5/8/2012 - Portland Walkways Installed for National Bike to School Day
Lincoln Middle School students take advantage of new routes

WHAT: As a part of the first ever National Bike to School Day, May 9, 2012, the City of Portland is installing Portland Walkways, which identify safe routes for children and parents to walk or bike to school (photo attached). With installation expected to be complete by the end of the month, Portland Walkways will map routes to all Portland Public elementary and middle schools. The clearly marked routes, which are identified by Portland Walkways signs and arrows, were developed for safety and convenience with a travel distance of a mile or less to school. The walkways were designed to avoid major intersections as much as possible, follow sidewalk snowplowing routes and run along well lit streets.

In an effort to get students to walk or ride to school, Lincoln Middle School students have been encouraged to take advantage of their new walkway. More than seventy-five students are expected to walk or ride their way to school tomorrow. The Maine Centers for Disease Control recommends that children between the ages of six and seventeen get a minimum of sixty minutes of aerobic exercises every day. Walking or riding back and forth to school is an easy way to help meet these guidelines.

Funded by a contribution from the city’s obesity prevention program, this initiative is a part of a larger citywide effort to improve nutrition and combat obesity by promoting systemic change that makes it easier to live healthy and active lives. Maine is the most obese state in New England with one out of every three children in the state and fifty-eight percent of all adults in Cumberland County either overweight or obese. The City of Portland through Healthy Portland, a local Healthy Maine Partnership and program of the City of Portland’s Health and Human Services Department, initiated this effort through Healthy Portland’s Communities Putting Prevention to Work obesity prevention grant.

Two years ago, the city was awarded a $1.8 million CPPW obesity prevention grant from the federal government, which has supported a number of citywide programs. Other initiatives include working with the Portland Farmers’ Market Association to accept SNAP benefits, increasing the number of community gardens within the city, working with local restaurants to add calorie information to their menus, developing a citywide plan to increase safety and access to streets and trails for pedestrians and cyclists, and the installation of salad bars at Portland Public Schools.
When: Wednesday, May 9, 2012
7:30 AM
Where: Entrance at Greenhouse
Lincoln Middle School, 522 Stevens Avenue, Portland

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