Incorporating Public Health and Equity into Colorado’s Statewide and Regional Transportation Planning
Background: State transportation agencies are in a unique position to potentially create transportation systems that improve public health and equity. Only a few transportation agencies such as Minnesota, California, and Washington have focused on incorporating public health and equity policies and data into their statewide transportation plan (SWP). This effort provides opportunities for all members of society to safely bike, walk, drive, and ride transit to access their destinations and for leisure.

Purpose: For the first time, the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) has a goal to incorporate public health and equity into their regional transportation plans and their 2045 SWP that is currently being updated. The SWP will focus on the impacts transportation systems have on public health and reducing health disparities such as access to health care visits and jobs, improving safety outcomes, and increasing physical activity.

Methods: Toward this effort, CDOT, with assistance from Safe and Healthy Communities (SHC) a non-profit public health organization, created and co-facilitated an innovative Public Health, Equity and Transportation Taskforce. The mission of the taskforce is to provide guidance and direction on how to best incorporate public health and equity into the SWP. The taskforce is made up of approximately 30 equity, public health, and transportation professionals statewide and met six times in 2018-2019.

Results: Presenters from SHC and CDOT, will provide details on this unique process and the outcomes developed by the taskforce members such as: best practices; education and public outreach; policies; integrating public health and transportation data; health-related performance measures such as active transportation; and health language that supports public health and equity in regional and statewide transportation planning. CDOT is explicitly focusing the plans on the needs of the aging population, people with disabilities, rural health issues, low-income residents, and communities or color. The taskforce decided appropriate phrasing such as using, historically disenfranchised versus minorities, and that health and equity will be considered throughout the SWP and RTPs along with a separate public health technical report. The taskforce created an educational factsheet about the connections between public health and transportation and adopted a vision statement that also will be shared.

Conclusion: Significant work was accomplished by the taskforce that will be discussed. CDOT is shifting and collaboratively working with new partners in deliberate ways to better ensure public health and equity are important additions to the 2045 SWP. Question to and feedback from the audience about the process and outcomes will be encouraged so the presentation format will be interactive.

Presenter: karen Roof
Agency Affiliation: Safe and Healthy Communities

Presenter Biographical Statement: [biography]