Wichita Area Metropolitan Planning Organization

The first phase of the Meridian Avenue Reconstruction Project has been completed! Please join the City of Valley Center on August 16, 2024, at 10 AM for the ribbon-cutting ceremony. The ceremony will be held in the 500 block on Meridian and public parking will be available at First United Methodist Church.

As the school year kicks off, please remember to follow these important safety tips. Let's help keep our students, (your child, niece, nephew, grandchild, brother, and sister) safe this school year.
1️⃣ **Use Designated Crosswalks:** Encourage students to cross the street at designated crosswalks and intersections. These areas are specifically designed to provide a safe passage for pedestrians, ensuring better visibility for both drivers and students.
2️⃣ **Look Both Ways:** Remind students to always look left, right, and left again before crossing the road. Encourage them to make eye contact with drivers to ensure that they are seen and to avoid distractions such as headphones or electronic devices.
3️⃣ **Walk with a Buddy:** Encourage students to walk to school with a friend or in groups whenever possible. This not only promotes companionship but also enhances visibility and safety.
4️⃣ **Stay on Sidewalks:** Advise students to use sidewalks whenever available. If there are no sidewalks, they should walk facing traffic, as this allows them to see oncoming vehicles and react accordingly.
5️⃣ **Be Visible:** Encourage students to wear bright or reflective clothing, especially during early morning or late afternoon hours when visibility may be reduced. This simple step can significantly increase their visibility to drivers.

Everyone is welcome to attend our 8/15/24 Executive Committee meeting! To view the agenda or for online meeting access, visit www.wampo.org/executive-committee

Ready to promote active and safe travel to school? This resource provides a step-by-step guide to starting a walk or bike to school program. Find valuable tips and solutions: https://www.kdhe.ks.gov/DocumentCenter/View/34276/Walk-and-Bike-to-School-Flyer-PDF

Wichita Area Metropolitan Planning Organization

Everyone is welcome to attend our 8/13/24 TPB meeting! To view our agenda or for online meeting access, visit wampo.org/transportation-policy-body
We'll see you there!

The Sedgwick County Health Department is hosting Community Listening Sessions to provide an opportunity for community members to share their thoughts for addressing community-wide health issues. All responses will help guide the Community Health Improvement Plan. Your feedback is vital - let your voice be heard!

To view a list of upcoming sessions, visit https://schd.online/CLSSchedule. The survey is also available in Spanish, visit https://schd.online/CLSSurveySpanish.

A school in the Wichita School District - Isley Elementary – will be seeing some changes in the future. The City of Bel Aire, where Isley Elementary is located, has invested in improving their current and building new sidewalks and bike paths (hooray!). But, because of these improvements, some areas where students live will no longer be eligible for bussing, because walking, biking, and rolling facilities will be available.

The administration applied for the Kick Start Grant to help start a community conversation around walking, biking, and rolling in hopes that when the improvements are complete and the bussing is decreased, students and their families will be prepared and excited to walk, bike, and roll to school. This grant helped the school initiate important conversations with community partners – police departments, church partners, BikeWalkKC, and others – to set the school and their families up for success.

In addition to these conversations, Isley was able to hand out over 600 of KDOT’s Miles, the KDog Safe Routes to School Activity and Coloring Book at their annual field day on May 17th. These books were a chance to help students start thinking more about walking, biking, and rolling to school before they started summer break.

Keep it up, Isley Elementary!

Ready to make a difference in your community? Visit www.wampo.org/bicycle-pedestrian, to join WAMPO for the 2024 Bike-Ped Count on September 11, 12, and 14!

We are very excited to announce that we have hired Holly Terrill as our new Executive Director! Holly has volunteered and participated in many of our events and is familiar to many of our members.

We are thrilled that Holly has agreed to join us in continuing to build Bike Walk Wichita. She is energetic, enthusiastic, and has many fresh ideas to continue Bike Walk Wichita‘s growth and impact. Holly has demonstrated leadership and vision in her past work, and we are confident that with our outstanding volunteers and staff, Bike Walk Wichita will continue to be an effective advocate and resource for walking and biking in Wichita.

Please join us in welcoming Holly to Bike Walk Wichita! You can contact Holly at [email protected].

City of Wichita- Government Wichita Eagle KMUW KSN TV KWCH 12 News Bicycle X-Change Wichita Area Metropolitan Planning Organization The Beacon Wichita Bicycle Pedaler KAKE News

Our upcoming ICT Safe meeting will be held virtually next Wednesday, August 7, 2024, at 9:30 AM! This will be the first joint meeting that will bring together all safety-related committees. Details about the Coalition, agenda, and the meeting access link are available at www.wampo.org/ict-safe 🦺 We hope to see you there!

