Champaign, Urbana schools to participate in Bike and Roll to School Day

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (WCIA) — National Bike and Roll to School Day is May 8, and Champaign and Urbana students are encouraged to use physical activity to travel to school for the day.

Students registered with the C-U Safe Routes to School Project will get a free bike light and reflector on Wednesday. Several schools will also have a bike station where families can pick up more supplies.

Champaign County Regional Planning Commission has designed safe walking maps for all the public elementary and middle schools in Champaign and Urbana. Those maps can be found on the CU Safe Routes to School website .

The National Center for Safe Routes to School organized the first National Bike to School Day in 2012. The day highlights issues in communities across the country like physical activity, pedestrian and bicycle safety, and the environmental benefits of an active commute.

According to the CDC, only 13 percent of children ages 5 to 14 walk and bicycle to and from school, a dramatic drop from 1969 where half of all students walked or rode a bike to school.

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