is a thorough look at the context in which students currently bike or walk to school, and how they could do so in the future. The plan’s vision for fun, safe, and active travel to school was developed with the ideas and experience of citizens, educators, school administrators, health experts, and bicycling and pedestrian advocates. The plan has been endorsed by the City Council and Charlottesville School Board, and received final approval from the Virginia Department of Transportation. In July 2016, the City was awarded a grant to hire a  Safe Routes to School Coordinator to implement the many activities and programs envisioned in the plan. Since 2016, the city has continued to update the activities and program plan every grant cycle.

Safe Routes to School Infrastructure Projects

Using state funds awarded as part of Virginia’s Safe Routes to School program, Charlottesville has been working to improve the safety of walking and bicycling to school by providing and enhancing sidewalks, crosswalks, pedestrian signals, bike lanes, bike racks, and other multi-modal facilities near its schools, including Jackson-Via Elementary, Clark Elementary, Walker Upper Elementary, Burnley-Moran Elementary, Venable Elementary, and Buford Middle School.

What We're Working On

Traffic Changes at Summit Elementary / Belmont Ave

Explore our traffic flow changes and learn about the project pilot and when it'll would be permanent. Our aim is to provide a safe arrival and dismissal environment for students around Summit Elementary through traffic design aided by community buy in and feedback. View detailed images of the planned changes and project dates.

Clark/Summit Elementary Traffic Improvements

Ongoing Pedestrian Infrastructure Improvements

The City of Charlottesville is making continuous improvements to pedestrian infrastructure along commonly used routes to school. 

Spreadsheet of infrastructure improvements 


2025 Concrete and Sidewalk Improvements

The SRST program had identified 43 improvement projects that involved concrete related work (vs paint and temporary infrastructure, like flex posts) that the city was to prioritize completing over the next 5 years. Since the completion of the ADA Transition Plan, redundancy was found between the ADA Transition plan and the SRTS priorities. Leadership at the city decided to rely on the ADA Transition Plan to take responsibility for those projects that overlapped with the SRTS priorities. This left a short list of 7 project on the SRTS priority list. As a part of the Safe Routes to School program, the city is aiming to complete 3 this Summer (2025).

  • Sidewalk connection segment at Trailblazer Elementary
  • Sidewalk connection segment on Kenwood Ave
  • Sidewalk connection segment on Hardwood Dr


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