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Chapter 2. Some Other Models for Promoting Community Health ... >
Section 11. Health Impact Assessment >
The American Public Health Association has collected a variety of case
studies that demonstrate how communities of all types and sizes are
addressing the intersection of public health and transportation. These Health
Impact Assessments offered decision-makers an opportunity to ensure that
health and equity were considered when shaping transportation policy
and systems. Here are several examples of HIAs conducted to evaluate
transportation projects:
PODER (People Organizing to Demand Environmental & Economic Rights) is leading a community-based effort to improve environmental health in the Excelsior neighborhood of San Francisco. Concerns about disproportionate, adverse traffic-related health exposures, including air pollution, traffic noise, and safety hazards led PODER to work with researchers in the San Francisco Department of Public Health’s (SFPDH) Program on Health, Equity and Sustainability and the UC Berkeley School of Public Health (UCB). Together they conducted a community-based health impact assessment (HIA) of traffic and the transportation system in this neighborhood which has led to local governmental action to re-assess truck routes and transportation system design in the neighborhood.
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In Atlanta, authorities used a health impact assessment (HIA) to guide plans for a major redevelopment along the city’s beltline. The results of the study encouraged city officials to fund design elements such as improved transit services, access to green space and healthy foods, new opportunities for physical activity, and affordable housing, in response to health considerations.
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Example 3: Non-Motorized Transportation Pilot Program (NMTPP)
The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) funded four communities across the U.S. in an effort to demonstrate the benefits from improved walking and bicycling networks. Some of the outcomes that are tracked include changes in 1) vehicle and transit use; 2) rates of walking and bicycling; and 3) health and environmental measures. The four communities are listed below; additional information is available by clicking the links:
Columbia, Missouri: GetAbout Columbia
Marin County, California: WalkBike Marin
Minneapolis, Minnesota: BikeWalk Twin Cities
Sheboygan County, Wisconsin: Non-Motorized Transportation Pilot Project
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In 2003, The NYC Department of Transportation partnered with Transportation Alternatives to create the Safe Routes for Seniors campaign, aiming to address the disproportionately high rate of senior pedestrian fatalities in NYC, and encourage senior citizens to walk more. Their recommendations focused on taking into account the sensory and physical changes that occur with age when designing streets and included installing medians and high-visibility crosswalks, repairing and extending curbs and pedestrian ramps, keeping streets as flat as possible, and increasing the time allowed for pedestrians to cross the street. Since the implementation of this program, pedestrian fatalities and crashes in all areas included in the campaign have decreased by 9% to 60%.
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The Bicycle Transportation Alliance strives to create healthy and sustainable communities by promoting the use of bicycles as a mode of transportation, with the idea that this shift will benefit the environment, livability, and community health. The Alliance works through both advocacy and education to achieve this goal. BTA offers biking safety courses in 4th through 7th grade classrooms and pedestrian safety courses made available to both adults and youth. Through these courses students are able to learn about traffic rules, bikes and helmets, and develop informed expectations regarding pedestrian and vehicle behavior in school and pedestrian zones. BTA is also active in promoting Oregon’s Bike + Walk to School Program, which reaches out to children and their families through school districts in an attempt to encourage the safe use of active transportation to and from school.
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Charlotte, NC, has worked to integrate its Urban Street Design Guidelines (USDG) into zoning and subdivision codes, which would require developers to follow them, ensuring a well-connected network of complete streets. USDG allows for flexibility in the implementation of complete streets in order to ensure that each street is completed in the most useful and efficient way possible. At the end of 2009, Charlotte had completed 16 complete streets projects and was in the middle of 18 more. Successes so far include 11 modified intersections (with 10 more planned), 15 new sidewalks (40 more planned), and over 50 miles of bike lanes.
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The PLACE Program was developed by Los Angeles County Public Health Department in 2006 in response to the growing prevalence of chronic conditions associated with the built environment—such as obesity, respiratory illness and diabetes—among LA residents. The program works to initiate policy change that will reduce the number of individuals and communities subject to poor air quality, physical inactivity, and poor nutrition by improving the built environment. In order to do so, PLACE has provided grants to five separate city government and non-profit agencies to help them pursue development projects in their own communities. Previous successes include the creation of a Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan as part of a health and wellness component of one city’s General Plan.
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The Health Impact Project offers an interactive map of Health Impact
Assessments that have been implemented throughout the United States. You
can choose a region of the map and see what projects are occurring in
that area, or customize the map by filtering the projects by status,
organization type, decision-making level, and sector.
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