Development of a Comprehensive Metric to Evaluate the Impacts of Transportation-Environment on Community Health

Abstract

The objective of this research is to develop a metric which can be served as a decision support tool for engineers, planners, public health officers and other decision makers to evaluate the health status of a community with respect to transportation and environment. To measure a community’s health, this metric will consist of a few criteria, and each criterion consists of several measurable indicators, with identified sources of data. It will be developed through literature review, focus group interview and survey. Using the data gathered, a concept map will be constructed to visualize the relationship/interactions between different elements of transportation, environment and community health. An accompanying metric will then be developed. A case study will be used to demonstrate the application of the metric to a local project.