Benefit-Cost Analysis of Public Health Outcomes in Long-Range Transportation Planning in the San Francisco Bay Area

Walking and bicycling for transportation purposes have been shown to affect daily physical activity, but there has not been a comprehensive way to quantify the monetized benefits from the effects of individual transportation projects in regional planning. A methodology was developed that used travel model outputs along with public health data to quantify the value of reduced health care costs and lost productivity as a result of increased active transportation. This analysis identified that Bay Area residents could achieve $1.1 billion in lost productivity and healthcare cost savings if the region could meet the regional target of 70% growth in active transportation by 2035, equivalent to 15 minutes of active transportation per person per day. In order to identify which projects would most cost-effectively support growth in active transportation, projects were analyzed as part of the San Francisco Bay Area’s most recent long-range transportation plan (Plan Bay Area). The results indicated that programs which specifically targeted and funded livability and bicycle improvements had some of the greatest abilities to increase physical activity per dollar expended; in particular, expansion of heavy rail, commuter rail, or express bus systems that encouraged passengers to walk or bike to transit were the top performing projects for cost-effectively increasing active transportation. One important conclusion was that not all public transit projects boosted active transportation; certain projects reduced the regional total of active individuals if they transformed a currently time-uncompetitive local transit service into a service that is time-competitive with bicycling or walking. In addition to these transit projects, many major highway projects were also forecasted to have significant negative impacts on physical activity from walking and bicycling.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • This paper was sponsored by TRB committee ADD50(1) Health and Transportation.
• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001
• Authors:
  • Co, Sean
  • Vautin, David
• Conference:
  • Transportation Research Board 93rd Annual Meeting
  • Location: Washington DC
  • Date: 2014-1-12 to 2014-1-16
• Date: 2014

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: References; Tables;
• Pagination: 14p
• Monograph Title: TRB 93rd Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Benefit cost analysis; Bicycling; Health care; Labor productivity; Nonmotorized transportation; Public health; Public transit; Transportation planning; Walking
• Geographic Terms: San Francisco Bay Area
• Subject Areas: Economics; Pedestrians and Bicyclists; Planning and Forecasting; Public Transportation; I10: Economics and Administration; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01515834
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: 14-3223
• Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
• Created Date: Feb 25 2014 9:15AM