Safe routes to school ballot initiative
Our initiative will...
Establish a Safe Routes to School program by law, and protect it with guaranteed funding
Prioritize community input; require accountability and collaboration among parents, neighbors, schools, and city
Create a dedicated network of streets in our neighborhoods to prioritize kids’ movement, and mandate basic safety measures
Make our city more competitive for state and federal grant funding to build essential infrastructure
Establish a Safe Routes to School Program which will be managed by the city, in collaboration with schools, school districts, and citizens.
Designate certain streets as safe routes to school, a new type of roadway allowed by state law. These will be managed differently than a typical “collector” street.
Lower speeds on certain streets.
Implement certain safety measures along these routes, like speed bumps/humps/cushions, painting, signage, traffic signals, stop signs, etc. The law mandates the use of these, but does not specify which ones must be used; that will be up to the Program Director and Director of Public Works.
Establish a “school street” at each school. The city will define school streets to make sense for Centennial neighborhoods. This city provides a good example of school streets. School streets are becoming increasingly more common across Colorado and the country.
A Safe Routes to School Advisory Board consisting of community members: this board will provide a permanent and essential link between city, schools, and community members to manage Safe Routes to School.
A full time permanent position of Safe Routes to School Program Director. The director must have the support of the Advisory Board.
If budget allows, there may be additional permanent positions, like educator, coordinator, or school liaison, for examples.
The Director of Public Works, City Managers, City Council will also play some role, as with any program or position in the city government.
There will be no increase in taxes or fees to pay for the program.
Our ordinance will create a new special fund for the Safe Routes to School Program.
The city will allocate money into this new special fund from some other source. For example, the city could allocate money from the general fund ($74 million in 2026), which pays for most of the city’s staff and services like public safety, or the streets fund, which pays for construction and maintenance of the city’s streets. In 2026, the city spent $34 million on roadway maintenance. It spent exactly $0 school zone or school route improvements, and $0 on bike and pedestrian infrastructure.
View the Centennial city budget here.
The ordinance will require the city to allocate 0.5% of annual expenditures to fund the Safe Routes to School Program. In 2026, the city’s total expenditures were $156 million. 1/2 of 1% of $156 million is $780,000.
The ordinance requires any penalties for traffic violations that occur in a school zone or along a safe route to school to be allocated to the Safe Routes to School Program.
The Safe Routes to School Fund is designed to pay for personnel, services, and outreach activities, with any remaining funds to go towards infrastructure.
Infrastructure improvements will be funded like any other capital improvement in the city: from a combination of revenues from taxes, fees, state- and county-level revenue sharing, and grant funding.
Our Safe Routes to School Program will make the city more competitive for grant money from the state and federal government. Centennial has never been awarded a Safe Routes to School grant from the state.
As needs are assessed and infrastructure projects are prioritized, the city may also pursue bonding or targeted tax raises in the future. We do not think the city’s current financial model of low taxes and no debt is sustainable.
Read the entire ordinance below.
Please note:
this is a working draft that is revised regularly based on community feedback.
You will be asked to sign a petition with the language below some time between January and June 2027. Then you will have a chance to vote for the ordinance in November 2027
The petition:
A community-led ballot initiative regarding safe routes to schools:
Without raising taxes, shall the voters of the City of Centennial resolve to provide all children with safe streets by which to travel to and from school independently via walking, biking, or other non-motorized travel, by directing the city to implement a Safe Routes to School Program and to designate certain streets as safe routes to school?
The ordinance:
I) Effective on or before June 1, 2028, the City of Centennial shall establish, within the department of public works, a Safe Routes to School program that shall promote walking and bicycling to and from school through infrastructure improvements and noninfrastructure efforts such as safety awareness education.
- The city shall create a special fund for the Safe Routes to School Program. Each year, the city shall allocate no less than one-half of 1 percent of its total annual operating expenditures to the Safe Routes to School fund. Any moving violation assessed in a school zone or along a safe route to school shall be allocated to the Safe Routes to School fund.
- Within 30 days of this law’s passage, the city shall create a Safe Routes to School Advisory Board consisting of members from the community who must be recommended by a school district. The Board shall have at least one member from each district in the city. The Board shall advise City Council, city managers, and the department of public works on any matter related to Safe Routes to School. The Board shall serve as a forum for residents to express wishes and concerns related to Safe Routes to School.
