Recent Streetsblog NYC posts about Public Health

India’s Health Minister Wants Protected Bike Lanes Nationwide

By Angie Schmitt | Aug 28, 2014 | No Comments

There’s encouraging news out of India, where cities expect to add hundreds of millions of residents in the next few decades but are already choking on traffic congestion and auto exhaust. Dr. Harsh Vardhan was appointed to lead India’s health ministry by newly elected prime minister Narendra Modi this May, and he wants to promote bicycling […]

Memo From Massachusetts: 25 MPH Speed Limit Would Save Lives

By Stephen Miller | Jun 6, 2014 | 1 Comment

Researchers in Massachusetts have concluded that lowering the default speed limit on local roads from 30 to 25 mph would save lives and yield big public health benefits. Even without additional traffic calming measures, a lower speed limit on its own would prevent 2,200 crashes, 1,200 injuries, and 18 fatalities in the state of 6.6 […]

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How Road Planners Fail Neighborhoods

By Angie Schmitt | Jun 4, 2014 | No Comments

Why do neighborhood groups — especially in low-income areas — have such a hard time influencing the design of major road projects? An interesting case study from the University of Colorado-Denver sheds some light. To examine the barriers to incorporating public health principles into transportation planning, researchers studied the Allied-Dunn’s Marsh neighborhood in Madison, Wisconsin, a disadvantaged but […]

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More Walking and Biking, Better Health: New Evidence From American Cities

By Angie Schmitt | Apr 17, 2014 | No Comments

New data from the Alliance for Biking and Walking’s 2014 Benchmarking report bears out the notion that people tend to be healthier in cities where walking and biking are more prevalent. The Alliance compiled active commuting rates in the 50 largest American cities as measured by the U.S. Census. Then it compared that data with health information […]

Poor NYC Neighborhoods “Less Conducive to Walking” Than They Appear

By Stephen Miller | Feb 12, 2014 | 1 Comment

A fact sheet [PDF] released by the city’s health department today makes the case that New York City’s walkability contributes to the health of residents — but a deeper look into the research shows that not all New Yorkers are benefitting equally from walkable neighborhoods. The brief draws on recent data from two sources: Research […]

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