MassDOT Priority: Healthy Transportation

Posted by Catherine Cagle, MassDOT Manager, Sustainable Transportation

This month we had a terrific kick-off meeting the Healthy Transportation Compact! 

MassDOT Secretary & CEO Jeff Mullan and Health & Human Services Secretary Dr. JudyAnn Bigby provided inspiration in leading the first meeting of the Compact, left.

The MassDOT transportation vision includes a strong commitment to pedestrian and bicycle access. Walking and bicycling move people out of single-occupant vehicles, reduce traffic congestion, and promote healthy lifestyles and a cleaner environment.

MassDOT will be ‘Leading by Example’ by supporting and promoting Bike Week 2010, in addition to establishing measures/incentives to promote healthy transportation commuter options among Commonwealth employees.

We are looking forward to a very strong collaboration that will increase efficiency to achieve positive health outcomes through the coordination of land use, transportation and public health policy. In the coming weeks we will be assembling agency staff level team and our advisory committee.

At the kick-off meeting participants agreed to:

1. Identify needs and opportunities for promoting healthy transportation through a Gap analysis.
2. Establish a ‘Complete Streets’ policy per the MassDOT Highway Project Development and Design Guide.
3. Incentivize ‘"Complete Streets" design guidelines for all transportation projects that use any federal or state funds, including bond programs (e.g. PWED, STRAP) and Chapter 90).
4. Determine how to best use Health Impact Assessments (HIAs) as a tool to promote healthy transportation goals and outcomes.

For more information please check out our new MassDOT Healthy Compact web page and Health and Human Services' Mass in Motion link.

Comments

[John Mc]

Speaking of transportation and health (and unfortunately a state that is broke these days) - is there a long-term goal of electrifying commuter rail?

As an occasional rider, I'm tired of sitting in a coach and breathing in diesel fumes because the wind is blowing the wrong direction (so bad last Thursday my eyes were tearing in the coach). Not to mention the health implications for those living along commuter lines.

Electrification would make breathing easier for everyone, be more efficient for a frequent-stop system like ours, and could be competitive price wise vs diesel. But it's a huge investment in a time when transportation is starving for dollars.

But is it on the long term vision for MassDOT?

thanks

- John McLachlan
Boston, MA
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MassDOT Responds: Thanks for the question, John.
There are no current immediate plans looking at electrification for the existing commuter rail system but it remains a concept subject to periodic long term evaluation. The challenge with electrification of rail lines is the need to balance the potential savings from operational and other efficiencies with the significant infrastructure costs involved with electrification.