Consider which streets adjacent to your school are traffic-sensitive or on MTA bus routes. Closing these roads, which carry higher volumes of traffic, is more complex than a less traffic-burdened street.

Consider where traffic safety data shows a greater number of traffic injuries or deaths within 500 feet of the school grounds over the last five years. This could provide clear evidence of an existing traffic safety problem.

Data provided upon request - contact research@transalt.org

Consider where there are high air pollution levels outside of schools (high levels of traffic or manufacturing). This could get stakeholders invested in the public health benefits of an Open Street for the school.

You want the use of the Open Street to be incorporated into your school routine. Placing it on the street used for arrival and dismissal may help keep students safe from traffic crashes and encourage families to engage with the school community.

Many schools use their school street to ease arrival and dismissal by closing off the street from cars during those hours. This strategy is:

• Low maintenance: requires no additional staff, programming planning, or physical materials.

• Modifiable: some schools allow school buses to pass through the school street at the end of the day or permit some teacher parking

• Safe: reduces car fatalities and injuries

• Social: allows for safe socialization between parents and teachers at arrival.

School streets do not just need to belong to individual schools but can benefit the entire community. Many schools host programming such as: 

• Voter Registration Clinics

• Mental Wellness Booths

• Street Vendors

On 34th Avenue in Jackson Heights, Queens, Open Streets organizers like the 34th Avenue Coalition, partner with the City and other community-based organizations to fund afterschool programming that starts at pick-up and extends deeper into the afternoon. Some successful programming, particularly for younger children, include Zumba, dance, aerobics, hula hooping, chalking, and other wellness activities.

Schools lacking a play yard or ample space for children to play might need additional space for recess and can set up cones and portable equipment for outdoor recess.

Many schools need additional space to navigate concerns of overcrowding and social distancing during COVID-19 spikes. During the early spikes of the COVID-19 pandemic, PS 146 in Brooklyn needed additional space to disperse class periods because of overcrowding; instead of releasing 600 kids and parents in a cafeteria, the open street allowed for more movement, freedom, space, and organization.

Some schools extend the classroom to the entire community; WHEELS School in Washington Heights hosts community educational programming around environmental justice; they use the open school street as a community science lab, hosting climate justice teach-ins with the community (and nearby university students and professors partner up to provide some technical assistance), allowing students to lead community members in workshops to collect water quality, tree coverage, and heat data to share with elected officials to advocate for more resources, support, and funding. Other schools host biking programs, where a principal teaches cycling to students who don’t have bikes or can’t ride.