Transportation and Health Resource Hub - Air Pollution
Transportation research circular E-C239, arterial roadways research needs and concerns: informing the planning, design, and operation of arterial roadways considering public health
Arterial roads provide regional and local access to diverse economic and cultural resources that can positively influence community health. At the same time, arterial roads have been linked to various types of cancer, respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, poor birth outcomes, injuries, noise, and air pollution. They represent a prime opportunity for transportation and public health practitioners to work together to directly improve community health. Practitioners can learn from seven case areas covering research questions and salient concerns for practice. The document also includes over 250 questions that could be expanded into formal research problem statements.
Tennessee’s built environment and health case studies
This collection of case studies in Tennessee, primarily in rural communities, address the integration of health through master plans, corridor studies, sidewalk improvements, multi-modal access, and even a community kitchen. Each short case study (1-2 pages) has key lessons and recommendations that can be used by local advocates, community leaders, and governmental staff to identify strategies for integrating health. These case studies demonstrate the possibilities of integrating health into rural communities and small towns.
Technical advisory: strategies to reduce air pollution exposure near high-volume roadways
This Technical Advisory is a supplement to the California Air Resources
Board's Air Quality and Land Use Handbook: A Community Health Perspective (2005) It demonstrates that it is possible for planners, developers, and local governments to pursue infill development while simultaneously reducing exposure to traffic-related pollution. The Technical Advisory reveals several strategies that can be employed to protect the occupants of infill developments near high-volume roadways from air pollution exposure. This information can be found in a table, which can be used for quick reference, and also includes an expanded discussion of these strategies that includes details about co-benefits and potential drawbacks.
NCHRP research report 932: a research roadmap for transportation and public health management
The purpose of A Research Roadmap for Transportation and Public Health is to build upon thebody of literature strategic agendas, and research needs regarding calls for integrating transportation and health and to provide a plan for funding research over the next decade that can lead to greater consideration of health issues in transportation contexts. This report produced recommendations for integrating health into transportation, derived from a research process that involved both stakeholder engagement (including representatives from federal, state, and local transportation and health-related agencies) and a review and synthesis of existing literature (including peer-reviewed literature, grey literature such as reports, conference proceedings, magazines, and other published works). This report identified research needed to support specific agency processes to incorporate health; research gaps and needs and how research is translated into practice; research needed for emerging health issues; priority research problem statements, and developed an implementation plan for guiding research ideas into funded projects.
Healthy community design training
The Healthy Community Design Training made the connection between health and the built environment to transportation and land use professionals across Tennessee. The training demonstrates the strong link between health and community design, shows what makes for health promoting or health defeating community design, and provides policy considerations concerning a range of design features and decisions. The training is primarily intended for presentation to groups of local government officials and employees involved in land use and transportation decisions. Through tangible examples, presenting the Healthy Community Design Training matures the conversation on good community development practices.