Visit the National Academies Press online and register for

FIGURE 6-9
Decline in active transportation to and from school among youth from 1969 to 
2001 in the United States. 
SOURCE: CDC, 2008; 1969 Nationwide Personal Transportation Survey (USDOT, 1972); and 
2001 National Household Travel Survey.
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Walk/Bike
<1 Mile
Walk/Bike
<2 Miles
Walk/Bike
Any Distance
Other Than 
<1 or <2 Miles
1969
2001
Percentag
e
Figure 6-9.eps

---

Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Educating the Student Body: Taking Physical Activity and Physical Education to School
Approaches to Physical Activity in Schools
 
289
the United States ranked the lowest on active transport and the highest on 
obesity prevalence. 
Policies That Affect Active Transport
Various environmental and policy factors support or hinder active trans-
port to and from school. For example, school siting policies that encourage 
the construction of schools on large campuses far from residential areas 
and not integrated with housing development are a hindrance (Council of 
Educational Facility Planners International, 1991). Accordingly, efforts are 
being made to stop “school sprawl,” including eliminating minimum acre-
age guidelines so that schools can be located closer to where school-age 
children live (Salvesen and Hervey, 2003). 
At the national level, the U.S. Secretary of Transportation has called 
for a “sea change” in transportation planning in the United States. He has 
expressed the need to put cyclists and walkers on even ground with motor-
ists and issued a policy statement on accommodations for active transport 
(USDOT, 2010). His statement calls for the redesign of existing neigh-
borhoods with bicycle lanes, sidewalks, and shared paths. Additionally, 
the reauthoriza tion of federal transport legislation charged the Federal 
Highway Administration with providing funds for states to create and 
implement Safe Routes to School programs (National Safe Routes to School 
Task Force, 2008). Provision of this funding may increase the percentage of 
children who walk or bike to school through a variety of initiatives, includ-
ing engineering (e.g., building sidewalks), enforcement (e.g., ticketing driv-
ers who speed in school zones), education (e.g., teaching pedestrian skills 
in the classroom), and encouragement (e.g., having students participate in 
walk-to-school days) (CDC, 2005). 
Eyler and colleagues (2008) examined policies related to active trans-
port in schools. In 2005, six states (California, Colorado, Massachusetts, 
North Carolina, South Carolina, and Washington) had statewide safe 
routes to school or active transport programs. California, Colorado, and 
South Carolina had regulations regarding the required distance students 
must live from a school to be eligible for bus transportation (more than 
1.5 miles in South Carolina). A review of the NASBE (2012) State School 
Health Policy Database revealed that only 11 states (21 percent) had leg-
islation requiring walk/bike programs, most in partnership with the state 
departments of transportation (see Appendix C).
Barriers to Active Transport 
Several factors contribute to the lack of active transport of youth to 
and from school. The first is accessibility (Frank et al., 2003), which refers 
to the proximity (i.e., within a 1-mile radius) of a child’s home to school 

---

Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Educating the Student Body: Taking Physical Activity and Physical Education to School
290