Incorporating Health Impacts in Transportation Project Decision Making

Eleni Christofa, PhD.

Aikaterini Deliali, M.Sc.

Mitchell Page, M.Sc.

Krystal Pollitt, PhD., P.Eng.

Sarah Esenther, B.Sc.

Stephenie Lemon, PhD.

Karin Valentine Goins, MPH

Christine Frisard, M.Sc.

Project Champion: Elliot Sperling, MassDOT

The contents of this presentation reflect the views of the authors, who are responsible for the facts and the accuracy of the data presented herein. The contents do not necessarily reflect the official view or policies of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation.

2

Motivation

TRANSPORTATION POLICY & PLANNING

DEMAND& SUPPLY

SAFETYAIR QUALITY

PHYSICAL ACTIVITYEQUITY

ETC.https://sbenrc.com.au

Health Assessment Tools(examples)

3

HEATHealth Economic Assessment Tool

● ● ● ● ●Combined effect of physical activity and air pollution

Minimal input data required

<20 years old are not considered

Injuries are not accounted for; no stratification by type of facility or exposure to motorized traffic

Impact of air pollution only on pedestrians and cyclists

THTTransport and Health Tool

● ● ● ● ●Percentile outputs for 14 health and traffic indicators

Could help prioritization

Not adjustable

No direct health outcome estimate

BenMAP-CEEnvironmental Benefits Mapping and Analysis -Community Edition

● ● ● Pre-loaded datasets for US counties

Cannot directly model the impact of traffic pattern changes on health, only changes in air quality

ITHIMIntegrated Transport and Health Impact Modeling Tool

● ● ● ● ● ●Results stratified by age and gender

Safety data stratified by modes and facility type

Appropriate only for regional analysis

Assessment Tool

Exposures Outputs

Strengths Weaknesses

Health Impact Assessment

4

Air QualityTraffic Density (surrogate)

Air pollution concentration

CTPS Travel Demand Model

CALINE-3 in CAL3QHC (air dispersion modeling)

Noise Maximum noise levels Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Traffic Noise Model (TNM) Version 2.5

Mobility PEQIand BEQI scores Pedestrian and Bicycle Environmental Quality Index surveys (SFDPH)

ConnectivityMode share

Number of vehicles diverted to other neighborhoods

CTPS Travel Demand Model

Public SafetyVMT (surrogate), Travel Time (public safety vehicles)

Injuries and fatalities

CTPS Travel Demand Model

NHTSA statistics (for predictions)

Land Use and Development

households within one-half mile or walking distance to six areas with multiple goods

City maps of existing goods and services

Health Determinants Method/Model

MassDOT Grounding McGrath Study

Output

1. Identify available tools, performance measures, data, and decision-making processes that can be used to assess the impact of transportation projects on health outcomes.

2. Identify and geocode existing datasets, develop scoring criteria and performance measures, and incorporate them in a prototype spreadsheet to be used for decision-making and planning processes for transportation projects statewide.

5

Project Objectives

1. State DOT Project Scoring Criteria (examples)2. MassDOT Project Scoring3. Potential Criteria to Further Address Health (examples)4. Collaborations Between DOTs and DPHs5. Challenges

6

Outline

1. Published guidebooks, reports, articles2. Interviews with DOT representatives from:

§ California§ Massachusetts§ Minnesota§ Tennessee§ Washington

3. Interviews with Department of Health representatives from:

§ California§ Massachusetts§ Minnesota§ Tennessee 7

Sources of Information

DOT Project Scoring Methods*

8

California ● ● ● ●Minnesota ● ● ● ●Massachusetts ● ● ● ● ●Maryland ● ● ● ● ●North Carolina ● ● ●Ohio ● ● ●Virginia ● ● ● ●

DOT

*Further evaluation is needed to validate scoring methods within/across programs

9

ACTIVE TRANSPORTATION

SAFETY AIR QUALITY

GHG emissions

Fuel consumption

Ozone precursors (NOx and hydrocarbons)

Ozone and PM2.5 (good, fair, poor based on ppm)

Existence/Improvements of Bike/Ped infrastructure, wayfinding, etc.

