A New Vision for Healthy, Equitable Transportation Policy Shireen - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

A New Vision for Healthy, Equitable Transportation Policy

Shireen Malekafzali Senior Associate PolicyLink Federal Transportation Planning for Public Health September 19, 2011

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PolicyLink – What we do PolicyLink

A national research and action institute dedicated to economic and social equity.

Center for Health & Place

Works to create neighborhood conditions that encourage health and equity.

Center for Infrastructure Equity

Works to ensure investments in infrastructure create

• pportunity by increasing racial and economic

equity.

Presentation Outline

• Historical Context
• Impacts of Transportation on Health
• Challenges & Opportunities
• A New Vision
• Seizing the Opportunity to Implement the Vision

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Historical Context

• 1900s: Development of the Rail Road System
• 1950s: Interstate Highway System
• A Fundamental Civil Rights Issue: Rosa Parks,

Montgomery Bus Boycott, Freedom Riders, role of busing policies in schools

• Favored middle class and affluent neighborhoods

resulting in skewed patters of regional growth and development

• Lead to dramatic disparities in health and opportunity

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Transportation Impacts on Health

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Impacts on Health: Air Quality

• Pollutants from autos
• 8,800 premature deaths a year in CA
• Air pollution is a known trigger for asthma attacks.
• Asthma hospitalization 3x for Black children in CA.

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Impacts on Health: Traffic Safety

• Leading cause of death for people ages 5 to 34
• 47,700 pedestrians killed, 688,000 injured in the US over

the last decade

• People of color and older Americans are disproportionally

impacted

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R a c e / E thnic ity/ A g e %

• f P
• pula

tion %

• f P

e de s tria n D e a ths White 68% 56% B la c k 13% 18% L a tino 14% 19% A s ia n 4% 4% 6 5 a nd olde r 13% 22%

Source: T4A, Dangerous by Design. http://t4america.org/docs/dbd2

Smart growth promotes safety

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Source: Reid Ewing et al (2003); as reported by Todd Litman, Victoria Transportation Institute 2009

Impacts on Health: Access

• Transportation is access.
• In an auto-centric society, many are left out.

– People of color have limited access to cars: – Poverty compounds the problem. – Elderly and disabled populations drive less

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Access Cont’

• Brookings Institution Report: “Missed Opportunity:

Transit and Jobs in Metropolitan America,” revealed the stark obstacles in getting to regional job centers.

• The typical worker can reach only about 7% of their

region’s jobs in a one-way, 45-minute transit commute.

• Three-quarters of low- and middle-skill jobs cannot be

accessed even by a one-way, 90-minute transit commute.

• Residents of low-income suburban neighborhoods face

some of the biggest challenges – they cannot access more than 77% of low- and middle-skill jobs via transit.

• Recent and looming cuts in local transit service

compound the problem.

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Impacts on Health: Physical Activity

• Driving can increase the risk of obesity by 6%
• Walking reduces obesity
• Public transit riders are more physically active

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Driving is a risk factor for obesity

10% 14% 27% 18%

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30%

Lowest Quarter Highest Quarter Vehicle miles traveled

% obese (BMI>30)

Source: Lopez-Zetina, Health and Place, 2006

Challenges and Opportunities

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Challenges & Opportunities

• Health impacts are not considered in transportation

planning.

– Provide guidance on assessment of health impacts in CEQA. – New transportation models that are used in investment decision-making are in development –ensure health and equity inputs and outputs. – Health impact assessments.

• Lack of public transportation funding, specifically

funding for operating transit systems.

– Ensure regions have authority to raise funds. – Establish sustainable sources of funding. – Enable use of federal transportation funding for operations

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Challenges & Opportunities Cont’

• Low-income communities particularly impacted.

– Concentration of poor health outcomes allows for targeted interventions. – Prioritize low-income communities for transportation investments.

• Bike/ped and those with disabilities not always

considered.

– Support the effective implementation of a strong Complete Streets policy –ensure adequate evaluation and accountability

• f benefits of public investment for active transporters.

