Introduction

The inter-relationship between physical activity and health is well-documented in transportation and public health literature. Nevertheless, health impacts are rarely considered in transportation planning processes due to the lack of a robust mechanism to quantify such impacts. The Integrated Transport and Health Impact Modeling (ITHIM) framework provides an opportunity to systematically estimate health impacts of active travel as a result of variations in transportation infrastructure and policies that involve non-motorized modes.

Methods

This study applies ITHIM framework to Prince George's County, Maryland, to explore potential health impacts of improved active travel through hypothetical scenarios. ITHIM integrates data on travel behavior, health, demographics, road injuries and air quality. We constructed three What-If scenarios that reflect significant increases in walking and biking –a potential result of the ambitious infrastructure plans in place at the PG County – and decrease in personal vehicle miles.

Results

Significant health and economic benefits are observed under three scenarios. We observed considerable health benefits in the scenarios where we made assumptions about increased active travel and reduced automobile usage, e.g. if everyone bikes 1.5 miles and drives 1.5 miles less per day, the county will save about 35 lives and 1,443 DALYs. We also observed significant monetary values of lifesaving in the economic analysis, indicating $117 million savings in the cost of illness (COI) for scenario1 (increased walking) and $34 million savings in COI as a result of scenario2 (increased biking) and scenario3 (increased biking and reduced driving).

Conclusion

This study provides insight into a better understanding of the potential health impacts of various transportation planning scenarios and provides an example for including health impact estimates in evaluating transportation policies and plans at local level. It highlights the importance of policies that encourage people to walk and bike also need to adopt measures that increase safety.

中文翻译：

---

迈向有健康意识的交通规划：评估地方层面主动交通对健康影响的框架

介绍

身体活动与健康之间的相互关系在交通和公共卫生文献中有详细记载。然而，由于缺乏量化此类影响的稳健机制，在交通规划过程中很少考虑健康影响。综合交通和健康影响建模 (ITHIM) 框架提供了一个机会，可以系统地估计主动出行对健康影响，这是由于涉及非机动模式的交通基础设施和政策的变化。

方法

本研究将 ITHIM 框架应用于马里兰州乔治王子县，以通过假设情景探索改善主动旅行对健康的潜在影响。ITHIM 整合了有关旅行行为、健康、人口统计、道路伤害和空气质量的数据。我们构建了三个假设情景，以反映步行和骑自行车的显着增加——这是 PG 县雄心勃勃的基础设施计划的潜在结果——以及个人车辆里程的减少。

结果

在三种情况下观察到显着的健康和经济效益。我们在假设增加积极出行和减少汽车使用的情况下观察到了相当大的健康益处，例如，如果每个人每天骑自行车 1.5 英里，少开车 1.5 英里，该县将挽救大约 35 条生命和 1,443 个 DALY。我们还在经济分析中观察到挽救生命的重要货币价值，表明情景 1（增加步行）的疾病成本 (COI) 节省了 1.17 亿美元，情景 2（增加骑自行车）和情景 3（增加步行）导致的 COI 节省了 3400 万美元。骑自行车和减少驾驶）。

结论

本研究提供了更好地了解各种交通规划方案的潜在健康影响的见解，并提供了一个示例，将健康影响估计纳入评估地方一级的交通政策和计划。它强调了鼓励人们步行和骑自行车的政策的重要性，还需要采取提高安全性的措施。