Safe Routes to School

The City of Johns Creek Safe Routes to School Program aims to support and expand adoption of the program in schools within Johns Creek City borders. 

The program supports the statewide Safe Routes to School principles, which include the Six Es.

Encouragement

The City of Johns Creek helps schools better encourage students to walk to school through the provision of incentives. For example, the City provided wrist/backpack flashers to students at events and City Council members participated in Walk-to-School events with their own children. 

Education

The City’s Communications Team also creates and disseminates educational content of the City’s social media channels regarding pedestrian and bicycle safety year-round. 

The City of Johns Creek Police Department has a designated Community Policing Unit, which performs education and outreach activities upon request. The Department also hosts a teen driver safety course, which includes overviews of pedestrian safety and puts out awareness content on their social media platforms. 

Evaluation

The City encourages schools to count participants at each SRTS event and report those numbers back to the state organization. The City uses the state-collected data to acknowledge participant schools and honor the school with the most participants each year.

Enforcement

The City of Johns Creek Police Department (JCPD) has a dedicated Traffic Enforcement Unit. The Traffic Unit’s primary purpose is to enforce traffic laws, including lowered speeds in school zones, pedestrian and crosswalk right of way, and more. Every morning, during drop-off and dismissal times, the City of Johns Creek allows police officers to take on extra jobs to provide traffic direction at every elementary school in the City. Even though this coverage is above and beyond the standard of service provided by the Police Department, officers ensure school coverage whenever possible. JCPD also provides extra police presence at Walk + Roll to School events when requested. 

Equity

The City of Johns Creek strives to ensure equitable access to all City facilities. The Public Works department monitors ADA compliance for publicly owned sidewalks and trails, meaning residents and students of all abilities can utilize pedestrian and bike access.

Engineering

The Johns Creek Public Works Department values pedestrian safety, accessibility, and connectivity. The City’s Transportation Master Plan identifies the Safe Routes to School Program as one of the policy recommendations to improve multi-modal safety. The PW Department factors pedestrian safety and connectivity into account when engineering road improvement projects as outlined by guiding planning documents. The City also explores innovative solutions to pedestrian safety, like the HAWK signal, located in front of Barnwell Elementary. The HAWK signal is an overhead crossing signal that increases driver awareness upon approaching the pedestrian crossing due to its flashing properties and overhead nature.