The City of Courtenay has launched the Safe and Active Schools (SAS) program in partnership with School District 71. This program aims to improve safety for students travelling to and from school, and encourage more students to walk, cycle, or use other more active and sustainable travel options.
The SAS program directly supports City-wide goals set out in the City of Courtenay’s Official Community Plan and Transportation Master Plan.
Safe and active school travel offers many benefits, including:
- Reducing congestion and vehicle speeds around schools, which improves student safety.
- Lowering greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution, helping the City meet its climate goals, and ensuring cleaner air in the vicinity of schools where children gather.
- Helping students develop healthy habits that will last a lifetime.
In 2024, the City rolled out a new traffic safety program which reduced speed limits on all City streets within a 500-metre radius of School District 71 schools to 40 km / hour. 30 km/h limits still apply in designated school and playground zones during posted hours. The SAS program is another traffic safety initiative undertaken by the City of Courtenay aimed at improving road safety for children and families.
What is the Safe and Active Schools Program?
Over the coming months and years, schools in the City of Courtenay will participate in the development of School Travel Plans. This process involves working directly with each school (including students, administration and families) in the City of Courtenay to identify barriers to safe and active school travel. The next step would be recommending a range of actions to address these concerns through programs, built environment improvements and policies.
The SAS project team will help with the data collection process, identify infrastructure improvements, lead interest holders through the process, and collaboratively create action plans that reflect local issues and proposed solutions.
To meet program goals, all SAS travel action plans will use the 6 Es of school travel planning:
In addition to action plans that will encompass infrastructure, education and programming recommendations, the project team will develop a Recommended Routes to School Map for all participating SAS schools. This map will indicate preferred walking and cycling routes to school based upon existing built environment conditions as well as feedback from the school community.
Participating schools
Over the next three years and based upon expressed interest and identified need, the City will engage with up to three elementary and secondary schools each school year to identify and address barriers to active school travel.
The first three elementary schools selected to be part of the SAS program in the 2025-26 school year are École Puntledge Park Elementary, Courtenay Elementary, and Valley View Elementary schools. You can view the locations of these schools on the map below:
How to get involved
If you are interested in having your school participate in the SAS program, please contact the staff at your school to discuss how and when your school can participate.
To share transportation concerns or request specific traffic safety improvements around local schools, please contact the City of Courtenay at transportation@courtenay.ca.
Next steps
Participating school survey: This fall, students, parents or guardians at Ecole Puntledge Park Elementary, Courtenay Elementary, and Valley View Elementary will be invited to participate in a community survey. This survey is aimed at better understanding current conditions, barriers and opportunities to active school travel, as well as areas of road safety and connectivity concerns. The survey will be available in late October of 2025.
Community Open House: On October 3, 2025 from 5 to 7 p.m. in the gymnasium of Puntledge Park Elementary School, the City of Courtenay and Urban Systems will be hosting a Safe and Active School Travel (SAS) Program Open House. This Open House is intended to provide further information on the SAS process, timelines, and event, as well as gather information on existing concerns and issues around safe and active school travel at the three participating SAS program schools.
School Walkabouts: In the fall of 2025, school and community walkabouts will be held at the three participating SAS schools. These walkabouts are on the ground observational tours of the built environment around schools, providing an opportunity for students, school administration, and members of the school community to provide feedback on the issues and opportunities that they see around safe and active school travel. For more information and to participate, check in with the Parent Advisory Council at the participating SAS schools as they will be coordinating local representation and scheduling.
Related Links
Traffic safety | City of Courtenay
Arden School Safety Improvements - Councillor McCollum - Council Meeting - January 11, 2023
Project timeline
- School and Community Engagement–Fall 2025
- Draft Recommended Routes Map and Action Plan – Fall/Winter 2025/2026
- Final Recommended Routes Map and Action Plan – Winter 2026