The public health impacts of transportation systems are significant, but decision makers lack tools to assess and communicate these impacts in a way that is both rigorous and accessible. The recently developed Integrated Transport and Health Impact Model (ITHIM) can be used to assess the health impacts of transportation and land use scenarios. The project team developed a powerful and user-friendly web-based version of the ITHIM tool for the Sacramento Area Council of Governments (SACOG) six county region. This model is capable of estimating health impacts of transportation plans for several demographic groups based on expected changes in physical activity and accident rates. While county level estimates are helpful for making broad comparisons between transportation plans, greater spatial resolution is needed to evaluate impacts and health tradeoffs for specific populations and local communities in the SACOG region. This project created individual-level estimates of health changes that can be summarized at the fine spatial scale necessary for guiding local land use and transportation policy and plans (e.g., transportation analysis zones, census places). It will help inform sustainable and equitable transportation planning across the SACOG region and will significantly advance the science of health impact assessment.
