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HIA Archive : The East Bay Greenway The East Bay Greenway Authors: San Francisco Department of Public Health Date: September 2007
Summary of the HIA * The Greenway project proposes to build twelve miles of walking and biking paths under the elevated BART tracks between Oakland and Hayward California. Background ** and Policy Context Lack of pedestrian and bicycle-friendly streets and trails are some of the most noted reasons for failure to achieve minimum recommended amounts of physical activity in urban environments in the United States. The communities to be served by the Greenway lack sufficient parks and trails. Ideally this project will influence more people to become physically active and will eventually lead to positive health outcomes in the long term. This HIA analyzes the potential health impacts of the proposed Greenway in the areas of physical activity, social cohesion, greening the landscape, and reducing motor vehicle use. Scope and Methods Public Health officials in Alameda County and other decision makers from various parts of the county such as city planners and elected officials were sought after for their ideas and expertise. During this process, 15 community health determinants were identified and examined. Relevant information about the Greenway was recorded for each health determinant. In addition, twelve residents from the communities directly impacted by the project participated in community meetings. From these meetings, a decision was made to focus the assessment on the four potentially positive impacts- increased physical activity, greening of the landscape, reduced motor vehicle use, and increased social cohesion. Attention was also given to the main barrier to use- safety. The analysis phase of the HIA was carried out by generating diagrams of the causal pathways that would connect new trails to health outcomes based on relationships known from the literature. The proposed Greenway plan was then evaluated as to how it might interact with those pathways qualitatively. Finally, recommendations for design and for mitigations were developed based on this evaluation. Summary of findings The Greenway project presents an opportunity in land use that could be very beneficial to the health of residents who live near the route. The potential to increase physical activity, build social cohesion, encourage people to drive less, and create a landscaped, natural space all could lead to improved health outcomes. There are many ways in which the likelihood of these positive health outcomes can be increased through optimal design and programming. The main obstacle to achieving these positive health outcomes center on safety. However, with proper attention to safety issues in the design and programming of the Greenway, these potential obstacles can be avoided. Updated 06/23/2009 * The HIA-CLIC website and this summary were developed by the UCLA Health Impact Assessment (UCLA-HIA) Project with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Every effort has been made to ensure that these summaries are factually accurate. HIA authors have been given an opportunity to review summaries before posting. HIA authors may notify us of any factual inaccuracies or updates by filling out a Request for Update form (click for pop-up form).** Readers interested in more detail, including literature citations, for the background summarized here are encouraged to view the full HIA report (see external link above), or to review the relevant Pathway section of HIA-CLIC.
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