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Kids celebrate Walk to School Day in Harlem in October. Photo: NYC DOT/Flickr ^[2]

DOT today launched a new initiative to help students stay physically active by walking to school.

Schools that register for the Walk Ways program will be offered lesson plans on educating students about the benefits of walking and assistance from DOT in developing walk-to-school routes.

Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan was joined by Ed Koch at P.S. 64 in the East Village for today’s kick-off event, where the former mayor read from “Eddie Shapes Up,” a children’s book written by Koch and his sister Pat Koch Thaler about “an overweight student’s path to getting healthy by eating better and exercising more.”

In a press release, Koch singled out recent DOT street safety enhancements for praise.

“The most marvelous sight in New York City is to see youngsters, adolescents and adults cycling on the many bicycle paths we now have which separate bikers from vehicular traffic,” said Koch, who installed (and removed) the city’s first protected bike lanes ^[3] in the early 1980s. “It is glorious to watch, and I wish I were young again to participate.”

School registration info and campaign materials are available on the DOT web site ^[4].