Local Schools to Celebrate Walk to School Day

Mansfield, Foxborough and Sharon elementary schools will be joining students around the whole of Massachusetts today for Walk and Bicycle to School Day this Wednesday.

The Massachusetts Safe Routes School Program is taking the day to encourage families to walk from their homes to school if they live within one mile of , or plan to walk from a friend's or neighbor's house within the same radius.

Also, families are invited to meet at the Municipal Parking Lot on N. Main St., next to , at 7:30 a.m. to depart for Jordan Jackson at 7:45 a.m.

Safe Routes to School is an organization designed to address the ever growing issue of school transportation and public health. They stated in a press release that in 1969 , approximately 42 percent of all American students bicycled or walked to school instead of using a car or bus.  Today, that proportion is down to less than 16 percent of children.

They also state that in the Commonwealth, almost one third of of high school and middle school students are overweight or obese. Additionally, the organization stated that in some communities, school-related traffic can contribute up to 25 percent of morning rush hour traffic volumes. In Mansfield, East St. is a prime example of how school-related traffic affects traffic flow, both in the morning and afternoons.

The Massachusetts Department of Transportation’s Safe Routes to School program, the Invensys Foxborough YMCA and the Towns of Sharon, Foxborough and Mansfield School Departments are organizing the event.  There are over 380 elementary and middle schools participating statewide.