The City is facing a significant budget shortfall, and planning for the future is already underway. In this challenging budget simulator, try to balance the budget by making tough choices based on what the community has outlined as top priorities: https://wichita.budgetsimulator.com/

Did you know... you can avoid crashes on the road by staying focused on your trip and practicing defensive driving? Keep yourself and others safe when on the road!

Join WAMPO for the 2024 Bike-Ped Count on September 11, 12, and 14! For more information and volunteer registration, please visit www.wampo.org/bicycle-pedestrian

See a child alone in a vehicle? Call 911! If someone is with you, one person should search for a parent while the other waits at the car. If the child is not responsive or seems to be in distress, try to get into the car to assist the child, even if it means breaking a window.

Keep everyone in the car and on the road safe. Stay focused on the road ahead of you instead of distractions around you. Prevent a disaster and answer that text message later!

The latest data from airlines reported to the USDOT shows that weather continues to be the leading cause of flight cancellations. The Biden-Harris Administration has taken historic action to improve airline passenger rights and oversight of the airline industry. Learn more at https://bit.ly/USDOT-Summer-Travel-2024

Early voting in person at the Election Office begins TODAY, Monday, July 22. Early voting is open Monday – Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. — get ready to vote! For a list of locations, visit https://www.sedgwickcounty.org/elections/

Today is Wichita's 154th birthday! The City of Wichita was established on this day in 1870, three months after Sedgwick County was officially recognized.

WAMPO has opened the public comment period for Amendment 1 to the Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) for Federal Fiscal Years (FFYs) 2025-2028 from today, July 19, 2024, through August 2, 2024. View the draft document and executive summary at www.wampo.org/transportation-improvement-program

In a crash? Don't panic and follow these five steps!

Biden-Harris Administration announces $1.8 billion in infrastructure grants across the country, putting more projects into the pipeline as part of our infrastructure decade. All 50 states, four territories, and the District of Columbia will receive RAISE grants this year.

Driving while impaired is illegal in the United States. Impaired driving happens when someone operates a vehicle while impaired by a substance like ma*****na, other illegal drugs, some prescribed or over-the-counter medicines, or alcohol.

If you’ve used any impairing drug, do not drive. Call a sober driver, a ridesharing service, or a taxi. Someone who’s high shouldn’t be making decisions about driving; their thought processes and physical reflexes can be slowed, putting them at higher risk of being in a crash where they or someone else could be severely injured or killed.

For current road and weather conditions, visit www.kandrive.gov.

How to Prevent Vehicle Theft:

• Park in well-lit areas.
• Close and lock all windows and doors when you park.
• Keep valuables out of sight, such as in the glove box or trunk.
• Do not leave your keys in your vehicle.
• Do not leave the area while your vehicle is running.

Some vehicles come equipped with an alarm and anti-theft system, but what if yours does not? Consider purchasing extra layers of protection for your vehicle if your manufacturer does not provide it. You can easily purchase an anti-theft system online or in a store.

Keep everyone in the vehicle safe by ensuring that you're all buckled up, and by making sure you hear a click from the seatbelt!

Speeding is illegal, and it endangers you, your loved ones, and everyone else on the road.

Speeding is a type of aggressive driving behavior and it accounts for more than 25% of all traffic-related fatalities nationally.

There are many reasons drivers choose to speed, but lateness, traffic, and a general disregard for others are the main culprits behind this risky behavior.

Speed limits are put in place to protect everyone on the road.

When you speed, your ability to steer safely around another vehicle, a hazardous object, or an unexpected curve is reduced.

Speed also affects your safety even when you are driving at the speed limit but too fast for road conditions, such as during bad weather, when a road is under repair, or in an area at night that isn’t well lit.

A common misconception is that speeding is only dangerous when you drive more than 10mph over the speed limit on the highways. Speeding is dangerous — no matter how many miles over the limit you drive — on all roads.

Even advancements in vehicle safety and passenger protection cannot keep people safe from the dangers of speeding.

Transportation Publishing released the 2024 Kansas Transportation Annual! Read the digital copy at https://kstransportationannual.com/2024/

Traffic-related pedestrian injuries are preventable but are increasing in the United States. In 2021, approximately 7,000 pedestrians died in motor vehicle crashes, representing a 40-year high. To read more, visit this article by the CDC: https://bit.ly/3zA5xHW

Everyone is welcome to attend our 7/9/24 TPB meeting! To view our agenda or for online meeting access, visit wampo.org/transportation-policy-body
We'll see you there!