This session was recorded and is available on the ITE Web site through this link: http://www.ite.org/content/activeliving/
At the ITE 2013 Technical Conference and Exhibit, Tuesday’s plenary session, “Active Living - The Nexus of Transportation and Health,” discussed how transportation professionals and other disciplines can work together to make communities healthier and more livable. The session was moderated by Richard E. Backlund, associate division administrator, U.S. DOT-FHWA, California Division, in Los Angeles, CA.
Chris Kochtitzky, associate director for program development, Division of Emergency and Environmental Health Services at the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta, GA presented on the connections between health and transportation. The CDC’s Healthy Community Design Initiative is working to improve the relationship between community design and public health. Chris noted there is a lot of synergy between ITE and the American Public Health Association, as both have policies for transportation to prioritize health. With adult and childhood obesity on the rise, research is showing that the more miles a person travels by car, the more likely they are to be obese. Active transportation by youth has decreased. The Transportation Research Board and the Institute of Medicine (the TRB equivalent at the National Academies of Science) are partnering for the first time, and both are recommending a cross-trained workforce to develop active transportation that will improve public health. Chris pointed out that transit users get two-thirds the recommended physical activity needed daily simply by the walking done in association with their transit use.
James F. Sallis, director of Active Living Research in San Diego, CA, discussed current research that is pointing us to transportation solutions that help improve public health. He encouraged attendees to seek public health professionals for mutual benefits on projects. He discussed the simple work being done as part of Complete Streets and Safe Routes to School Initiatives that make people feel safer walking and using bicycles for transportation. The most common project is installing sidewalks, and in some cases that has led to a 40 percent increase of students walking to school. In order to get more people out on bicycles, we need to provide more infrastructure that makes users safer. In Minneapolis where bicycle infrastructure has been implemented, there is four times more biking than in San Diego, where the weather would be more favorable to biking.
James added on to the health benefits of transit mentioned by Chris, noting that public transit is active transportation because people using transit get many more steps recorded on a pedometer than those traveling by car. He recommended inviting people to get out and walk or bike as a means of transportation by making it convenient, attractive, and desirable. More information can be found at www.activelivingresearch.com.
Jerry Dobrovolny, director of transportation for the City of Vancouver, Canada, discussed the nexus of transportation and health and described efforts underway in his city to promote active transportation. In Vancouver, there are three main priorities for transportation: economy, people, and the environment. The city council prioritizes transportation modes as:
1. Walking
2. Cycling
3. Transit
4. Taxi
5. Vehicles
The main effort is to provide more trips with fewer vehicles, and the 2010 Olympic provided a good demonstration of this with 60 percent of the trips being walked or biked. The city of Vancouver is working with health and transportation partners such as the Coalition Linking Action and Science for Prevention (CLASP).