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Bicycling advocates hope Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” campaign will help get more kids out of cars and onto the sidewalks. Launched in February, the campaign aims to end childhood obesity in the United States within a generation. The campaign focuses on nutrition and exercise. In the 1960s it was commonplace for kids to walk or bike to school. Statistics show 48 percent walked or cycled to school in 1969. But car culture has taken over. Today only 13 percent of children between the ages of five and 14 engage in active transportation between school and home.

With childhood obesity on the rise, that number may seem dismal. But Safe Routes to School program coordinators see a glimmer of hope. That 13 percent has stayed pretty consistent for more than a decade, according to the National Household Travel Survey, undertaken by the US Department of Transportation. It could mean the hard work by parents, school communities and governments is starting to pay off.

“There is a real opportunity to change the car culture and make school campuses less congested if more of the parents who are driving shorter distances let their children walk or bike to school, and those who drive further distances let their children ride school buses,” National Center for Safe Routes to School director Lauren Marchetti said in a statement.

Marchetti says getting kids and parents to adopt active transportation “helps communities reestablish school campuses as the safe, healthy, student-focused learning environment they are intended to be.”

Data from the 2009 National Household Travel Survey suggests car transport has swapped places with active transport, from 12 percent in 1969 to 44 percent today. Interestingly, school bus use has remained stable, rising from 38 to 40 percent.

Urban sprawl is one of the issues contributing to this generational shift. The survey found more families live farther from neighborhood schools than in the 60s. Kids who live within a mile of school are more likely to walk or bike than those their commuting classmates. But the trend has still seen a drop, from 88 percent in 1969 to 38 percent today.

Schools need to be placed closer to the communities they serve, said Deb Hubsmith, director of the Safe Routes to School National Partnership, "so that distance will no longer be such a barrier to making the active choice for the trip to school.

Margo Pedroso, deputy director with the National Partnership, explains many states have seen a decline in neighborhood schools because policy biases new construction over renovation.

“Many states have outdated minimum acreage standards in place requiring large plots of land for school sites, which are difficult to find within neighborhoods and often force the siting of schools in undeveloped, outlying areas,” she said.

Funding formulas can also bias large high-enrollment facilities, Pedroso explains, making small neighborhood schools a thing of the past.

Aside from urban sprawl and the placement of schools, Pedroso says there are many challenges to making kids and parents feel safe about choosing active transport. Traffic volume and speed have increased in cities, she says, and many new developments have been built without regard for pedestrian and bicycle safety.

“Barriers include traffic safety concerns, lack of sidewalks or routes to school, weather, personal safety concerns, not having anywhere to secure student bicycles,” says Pedroso, adding some schools even have policies to discourage or outright ban bicycling and walking.