Missouri Bicycle News

"It has the potential to become one of the best ways to improve conditions for walking and biking," said Clark, describing the broad cross-section of Safe Routes supporters, including parents and teachers, health agencies and urban planners. "There's an unassailable coalition." . . .

But if Safe Routes to School is a case study in successful grass-roots organizing, the story behind it also unfolds as a classic -- and damning -- parable of contemporary American culture. Once a national pastime taken for granted by millions of children, walking to school is, under Safe Routes, a multimillion-dollar effort orchestrated by adults and branded with its own catchy acronym: SR2S. The collapse of walking as a natural activity and its rebirth as a public-private partnership suggests the intermodal equivalent of a society gone mad -- an Alice in Wonderland state of affairs spotlighted by the corporate sponsorship and liability-insurance measures described in SR2S toolkits.