This HIA assessed a proposal by the City of Omaha to include a center turn lane on South 24th Street – the major corridor through Omaha’s Latino community. This type of change, which involves going from four lanes to three, is commonly called a road diet. The HIA considered the impacts on the top concerns for South Omaha residents, namely pedestrian safety and decreasing traffic speeds. The HIA determined that almost all of residents’ concerns would be improved under the proposed road diet — including likely resulting in 50 less crashes per year.
Outcome
The HIA report was included in the preliminary engineering request for proposals and was heavily referenced by the engineering firms that applied. The HIA report was also distributed to business owners along the affected part of 24th Street. Lastly, this HIA has been beneficial for including health criteria in transportation decision-making at the regional level.
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This Health Impact Assessment Report first appeared in The Cross-Sector Toolkit for Health. The Cross-Sector Toolkit for Health was originally developed by the Health Impact Project, formerly a collaboration of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and The Pew Charitable Trusts. The creation of this resource was supported by a grant from the Health Impact Project. The views expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Pew Charitable Trusts, or the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
