The School Commute Corridors Network designates a sub-set of Palo Alto’s street system for special consideration in infrastructure improvement and travel safety enhancement. The network comprises a comprehensive and continuous system of travel routes linking residential neighborhoods to all public school sites in Palo Alto. It includes residential collector and arterial streets, existing and proposed bicycle boulevards, off-road paths, and such residential local streets as desirable to ensure continuity of routes and direct access to each school site.

The purpose of the School Commute Corridors Network is to give priority for pedestrian and bicycle facilities improvements, sidewalk replacement, street re-paving, and other enhancements to travel safety for the most important school commute routes. Not all of the street segments on the proposed School Commute Corridors Network are at present optimal for school commuting. Many have intersections, for example, that are currently more challenging than may be desirable for some school age commuters. Others have prevailing traffic speeds that are too high for comfortable cycling or pedestrian crossing. Inclusion of such streets in a comprehensive school commute network signifies the intent to create a future continuous, comprehensive network of school commute routes accessible to and comfortable for a broad spectrum of school children and their parents and other caregivers.

Principles, application & Criteria: Adopted by City Council 10/27/2003
 
Principles Of Designation

• The School Commute Corridor Network shall comprise a combination of street segments, entire streets, and several streets linked together as a functional unit.
• Official designation notwithstanding, all residential streets should be safely walkable and bikable.
• All public schools should be on the School Commute Corridor Network.
• The School Commute Corridor Network should be continuous and comprehensive.
• The School Commute Corridor Network should provide/maintain safe crossings of major streets and Caltrain.
• School Commute Corridors should be distributed in a logical, reasonable geographic configuration while meeting the above principles.
• The School Commute Corridor Network should be reviewed and amended as appropriate annually
• The focus of the School Commute Corridor Network shall be to maintain and improve cycling and walking safety for school children. This shall include such provisions as may be appropriate for elementary, middle, and secondary school students.
• To create the desired focus and to designate a meaningful subset of Palo Alto streets, not every residential street can be on the School Commute Corridor Network.
• The School Commute Corridors Network shall be reviewed and updated as needed in response to changes in school commute patterns, school site locations, and other important factors.

Applications Of Designation

• Priority for crosswalk and bikeway improvements
• Priority for traffic calming and other vehicle speed mitigation measures
• Priority for maintaining/upgrading signage, striping, sidewalks, and pavement conditions
• Priority for traffic signal projects, undercrossings, and overcrossings
• Prohibition on new, uncontrolled commercial driveways
• Priority for "Safe Routes to School" grant applications
• Priority, as may be feasible, for traffic safety enforcement
• P riority, as may be feasible, for School Crossing Guards
• Priority for measures to enhance visibility and sight distance for motorists, cyclists, and pedestrians
• Heightened review of land use changes on Corridor streets with respect to effects on school commute safety of added vehicle trips, including turning movements into and out of development or re-development sites.

Criteria For Inclusion

• A Residential Collector street
• A street that functions as the above and is a necessary and logical part of the school commute corridor network.
• A Residential Arterial street
• A Bicycle Boulevard
• A Residential street with cycle lanes
• Any other street that is a necessary and logical connector to the above (to provide access and to preserve continuity)
• In future, private school sites and public parks will be considered in revisions to the School Commute Corridors Network