BikeWalkLee
has reported on various developments related to the Ortiz Avenue road widening
project over the course of the last few years. We were pleased to see that
researchers at Florida Gulf Coast University have completed and published a
Health Impact Assessment (HIA) of the project and delivered the results to the
county commissioners.
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| Tice residents identifying problem areas from walking audit |
HIAs are a stakeholder-driven process that are used to
help evaluate a plan or policy. HIAs are
becoming increasingly popular, as the method can isolate various features of a
project or policy from other political or financial considerations.
Transportation-related HIAs are becoming more popular, perhaps in part due to
the significant consequences of ‘getting is wrong’ where bad design or policy
can result serious injury or death.
As a result of the usefulness of this
process, Margaret Banyan, Ph.D. and Vitor Suguri, MPA, researchers from Florida
Gulf Coast University, completed a study to assess the health impacts of the
Ortiz Avenue Widening Project. The goal of the Ortiz Road Widening HIA Project was
to 1) assess the health consequences of a planned road-widening project and 2) aid
stakeholders and policy makers to make informed decisions about any potential
alternatives as may be needed.
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| Tice residents participating in 5/13 PPS walking audit |
The researchers, in coordination with stakeholders,
considered three main categories of health impacts: 1) environmental impacts
that are related to changes in the physical environment. These consist of
collisions, fatalities, and air quality; 2) behavioral impacts relating to the
changes in individual behaviors as a result of the project – primarily physical
activity changes; and 3) social and community impacts, which are primarily
measured by changes in social cohesion or social networks.
The study found
that if constructed as planned, the Ortiz widening project would have mixed impacts
on resident health. However, the impacts on health were primarily negative. The
benefits included the provision of bike lanes and sidewalks that may lead to
increased physical activity. However, these benefits were offset by significant
negative health consequences that included an increased risk of collisions,
decreased air quality, decreased physical activity (due to road speed and
inability to safely cross the widened road), and decreased social
cohesion.
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| A bike/ped/transit-unfriendly road in Tice |
The recommendations
for the project were to rethink the road design to narrow the overall lane width, reduce the number of lanes, and reduce design speed.
Overall, the project should reduce the physical safety risks associated
with a wider and faster road; enhance the walking and bicycling environment by
incorporating bicycling and walking paths, crosswalks, and signalization for
major pedestrian crossings; and incorporate additional
greenspace or low impact development in the already purchased right of way as a
way to encourage positive impacts on walking and bicycling behavior as well as
increase social cohesion.
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| Tice Planning Panel's proposed complete streets alternative for Ortiz Rd. project |
The HIA report was shared with the Lee County Board of County
Commissioners and appears on the Pew Charitable Trusts Health Impact Project
catalog of completed HIAs.
Click here to see the full report.
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