Home Skip to main content

Research Reports
Report Details

Title:Transportation and Land Use as Social Determinants of Health: Analysis of Exposure to Traffic in the Denver Metropolitan Region
Authors:Carolyn McAndrews, Evan G. Rosenlieb, Austin Troy, and Wesley E. Marshall
University:University of Colorado Denver
Publication Date:Jun 2017
Report #:MPC-17-326
Project #:MPC-488
TRID #:01641069
Keywords:analysis, health, land use, neighborhoods, race, regional analysis, socioeconomic factors, spatial analysis, statistical analysis, traffic
Type:Research Report – MPC Publications

 

Abstract

Transportation systems generate certain health-promoting benefits such as access to social, economic, and cultural resources, but they also are a source of air pollution, noise, safety hazards, and barriers that diminish social cohesion in neighborhoods. Streets, in particular, are among the most important forms of public space in cities, yet they also are a main source of exposure to the negative externalities of traffic. It is estimated that between 4 and 19 percent of the U.S. population lives close to high-traffic roads, depending on assumptions about distance and types of roadway. These proportions are higher for minority and low-income populations. Although the relationships between traffic exposure, race, and socio-economic status have been consistent and reproducible, they have also been spatially heterogeneous with limited investigation into the patterns or causes of the heterogeneity. Using spatially-explicit statistical techniques, we examined variation in residential exposure to traffic at regional and neighborhood levels with race and socio-economic status as variables of interest. We found that minority and lower socio-economic status are systematically linked to higher exposure to traffic in Denver, Colorado at both regional- and neighborhood-level scales.

How to Cite

McAndrews, Carolyn, Evan G. Rosenlieb, Austin Troy, and Wesley E. Marshall. Transportation and Land Use as Social Determinants of Health: Analysis of Exposure to Traffic in the Denver Metropolitan Region, MPC-17-326. North Dakota State University - Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute, Fargo: Mountain-Plains Consortium, 2017.

NDSU Dept 2880P.O. Box 6050Fargo, ND 58108-6050
(701)231-7767ndsu.ugpti@ndsu.edu