Overview of the Program on Transportation and Health

Ample research demonstrates the impacts of increased auto dependency and air pollution on environmental and health concerns such as respiratory illnesses, cardiovascular disease, hospital admissions, climate change and ecosystem damage. Public health researchers are also examining the relationship of transit choice and access to wider public health concerns, including stress, physical inactivity, obesity and quality of life. As this research continues and the evidence mounts, transportation and public health planners are increasingly working together to assess how transportation policies can benefit and promote public health.

These relationships of transportation to health provide impetus for the public health community to push towards more effective, healthful and equitable transportation policies. Public health practitioners can play at least two roles. First, they can ensure that decision-makers consider the health benefits and burdens of transportation planning and policy-making, including the economic costs of adverse human health outcomes. Second, they can support advocacy for transportation funding priorities and policy-making that accurately reflects and addresses the needs of people who depend on transit most.

The Program on Health Equity and Sustainability focuses on transportation issues through coalition work as well as through self-initiated projects.

Transportation Justice and Health

The experience of utilizing public transit poses many burdens for families in the Bay Area - especially for low-income, minority and special-needs populations. For these groups, public transit is not an option. Rather it provides a vital means to get work, to take children to schools and child care, to shop for groceries and other retail services, and to obtain health care and other critical services. Lengthy transit routes make the experience of commuting to daily activities more time intensive and stressful, with long travel distances/times translating into less time for family care and leisure activities. For populations such as the elderly and disabled, the absence of or limited access to public transit creates barriers to participation in community and civic life - creating depression and alienation. Lack of transit access can have severe consequences. For instance, hospitalizations for many chronic diseases can be prevented with effective, regular, and timely care. Transit barriers – mainly cost and inadequate service – make it so that healthcare is unavailable to those who need it most.

The Program on Health, Equity and Sustainability works with many allies including environmental justice, land use, housing, labor, youth, and legal organizations, to advance the view of transportation access as a determinant of health status. We provide health data, evidence, resources and technical assistance to illustrate that the Bay Area's regional transportation needs are related to public health and that improved transportation planning is beneficial to health. We also support advocacy efforts for improved social and economic equity in transportation planning, funding and policy-making.

Documents related to transportation justice and health:

Winter 2005/2006 - We published an article in Race, Poverty and the Environment magazine on why public health practitioners should be involved in transportation justice work.

October 14, 2005 - We provided comments on the San Francisco County Transportation Authority Folsom Street Strategic Analysis Report. (pdf)

June 13, 2005 - We conducted a focus group with residents of Single Room Occupancy Hotels in the Tenderloin on transit access and their health.

January 7, 2005 - We provided comments on the Metropolitan Transportation Commission Draft 2030 Regional Transportation Plan (RTP) and Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR). (pdf)

December 12, 2003 - We provided testimony at a hearing of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission to highlight the health impacts of transportation on health and the health value of equity-oriented public transit planning. (pdf)

Projects

Level of Service--A Potential Obstacle to Sustainable Transportation Planning

The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires public agencies to prepare an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) when a decision may adversely impact the environment. The law specifically requires the EIR to identify changes in the environment that may adversely impact humans, either directly or indirectly. Local jurisdictions can develop locally relevant indicators and standards for impact assessment. Intersection and roadway Level of Service (LOS) are two transportation planning tools used to evaluate the significance of environmental impacts under CEQA. LOS is a valuable tool for transportation engineering and planning in general as it can help evaluate the impacts of development on the convenience of motor vehicle travel. However, LOS does not relate to the impacts of transportation on environmental quality. LOS analysis also does not account for modal shift, where reduced motor vehicle capacity encourages auto trips to shift to other travel modes and routes. Paradoxically, the use of LOS analyses in CEQA may also conclude that pedestrian and bicycle improvements may result in a slowing down of cars, which could adversely impact the environment. Finally, LOS analysis may create significant regulatory obstacles to smart growth and higher density housing. SFDPH has found that feasible alternatives to LOS measures exist that might support efficient and sustainable transportation. For more information, see our DPH publications report on replacing auto LOS analysis in CEQA

People Count 2005

Is your neighborhood made for walking?

When more people are walking, people are healthier, streets and sidewalks are safer, communities are stronger, and air and noise pollution are reduced. Yet, substantial barriers prevent people from choosing walking as their means of getting places and recreating. Some of these barriers include the physical separation of work, home, and shops, fast moving cars, and damaged sidewalks, and inadequate lighting.

Ample research shows that designing neighborhoods and cities specifically for pedestrians can support walking along with its environmental and health benefits. However, the needs of pedestrians often have a low priority in planning. Given there is little recognition of planning processes for pedestrians, The San Francisco Department of Public Health is developing a forecasting model to predict how changes in the physical environment might affect walking.

In order to collect total walking volumes to be used for the pedestrian demand model, PHES conducted San Francisco’s first People Count on October 18, 2005. The People Count was a pedestrian awareness event in which over 55 volunteers took to the streets and counted pedestrians down and around Mission Street from the Embarcadero to 26th Street. The event was a success and figures collected from the People Count will be calculated into the pedestrian demand model in order to understand aspects of the built environment which influence walking. The use of the model is focused on assessing the impact of development on walkability, supporting land-use for pedestrians and drawing attention to walking as a key social and health goal.


For more information, please see the

People Count 2005 Flyer

Measuring Pedestrian Environment Quality

Encouraging walking as a form of leisure, a way of transport to work, and as a means of exercise advances many public health objectives. Environmental strategies that promote pedestrian activity also have the potential to enhance the use of San Francisco’s streets, sidewalks, and public gathering spaces which contribute to social capital and neighborhood cohesion. While many people enjoy walking as a simple way of getting around, an urban environment may present considerable barriers to incorporate walking into people’s everyday routine. Some obstacles to walking include high traffic speeds, narrow sidewalks, poorly connected streets, unsafe intersections, and a lack of lighting. In order to better understand the barriers and opportunities for walking in San Francisco, the Department of Public Health is developing a street and intersection environmental survey to assess pedestrian environmental quality. Data from the survey will provide useful information for planners to prioritize environmental changes that will potentially encourage walking. In addition, we hope that the survey tool may be useful to community-based planning to help residents assess the quality of the pedestrian environment their neighborhoods.

 

Please click here for more information about the Pedestrian Quality Survey.