Many kids enjoy biking, and Congdon Park Elementary School in Duluth takes extra steps to make sure their students stay safe. This includes a Walk to School event each fall, a Bike to School event each spring, and an annual bike rodeo at the school. This year’s bike rodeo was held on Wednesday, with hundreds of families enjoying the tire checks, obstacle courses, tabling, and food trucks.

“I think those events help our kids realize that even if they might be taking the bus or their parents drive them, they live, a lot of kids live close enough that they could walk or bike to school,” said PTA Member Katie Benziger. “They don’t do it every day, but they definitely enjoy the independence and freedom to be able to either walk or bike.”

Congdon uses the Minnesota Bike Alliance’s “Walk Bike Fun” program to teach kids how to ride bikes safely.

Physical education teacher Bryan Kallevig covers bike safety within his curriculum.

“Some of the things that kids have to start working on, especially once they start getting into fourth and fifth grade, are starting to understand some of the rules of driving because your bike is a vehicle,” said Physical Education Teacher Bryan Kallevig. “In some cases, young kids have to start riding on streets, and they just have to know how to ride by the laws.”

This is part of the Safe Routes to School Program for Duluth Public Schools.

“I work with the city and county for infrastructure changes and advocate for better changes around our school zones,” said Safe Routes to School Coordinator Andie Heil. “And very exciting news, we just received from MnDOT a full district planning grant, and that will be over $260,000 worth of funding for us to develop safe routes plans for all 13 of our schools in our district.”

This grant will start in the fall of 2025 and run until the end of December 2026. Safe Routes will partner with local planning commissions and do data collection to see where changes are needed in the area.

“We are here for pickup and drop off, and just observing. We’re doing car counting, we’re doing pedestrian counting, how many students are arriving on bikes and buses? And then collecting that data and seeing where the students live in the district, and plan our infrastructure, and make recommendations for infrastructure changes according to those numbers.”

Those involved with Safe Routes to School hope that making these improvements, such as more crosswalks and bike lanes, will encourage more kids to bike to school.

“Our biggest reaction is, you know what? I don’t know how I feel. My one kid is doing this by themself, yeah, that’s a really scary way to look at it, but once you start building that community mentality, you do a walking school bus, you do a bike bus, and set up those safety nets that student isn’t doing this by themself anymore,” explained Heil. “That’s what we’re looking for and really excited to do at some schools across the district this school year.”