Active Transportation
GOAL: To make bicycling and walking more viable transportation options in communities to help reduce childhood obesity rates. Policy-makers can increase opportunities for physical activity by creating a built environment that supports safe, active transportation.
1. Improve Safety for Bicyclists and Pedestrians
The Issues and the Research: There is a significant body of evidence linking transportation, planning and community design to increased physical activity.1 To increase physical activity opportunities in neighborhoods and combat some of the safety issues, many communities have adopted Safe Routes to School (SRTS) programs and policies, with positive results. An analysis of 33 studies demonstrated that children in neighborhoods with sidewalks and controlled intersections were more physically active than children in neighborhoods with road hazards and unsafe intersections.2 Another study found that adding and improving bicycle lanes, traffic signals, sidewalks and crosswalks increased the number of children walking or bicycling to school. Students were three times more likely to start walking or bicycling on routes that included improvements than they were before these improvements were made.3
Potential Stakeholders
Policy-makers
State and local elected and appointed officials
School officials (e.g., state boards of education, local school boards and school administrators)
Other Government and Community Stakeholders
Transportation officials
Planning officials
County and city health officials
Law enforcement agencies
Community-based organizations
Community members
Policy and Program Options
State funding and support of active transportation
State policy-makers can actively support legislation that promotes safety for pedestrians and bicyclists. They also can provide funding for state and local transportation initiatives that include safe, active living components.
Active transportation plans, complete streets
Local governments can develop or re-evaluate long-term transportation plans that explicitly set “active transportation” goals for walking or biking as modes of transportation. As part of these goals, they can implement in neighborhoods. The following list includes some measures that improve safe walking and biking options in communities:
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Develop a pedestrian and/or bicycle master plan that assesses the environment for pedestrians and bicyclists, and makes infrastructure improvements that enhance safety and walkability.
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Establish separate traffic lanes for bicyclists and sidewalks for pedestrians.
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Promote moderate traffic speeds, especially on local residential and commercial streets, by designing narrower streets, sidewalk curbs, raised and clearly painted crosswalks, raised medians, wide sidewalks and , which can include adding trees, hedges and planter strips.
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Employ other critical safety measures including appropriately timed lights, pedestrian signals, crossing guards near schools and sufficient street lighting at night.
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Retrofit existing roads or integrate improvements as new roads are designed.
Walk to school/Safe Routes To School
State and local leaders in communities and schools can support Walk to School and Safe Routes to School programs.
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2. Expand Trails, Bicycle Lanes and Connections
The Issues and the Research: Over the past 30 years, aspects of our built environment have made it difficult for children and families to walk or ride a bicycle outdoors for recreation or transportation. However, research shows that well-connected trails providing residents with access to community destinations is a low-cost intervention that reduces some barriers individuals face in being physically active—cost, inconvenience and inaccessibility.4 In a survey of rural Missouri residents, more than half said that they walked more after a nearby trail opened.5 Similarly, a 2007 study of planning directors and residents of 67 North Carolina counties showed that more sidewalks; bicycle lanes and trails; more , mixed-use development; and strong planning policies were associated with higher levels of physical activity.6 In fact, residents of counties with active living environments were more than twice as likely to ride a bicycle or walk than residents in other counties, and this association was even stronger among lower-income residents.7
Potential Stakeholders
Policy-makers
State and local elected and appointed officials
Other Government and Community Stakeholders
Transportation officials
Planning officials
Parks and recreation officials
Community-based organizations
Community members
Policy and Program Options
Open space policies to encourage activity
State and local policy-makers can support policies that create , including recreational . Because evidence also suggests that aesthetics and safety are important considerations when increasing biking and walking around town, policy-makers may want to consider including landscaping and safety measures in open-space policies.
Trail connectivity to increase walking and biking
State and local policy-makers also can support policies and funding that build trails through neighborhoods to connect homes with schools, which would allow children to ride a bicycle or walk to school without having to cross busy, unsafe streets. State and local policy-makers can consider policies that ensure sidewalk continuity and direct routes for pedestrians and bicyclists, including connections between dead-end streets and culs-de-sacs. Ideally, trails and sidewalks should connect to a variety of town resources, such as schools, grocery stores, libraries and other facilities.
Rails to trails for recreation and transportation
State and local public officials can work together to convert out-of-service rail corridors into trails using .
Trail accessibility
State and local policy-makers can support policies that increase access to walking trails.
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1. Designing for Active Living Among Adults, Research Summary. San Diego: Active Living Research, Spring 2008.
2 Greves H, Lozano P, Liu L, et al. “Immigrant Families’ Perceptions on Walking to School and School
Breakfast: A Focus Group Study.” The International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 4(64), 2007.
3 Walking and Biking to School: Making it Safe. Traffic Safety Center Evaluation Delivered to the State Legislature. Berkeley, CA: Online Newsletter of the UC Berkeley Traffic Center, 3 (4), Winter 2006-2007. Available at www.tsc.berkeley.edu/newsletter/winter2006-07/safetoschool.html.
4 Brownson R, Housemann R, Brown D, et al. “Promoting Physical Activity in Rural Communities: Walking Trail Access, Use and Effects.” American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 18(3): 235-241, April 2000.
5 Ibid.
6 Aytur S, Rodriguez D, Evenson K, et al. “Promoting Active Community Environments Through Land Use and
Transportation Planning.” American Journal of Health Promotion, 21(4S): 397-407, March/April 2007.
7 Ibid.
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