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Challenges & Opportunities Cont’

• Lack of public health and community representation.

– Include representation in Regional Air Resources Boards and Metropolitan Planning Organizations.

• Federal policy limits healthy transportation policy.

– Federal Transportation Bill up for authorization –ensure CA US lawmakers promote healthy transportation policies (more transit, walking and biking, health assessments, performance measures)

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Challenges & Opportunities Cont’

• Lack of overarching goals and

accountability.

– Strategic Growth Council –develop overarching goals and performance measure including health and equity. – Health in all policies. – SCS planning and metrics.

• Human Impact Partners worked with a number of public health
• rganizations to develop a set of 13 prioritized health and equity

metrics for the SCS within RTPs

• Metrics cover: 1) Safety; 2) Access to Goods and Services; 3)

General Transportation; 4) Future Growth; 5) Economic; 6) Environmental Pollution, and; 7: Equity

• They provide measurable metrics, resources for information and

data, suggest methodology

• For more information visit: http://www.humanimpact.org/projects

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Challenges: A Broken System

• Health impacts overlooked
• Focus on highways vs. transit & bike/ped
• Lack of linkage between housing, jobs, and

transportation planning

• Few incentives for innovation or conservation
• Limited accountability to any outcomes
• Limited engagement in transportation policy making

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Immense Health & Equity Opportunities

• Transportation investment drives land use
• Walkable, bikeable, compact transit oriented

neighborhoods

• Mixed-income, mixed-use communities
• Connect people
• Access for transit-dependent
• Affordable transportation options
• Safe active transportation
• Improved health outcomes
• Improved environmental quality

A New Vision

• Transportation not as mobility in an of itself –but as

access.

• A holistic approach to transportation policy that

recognizes its impacts on multiple outcomes –such as health, environmental quality and economic viability–and plans accordingly.

• Vision: Healthy Communities of Opportunity

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Seizing the Opportunity to Implement the Vision

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Federal & State Opportunities

• The Surface Transportation Act

– The single largest opportunity to shape land use patterns, and influence how our communities are designed – 6th largest federal expenditure – An opportunity that arises only once a decade

• Sustainable Communities Grants
• SB375 and Sustainable Communities Strategies
• Health in All Policies Executive Order
• Strategic Growth Council

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Coalitions, Organizing and Awareness

• Federal: Transportation for America, Complete Streets,

Transit Riders for Public Transportation, Safe Routes to Schools, Rails to Trails, Transportation Equity Network –all

• f which also have roots in regions
• State: Strategic Alliance, Healthy Places Coalition,

CPEHN, Social Equity Caucus, equity, asthma, obesity, and freight coalition across the state

• Building Public Will: Organizing, education, media

and communication efforts

• Research/Data: Safety, jobs, obesity, asthma, air

quality, climate change

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Policy Recommendations

• Prioritize investments in public transportation
• Prioritize pedestrian and bicycling infrastructure
• Encourage equitable transit-oriented development by

incentivizing integrated land use and transportation planning

• Create incentives and accountability measures
• Prioritize investment in high need areas

= Healthy, Communities of Opportunity

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ORGANIZING AND COALITION BUILDING RESEARCH/DATA

POLICY CHANGE

CLIMATE READY FOR CHANGE

Implementing the Vision

POLICY DEVELOPMENT BUILD PUBLIC WILL ENGAGE POLICY MAKERS FRAMING AND COMMUNICATIONS

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Building Movement

• An issue for health & equity in every city, region, and

state

• A policy which leads to multiple goals
• Diverse groups interested in coming together to work

towards common solutions

• Energy, climate, obesity epidemic and the economy

demand a better solution

• Immediate opportunities to seize
• California is poised to lead the way for the nation

Shireen Malekafzali shireen@policylink.org www.PolicyLink.org

Resources:

• The Transportation Prescription: Bold New Ideas for

Transportation Reform in America

• Healthy, Equitable Transportation Policy:

Recommendations and Research

www.convergencepartnership.org/HealthyEquitableTransportation