2344 Two Way Street – Public Health and Transportation Working Together on Active Transportation

The objective of this review was to better define various challenges and opportunities to strengthen public health and transportation collaboration, with a detailed focus on the perspectives of transportation professionals on perceived barriers to improving infrastructure towards better promoting active transportation. The review involved a scan of documents, stakeholder mapping, and in-depth semi-structured interviews with transportation professionals. The resulting themes identified key areas in which public health and transportation could support each other. Chief among these was defining public health's support - role and practice in Environmental Assessment (EAs) and land development approval processes. This insight prompted the OPHA-BEWG to carry out a subsequent survey of Public Health Units (PHUs) in the province of Ontario in Canada to assess their involvement with EAs for transportation. The study found that while most PHUs desired greater involvement in the EA process; specific barriers resulted in only a small portion of PHUs in the process. Respondents suggested capacity building by sharing and refining assessment tools, creating webinars and workshops, and online resources with detailed information on best practices. Further, PHUs in rural communities highlighted a need for approaches that acknowledge settings with low population density, expansive landscapes, and dispersed populations for improving active and sustainable transportation. The session will review ...
Source: Journal of Transport and Health - Category: Occupational Health Source Type: research