- The city shall create a permanent full time staff position of Safe Routes to School Program Director who must receive the unanimous recommendation of the Advisory Board.
- The program shall work with communities and school districts to identify barriers and hazards to children walking or bicycling to and from school, enhance traffic safety along and around school routes, and make bicycling and walking independently to school a safer and more appealing transportation option for children. The city shall develop a plan for the funding of improvements designed to reduce the barriers and hazards identified. The city shall be responsible for developing and publishing goals and performance measures in coordination with the Safe Routes to School Program Director and Advisory Board.
- The city shall designate a school street for each school in the city and any early childcare education center that requests such designation in accordance with Colorado Revised Statutes 42-4-119. The city shall further define the conditions and regulations of school streets as recommended by the Advisory Board.
- The department of public works and its designees shall respond to requests from the Advisory Board for engineering studies, reports, observations, recommendations or any other data collection or communications related to safe routes to school in a timely fashion.
II) Pursuant to Colorado Revised Statutes, 42-4-110.5 (1.1)(a.5), “safe routes to school” in the city of Centennial are defined as the following roadways within 1 mile of any school:
South Franklin Street
South Clarkson Street
South Detroit Street
East Easter Avenue including 7150-7190 South Washington Street, 6900-7000 South Knolls Way, and 3800-4000 East Nobles Road
6300-6900 South Dexter Street and 6200-6300 South Clermont Court
South Colorado Boulevard
South Homestead Parkway
South Uinta Street
East Mineral Drive
East Progress Drive and S Memphis Way
East Crestline Avenue
South Laredo Street
South Waco Street
South Telluride Street
East Prentice Avenue
East Crestline Circle and East Progress Circle
East Berry Drive
South Picadilly Street
III) The city shall, under the administration of the department of public works and through coordination with the Safe Routes to School Program Director and Advisory Board,
- Set the maximum speed of 25 miles per hour along safe routes to school with dedicated bicycle lanes, and 20 miles per hour along safe routes to school without dedicated bicycle lanes. Speed limit signage shall be implemented no later than August 1, 2028. Exception: If there is a protected bike lane or detached shared use path measuring at least 10 feet in width along a safe route to school, the city may set the maximum speed along such segment at its discretion
- Post wayfinding signage along safe routes to school
- Produce a map of safe routes to school to distribute to the community, which shall include distances, estimated travel times by foot and by bicycle, and specific safety countermeasures implemented. The safe routes to school map shall be updated annually. The map shall be designed in a manner such that schoolchildren can easily interpret.
- Provide adequate pedestrian and bicycling facilities along safe routes to school.
- At intersections with arterial streets, prioritize the safe movement of children on safe routes to school by reducing wait times, increasing the frequency of crossing opportunities, and reducing crossing distance for pedestrians and bicyclists during typical school travel times. Right turns against a red light in any direction shall not be permitted.
- Implement traffic calming countermeasures identified in the Comprehensive Safety Action Plan or other publication or guidelines regarding bicycle and pedestrian safety along safe routes to school, as recommended by the Safe Routes to School Advisory Board. If a roadway segment along a safe route to school is within the High Risk Network as designated in the Centennial Comprehensive Safety Action Plan, the department of public works shall utilize quick-build projects along such segments without requiring a formal engineering study, as recommended by the Safe Routes to School Advisory Board
- Designate any new safe routes to school if a school is moved or a new school is built, and adjust and revise safe routes to school as recommended by the Advisory Board and with approval from City Council
- Obtain approval from the Safe Routes to School Program Director and consult with the Advisory Board for any proposed changes along, or intersecting with, a designated safe route to school.
- Regard the provisions in this ordinance as the minimum requirements for protecting the public health, safety, and welfare of children and all non-motorized roadway users along safe routes to school. Whenever a provision of this ordinance and any other provisions of a law, ordinance, resolution, rule, or regulation of any kind contain any restrictions covering any of the same subject matter applicable to a safe route to school, whichever standards are more restrictive of motorized roadway use or impose higher standards of safety for bicycle, pedestrian, or other non-motorized roadway users shall govern.
Revised 10/10/2026