Hello Subcommittee friends,
The subcommittee's annual report on activities has been provided below.
Please note that health and transportation-related events at the 2016 TRB
Annual Meeting are included in the report below.
If you would like to get more involved in our activities, please email me (
eloisaraynault(a)gmail.com) or Ed Christopher (edc(a)berwyned.com); we're
looking for volunteers.
Thank you,
Eloisa
Major Activities in 2015
The Health and Transportation Subcommittee continued to prosper throughout
its fifth year. The 2015 TRB Annual Meeting culminated with a Workshop on
Tools to Support Health and Transportation Planning and Analysis. The
Workshop featured several tools, foremost of which is the Transportation
Health Tool (THT) developed by the USDOT and the CDC (
https://www.transportation.gov/transportation-health-tool).
In the fall, a special edition of TR News developed by the Subcommittee hit
the streets. The TR News edition contains a plethora of articles addressing
the connections between public health and transportation. The journal
articles could not have been accomplished without the many authors and
their informative and insightful contributions—a special thanks to them.
The TR News edition is available at
http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/trnews/trnews299toc.pdf.
From the 2015 TRB Annual Meeting, the TRB Technical
Advisory Council
approved a new Task Force proposed by the Subcommittee. In January
2016,
the Task Force on Arterials and Public Health (ADD55T) will hold its
inaugural meeting. The mission of the Task Force is to inform the planning,
design and operations of arterials while considering public health.
Interested individuals can join the Task Force as a friend by going through
the
https://www.mytrb.org/ system and finding ADD55T.
In May 2015, the Subcommittee co-sponsored a specialty conference: Moving
Active Transportation to Higher Ground: Opportunities for Accelerating the
Assessment of Health Impacts. TRB co-sponsored the conference with the
American College of Sports Medicine. Proceedings from the conference are at
http://www.cvent.com/events/moving-active-transportation-to-higher-ground-o…
.
For the 2015 TRB Annual Meeting, the Subcommittee received 25 papers for
review. Of those, seven were submitted for presentation only, one for
publication only and the remaining 17 for both presentation and
publication. Eighty-five reviewers provided their support completing 118
reviews (1.39 reviews per reviewer). Each paper had an average of 4.32
reviews. After the review process, seven papers were accepted and
presented, and three were sent for publication.
In preparation for the 2016 TRB Annual Meeting, the Subcommittee issued a
paper call on using transportation and travel analysis/models in
coordination with public analysis/models to understand how transportation
and land use systems affect public health.
The Subcommittee also planned and secured a spot for a Sunday workshop at
TRB 2016: Institutionalizing Health in Transportation Agency Practice. The
workshop will feature transportation agencies that have successfully
institutionalized health into their processes and - where possible - their
public health counterparts. The workshop will also spotlight national
organizations that are providing key resources for these initiatives.
Join our events at TRB 2016
Anyone registered for TRB and with an interest in public health and
transportation topics is invited to attend our events.
A three-hour workshop (#118) on “Institutionalizing Health in
Transportation Agency Practice”, Sunday, January 10, 2016 from 9:00 AM to
Noon in room 156 of the Washington DC Convention Center.
Poster Session 309, “Innovations in Health and Transportation Research”
featuring seven posters, Monday, January 11, 2016 from 10:45 AM to 12:30 PM
in the Convention Center Exhibit Hall E.
Special Task Force on Arterials and Public Health inaugural meeting,
Monday, January 11, 2016 from 3:45 PM to 5:30 PM in the Marriott Marquis
Ballroom, Salon 17 (M2).
Health and Transportation Subcommittee meeting, Tuesday, January 12, 2016
from 3:45 PM to 5:30 PM in the Marriott Marquis Hotel, Independence B (M4).
Future Initiatives
For 2016 and beyond, the Subcommittee will continue to serve as a focal
point for public health and transportation connections. It hopes to provide
a coordination and support role to the public health-related activities of
the TRB Executive Committee. In addition, the Subcommittee hopes to
integrate its network of supporters for an upcoming health and
accessibility conference in development which will focus on the FTA Rides
to Wellness program. The Subcommittee will also work closely with the
Arterials and Public Health Task Force.
External to TRB, the Subcommittee will continue to coordinate with USDOT on
activities providing support, where possible. Specifically, the
Subcommittee will look for case studies where the THT has been actively
used.
A concerted effort to develop and submit research problem statements to the
various research programs will be made. The dissemination of the public
health-themed issue of TR News also will continue. A special subgroup will
be assembled to work on 2017 conference activities.
Work on the Subcommittee website will continue, as will growing the
listserve, which now numbers 385 individuals. We will expand our social
media presence, and seek volunteers to help with this effort. Support of
topical conferences will be offered as opportunities arise; this includes
presenting a workshop at the TRB Tools of the Trade Conference in September
of 2016 (which has already been accepted).
About the Subcommittee
The Health and Transportation Subcommittee was formed in March 2011. It has
four parent committees; Environmental Justice in Transportation (ADD50),
Urban Data and Information Systems (ABJ30), Travel Behavior and Values
(ADB10), and Transportation and Sustainability (ADD40). The Subcommittee
bridges two TRB Sections; Planning & Environment, and Policy &
Organization. Eloisa Raynault (Consultant, member of ADD50) and Ed
Christopher (MKC Associates, Emeritus of ABJ30) are co-chairs. Carey
McAndrews (University of Colorado) serves as secretary. There is also a
leadership group that meets every six weeks.