N.H. hopes to get more kids to walk, bike to school

When is the last time you saw a child walking or riding a bike to school? It's a sight that has become increasingly rare.

Officials at the New Hampshire Department of Transportation intend to do something about it. Earlier this month they began a campaign to encourage children from kindergarten through the eighth grade who live within 2 miles of their school to forgo buses and cars and walk or bike to class. The federally funded program Safe Routes to School, called SRTS for short, has also been up and running in the Bay State since August 2005.

The program is designed to decrease traffic congestion while improving the fitness of kids.

According to statistics compiled by SRTS, 25 percent of morning traffic can be attributed to students traveling to school; 42 percent of students walked to school in 1969 and less than 16 percent do today; and the number of overweight schoolchildren has increased from 4 to 16 percent since 1963.

"We've found a correlation between childhood obesity and fewer children riding bikes or walking to school," said John Corrigan, SRTS coordinator for the New Hampshire Department of Transportation.

Corrigan said he is developing partnerships among schools, cities and towns, regional planning commissions, and advocacy groups and conducting a survey to determine why fewer children are walking to school.

"We want to determine if there is something we can do to provide better sidewalks or relieve traffic hazards," he said.

Corrigan said he envisions innovative solutions such as creating "walking school buses" and "rolling bike trains" with adults overseeing groups of children as they bicycle and walk back and forth to school.

"I think the main reasons children aren't walking or riding bikes are traffic hazards and crime," said Corrigan. "I think adult supervision may provide a solution to both."

Corrigan said the program is funded by a $5 million grant from the Federal Highway Administration.

He said he envisions spending 90 percent of the money on infrastructure such as improving sidewalks, bike paths, and signs.

He said it is difficult to determine when the first "rolling bike train" might hit the road. "We're just at the beginning of our outreach program."

For more information, visit the New Hampshire Department of Transportation's website, nh.gov/dot.

The Safe Routes to School program has been in operation in Massachusetts since 2005, when federal funds first came became available. Programs are in operation at several schools, including the John E. Burke and West Memorial elementary schools in Peabody. For information on Massachusetts programs, telephone 1-888-4-COMMUTE, or visit commute.com.

Squelch the squeal

Eric, who signs himself off as "Curious in Malden," wrote in an e-mail, "I have been wondering lately if the T is exempt from noise laws? I ask because it is not unusual to see people holding their ears when the southbound Orange Line thunders into the T-NEMC station and the brakes are squealing in the evenings. The faster the train, the louder the squeal. It is particularly loud when a north and southbound train hit the station at the same time? Or is it just time for new brake pads?"

Robert H. Doyle Jr., division chief of the T's maintenance subway operations replied, "The Orange Line trains were built in 1980. The technology available at the time for propulsion and braking was the traditional cam controller, with direct current motors. The blending of friction brake (brake shoe on wheel) and dynamic brake (braking done by motors) to reduce jerk rate (change of acceleration/deceleration) was difficult to accomplish with varying passenger loads.

In order to obtain safe braking and jerk rates, the Orange Line had to use a small portion of friction brake to blend with dynamic brake; this being the root cause of the noise our customers hear when the vehicles are stopping.

"The Orange Line runs very tight headways and the current signal system is designed to the vehicles' braking characteristics. In order to reduce this noise, the authority will have to investigate alternatives that will not affect the braking characteristics. Currently, we are looking at two new developments in the transit industry:

"1. Vehicle wheels that absorb noise. We are using these on the new Blue Line cars that will be introduced into revenue service in 2008.

"2. Friction management, a process where a friction modifier is applied to the top of rails in specific locations to reduce noise. We have been doing extensive research in this area and have now introduced several solar-powered units in our Orange Line storage facility tracks."

Doyle said the T will do more testing on the equipment in "nonrevenue areas" such as the rail yard and storage tracks before deciding whether to use them on the lines.