Health Impact Assessment in the City of New Haven: Evaluating a highway redevelopment project and building HIA capacity

The City of New Haven was recently awarded a $16 million federal grant to redevelop a section of high-speed urban highway between a major interstate and downtown. The highway corridor is congested and dangerous, discouraging bicycle and pedestrian traffic between residential neighborhoods, the downtown business district, and a large hospital complex. The populations affected by this proposal are socially and economically diverse. In collaboration with New Haven City government and community stakeholders, we are conducting a Health Impact Assessment (HIA) to examine potential health outcomes of this transportation project including its impact on pedestrian injuries, motor vehicle crashes, and physical activity and active transport including walking and biking. Our objectives are to introduce the process of HIA, demonstrate its utility, and to make timely and evidence-based recommendations for decision-makers. To build capacity for future use of HIA in municipal design and policy, we established stakeholder partnerships early, are engaging partners in each step of the process, and will host a city-wide HIA training session. We will report on the process of conducting an HIA to assess outcomes of a transportation planning project, and on working within the framework of an academic-civic-community partnership to raise awareness of public health considerations and promote sustainable use of HIAs as a tool to promote health.