This bill changes parts of title 23 of the United States Code to add school bus route safety to the existing Safe Routes to School program. It defines "school bus route" as a regularly traveled course used to pick up or drop off students at school, at home, or at approved bus stops. The bill allows program funds to be used to plan, design, and build infrastructure that helps students wait for and take a school bus more safely. Examples listed in the text include sidewalk improvements, traffic calming and speed reduction, pedestrian crossing improvements, waiting areas at bus stops, and traffic diversion on school bus routes. The bill also adds non-infrastructure activities to support safe school bus ridership, such as public awareness campaigns, outreach to press and community leaders, traffic education and enforcement near school bus routes, and student sessions on bus safety rules. Finally, the bill amends the Highway Safety Improvement Program to list these Safe Routes infrastructure projects as eligible and adds language about school bus stop safety.
Local agencies and school districts could use existing Safe Routes and highway safety program authority to plan and build sidewalk and crossing improvements, create safer waiting areas at bus stops, slow traffic near bus routes, and run outreach or training about bus safety. The bill changes what those federal programs can support but does not itself set new design standards or require local action.
No publicly available information on new spending amounts or specific funding levels is included in the bill text. The bill amends which activities and projects are eligible under existing programs but does not appropriate money or state how much will be spent.
No publicly available information.
No publicly available information.