City-School Teams Complete the School Travel Fellowship

Five city and school teams from across San Mateo County recently concluded their seven-month School Travel Fellowship, celebrating their achievements at a capstone event that showcased their innovative projects. The Fellowship, a collaboration between the San Mateo County Office of Education’s Safe Routes to School program and San Mateo County Health Equity, Policy and Planning (HEPP), creates an opportunity for cities to partner with their respective schools to support safe and active student travel. This year’s cohort was funded by the California Office of Traffic Safety, the City/County Association of Governments of San Mateo County, and San Mateo County HEPP. 

This year, teams from East Palo Alto, Millbrae, San Carlos, San Mateo County/Montara, and South San Francisco piloted demonstration projects to improve pedestrian and bicycle safety for students, often using quick-build materials and walk audits to test new ideas. In Millbrae, for example, the School Travel Fellowship team set out to increase the number of students biking and walking to Green Hills Elementary School. ​​The team focused on quick-build traffic calming measures such as high-visibility ladder crosswalks, sidewalk bulb-outs, and new signage. They also introduced crosswalk flagging and flashing beacons to make pedestrians more visible to drivers. At the same time, staff worked closely with the Parent Teacher Association to boost engagement and energize the school community with monthly Walk to School Buses and a Golden Sneaker Contest. The team is now preparing for permanent traffic calming construction in Spring 2026.

Meanwhile, at Cesar Chavez Ravenswood Middle School in East Palo Alto, another team conducted a walk audit with Alta Planning, bringing together school, city, and community stakeholders to observe morning drop-off patterns and identify safety concerns. This collaborative process led to the installation of a demonstration project just before the school year began. The project featured a curb extension and flexible delineators to shorten crossing distances and improve visibility. The team also enforced daylighting by creating a no-parking zone at the intersection, physically preventing parking and enhancing safety. The team’s efforts resulted in tangible safety improvements and stronger connections between residents, city officials, and school staff, all united in the goal of supporting student safety.

With the conclusion of the program’s fourth cohort, the School Travel Fellowship continues to build momentum. Applications for the fifth cohort will open later this school year, inviting new teams to join in strengthening partnerships between cities, schools, and community organizations—and driving systems-level changes that create safer, more active routes for students.