“Active transportation” is walking, using a wheelchair or scooter, bicycling, roller skating or skateboarding for transportation.
Join us as we implement strategies and action items in the 2023 Active Transportation Plan and follow for the latest news.
08/04/2025
Back-to-school season means new teachers, new schedules, and new habits. Try walking, biking, or rolling to school to build a healthy habit from the start!
We know that once you start, this might be a habit you won't want to break.
The agenda for this year's Walk Bike Roll Kansas Summit is shaping up! You can expect:
• Active transportation updates from around the state
• Sessions on human-centered streets, trails and gravel routes, and engaging local and state leaders
• A traffic garden demonstration project
And so much more! Check out the full agenda and register for the Summit here: https://walkbikeroll.ksdot.gov
07/28/2025
¿Hablas español? Us too!
In order to make the Kansas Safe Routes to School program more accessible to Kansas students and communities, we're starting to translate some of our materials into Spanish. Right now, we’ve translated our informational flyer, pedestrian tip sheet, bicycle tip sheet, and Walk and Roll to School Day and Bike to School Day templates and materials. Check out the resources page of our website and let us know if there are any other items that you’d like to see in Spanish!
¡ Ayúdanos a correr la voz! (That means “Spread the word!”)
07/17/2025
Wes Marshall, the Keynote speaker for this year's Walk Bike Roll Kansas Summit is launching a new podcast called Look Both Ways with David & Wes, and the first episode tapes LIVE tonight at 6PM EST on YouTube!
The first (and perhaps only) podcast of Look Both Wayswith David Zipper & Wes Marshall
07/14/2025
Big news! The Kansas Safe Routes to School (SRTS) program just wrapped its second round of Planning and Programming Grants. Over the 2024-2025 school year, we worked with five communities in Kansas - Riverton, Sedan, Silver Lake, Wellsville, and Wallace County – to create their first SRTS Plans. We’ll be highlighting each of these communities and their plans in the coming weeks.
We’re also thrilled to announce the recipients of the 2025-2026 Planning grants! The Kansas SRTS program will be working with Alta Vista, Douglass, Fort Scott, Grainfield, La Crosse, and Leavenworth over the next school year to document existing conditions, get public input, and identify program and project recommendations that will make it easier, safer, and more enjoyable for students to walk, bike, and roll to school.
Work on these plans will begin in August 2025, and final plans will be completed in the spring. More information on the P&P grant program can be found at https://www.kansassrts.org/grants-and-funding.
Join us in congratulating our newest class of grant recipients!
A young family walks down a path in Seward County. Photo by Calen Moore/ Kansas News Servi
07/10/2025
Registration now open for the 2025 Walk Bike Roll Kansas Active Transportation Summit to be held Oct. 29-30, 2025 in Lawrence, KS! More info on travel and the agenda can be found here:
Learn about the Active Transportation Summit hosted by the Kansas Department of Transportation.
07/01/2025
We're kicking off a new three-part series with the Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center on the AASHTO Bike Guide. On June 26, Multimodal Design Practice Lead Jeremy Chrzan will cover the historical context, design philosophy, and major updates in the 2024 AASHTO Bike Guide, with a focus on how bicycle infrastructure planning and design has evolved to prioritize safety, comfort, and accessibility.
Summer is here – hooray! The Kansas Safe Routes to School Team hopes everybody has a chance to slow down and relax a bit (although still keep up your walking, biking, and rolling) over the next few months.
This was an AMAZING year for our program, if we say so ourselves. Check out our 2024-2025 Year in Review below to learn what we did last school year and see what we’ll be building on for the 2025-2026 school year.
And now, we’re off to get some ice cream.
06/13/2025
Love trails? Be sure to visit the Kansas Trails webpage and start exploring!
Find Build Support Promote Trails Empowering Kansas trail enthusiasts with the tools, knowledge, and community to explore and create great trails. Find trails Discover the best trails across Kansas with accurate maps and expert recommendations. Go Explore Build trails Get the resources and guidance....
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A Fun, Healthy, Affordable Way to Connect People and Places
Imagine a future with greater choices for how you get around. Working closely with national and local experts in planning, design, and safety, the Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) is developing the state’s first Active Transportation Plan (ATP) in 25 years. The ATP will look at the needs of people who walk, cycle, use mobility assistance devices, scoot, and more. The plan will focus on how things can be improved through better policies, planning, design, and partnerships with other state agencies and local communities.
Benefits of Active Transport
Here are just a few of the many benefits that active transportation brings to its users and the broader community:
Improved Health and Lower Healthcare Costs
Active lifestyles can make a significant positive impact on physical and mental health and reduce the overall costs of providing healthcare in Kansas. Seven of the top 10 leading causes of death in Kansas are due to chronic diseases. Walking and bicycling are basic forms of physical activity that can help address the personal and community costs of poor health outcomes that result from inactive lifestyles. The CDC recommends changing the built environment in communities to make it easier for people to walk and bicycle as a strategy to prevent chronic disease.
Reduced Pollution
Increasing active transportation in Kansas can help make the air cleaner today and reduce the impacts of human-caused climate change. Biking and walking are zero-emission transportation modes. When people use active transportation instead of driving, motor vehicle-related air pollution emissions go down, thereby reducing the harmful effects of motor vehicle pollution on the environment and human health.
Increased Quality of Life, Equity, and Economic Vitality
Active transportation helps make communities more livable. Nationally, people who agree they have places to walk to nearby also report that they are more satisfied with their quality of life. In addition, communities that invest in mobility alternatives like walking and bicycling often generate higher property values and tax revenues after making such investments.
Active transportation benefits everyone by expanding mobility choices and ensuring that local businesses can retain the workforce they depend on. In Kansas more than 69,000 households lack access to a motor vehicle. While most households with above-average incomes have a car, only half of low-income households do.
This impacts these families’ ability to access jobs, school, transit, health care and other necessities. Safe and easy opportunities to walk or bike to these essential destinations and services can reduce the burden on households with limited motor vehicle access from needing to purchase one. Providing access to active transportation can be a powerful strategy for improving upward economic mobility.
For more information, see our Info Sheet at:http://www.ksdot.org/Assets/wwwksdotorg/KansasATP/documents/Kansas-ATP_InfoSheet_FINAL.pdf