Number of active transportation attributes

Crash frequency/density

Crash severity index

EPDO of fatal and injury crashes

EPDO of fatal and injury crash rates

Crash rate

Safety benefit points (based on lookup table)

Existing Project Scoring Criteria

10

EQUITY ACCESSIBILITY

Improvements in areas with Environmental Justice or Title VI population

Job accessibility for disadvantaged populations within an approximately 60-minute commute

Unemployment/poverty rate

Comparative across regions:Census tracks that have more than x% Environmental Justice or Title VI population

Demographics (age, gender)

Physical activity level

Disability status

Proximity to key destinations (1/4-1 mile)

Connectivity to business, amenities, etc.

Access to community assets

Travel time savings

Access to multimodal choices

Cumulative job accessibility within anx minutes (usually 45-60 minutes)

Cumulative job accessibility within anx minutes for disadvantaged populations

Existing Project Scoring Criteria

11

MassDOT Project Scoring Method

§ Highway Division: § System Preservation – 15% § Mobility – 20% § Safety – 15%§ Economic Impacts – 10%§ Environmental & Health Impacts – 10%§ Social Equity – 10%§ Policy Support – 10%§ Cost Effectiveness – 10%

Source: MassDOT Highway Scorecard

12

Active Transportation Safety

Improvements to bicycle, pedestrian, and transit mobilityConnectivity to business, amenities, open space via pedestrian or bicycle connections

Crashes are higher than district or state averagesEvacuation routes Project targets critical motor vehicle, bicycle, or pedestrian safety issues

Health-Related Scoring Criteria

Active Transportation Accessibility

MassDOT Project Scoring Method

Equity

13

Health-Related Scoring Criteria

Decrease in GHG emissions

Positive impact on Environmental Justice and/or Title VI areas

Air Quality

MassDOT Project Scoring Method

Potential Improvements§ Assess air quality using pollutants that have a high impact on

health, e.g., PM2.5§ Assess health equity based on a combination of demographic

and health data (e.g., body mass index, percent of residents with asthma, and income)

§ Assess physical activity potential based on connectivity, pedestrian, bike, and transit infrastructure, etc.

§ Quantify the impact on motorized and non-motorized user safety(e.g., crash modification factors)

14

Potential Criteria to Further Assess Health*

*These reflect the views of the authors’ current thinking and are not under active consideration by MassDOT at this time.

§ Compare characteristics to state or regional averages, e.g., higher concentration of: § low income§ unemployed§ over 65 years old§ children§ high body mass index§ asthma hospitalizations

15

Potential Criteria to Further Assess Health*

*These reflect the views of the authors’ current thinking and are not under active consideration by MassDOT at this time.

16Source: http://shrp2.transportation.org/SiteAssets/Pages/Capacity/MassDOT_SHRP2_C19_Presentation_7-14-17.pdf

Add health-related parameters to this list.

Massachusetts Project Intake Tool (MaPIT)

Collaborations between DOTs and DPHs

17

“Vanderbilt Avenue, Brooklyn” by New York City Department of Transportation; licensed under CC BY 2.0.

Challenges

18ModelsData

https://apcompletestreets.org/

https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/policy/modalchoice/chap3.cfm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9cyZgAmLy8

https://www.theatlantic.com

https://medium.com/@mobility4eu/big-data-in-transport-43748d618a1f

Challenges

19

Quantifying health benefits

Performance Measures

Equity

Economic Health

https://www.wiremedia.net

Integration of Community

Engagement Findings

Challenges

20Impact of Technology

https://www.automaticsync.com

Contribution of Transportation

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com

https://www.keepsandiegomoving.com/

https://www.mapc.org

Research Needs: Circular E-C239§ Metrics

§ Vision Zero

§ Proximity to arterials as a public health concern

§ Reinventing, retrofitting and remodeling urban arterials

§ Land use

§ Technology

http://www.trb.org/Main/Blurbs/178557.aspx21

Acknowledgments

Funding support from22

QUESTIONS?

23

Eleni Christofaechristofa@umass.edu

Krystal Pollittkrystal.pollitt@yale.edu

Stephenie LemonStephenie.Lemon@umassmed.edu

Karin Valentine GoinsKarinValentine.Goins@umassmed.edu