Integrated Transportation and Health Impact Modeling Tool for U.S. Cities
The health of the American people is a national priority, and ensuring that transportation policies support strong communities, economic prosperity, and public well-being is a critical challenge that requires holistic solutions. This project will deliver groundbreaking research that directly informs transportation policies to improve traffic safety, air quality, and physical activity among transportation users in major American cities. These policies will help reduce preventable health burdens, cut healthcare costs, and enhance both community well-being and the cost-efficiency of our transportation systems. In the first stage of this project, we will review and update the underlying literature to refine and potentially extend the framework. We will develop updated visualizations to help transportation and public health agencies identify and communicate the various pathways linking transportation and health. By incorporating new evidence and addressing critical gaps, we will ensure the framework remains relevant for shaping future transportation policies at local, state, and national levels. During this stage, we will engage key stakeholders—such as transportation and public health agencies—by presenting our updated model, gathering their feedback, and enhancing our understanding of how transportation choices impact health outcomes. In the second stage, we will systematically collect, clean, quality-assess, harmonize, and integrate data from diverse sources to underpin subsequent quantitative modeling. This modeling exercise will examine pathways related to vehicle crashes/traffic safety, transportation-related air pollution, transportation-related physical activity, and any additional pathways deemed feasible for quantitative modeling based on data availability and strength of evidence. The data sources will include census population counts, geographic information system layers, transportation network layers and average vehicle speed data, household travel surveys, physical activity surveys, police crash records for fatal and non-fatal incidents, baseline health outcome rates, and associations between transportation factors and health outcomes as derived from systematic reviews and meta-analyses (i.e., dose- and exposure-response functions). This will allow us to construct a detailed and representative model of American mobility patterns, their health impacts through safety, air quality, and physical activity, and how targeted policies can mitigate risks and enhance benefits holistically across these pathways. We will focus on practical solutions that include policy instruments such as shifting a portion of trips to electric vehicles, electric buses, and electric bikes—while ensuring alignment with existing travel survey data for realism.
Language
- English
Project
- Status: Active
- Funding: $165,000.00
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Contract Numbers:
69A3552348329
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Sponsor Organizations:
Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology
University Transportation Centers Program
Department of Transportation
Washington, DC United States 20590 -
Managing Organizations:
1111 Rellis Parkway
Bryan, Texas United States 77807 -
Project Managers:
Ocon, Monica
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Performing Organizations:
Texas A&M Transportation Institute
Texas A&M University System
3135 TAMU
College Station, TX United States 77843-3135 -
Principal Investigators:
Khreis, Haneen
- Start Date: 20251001
- Expected Completion Date: 20260831
- Actual Completion Date: 0
- USDOT Program: University Transportation Centers
- Source Data: 02-13-TTI
Subject/Index Terms
- TRT Terms: Data collection; Public health; Research management; Urban transportation
- Subject Areas: Research; Society; Transportation (General);
Filing Info
- Accession Number: 01976228
- Record Type: Research project
- Source Agency: Center for Advancing Research in Transportation Emissions, Energy, and Health (CARTEEH)
- Contract Numbers: 69A3552348329
- Files: UTC, RIP
- Created Date: Jan 13 2026 3:05PM