Davidson Design for Life, in collaboration with Davidson College students in a Public Health Policy, Practice and Ethics course, conducted a health impact assessment (HIA) of a proposed regional commuter rail project connecting Mooresville to Charlotte, North Carolina using existing Norfolk Southern rail. The project would offer increased freight business, as well as the opportunity for mixed use development around the 10 proposed transit stations. The HIA focused on several potential health impacts, including incidence of chronic disease as physical activity increases due to walking or biking to the transit stations; respiratory and cardiovascular illnesses due to air pollutants; injury from accidents as transit ridership increases; financial security as transportation costs decrease; and job access for low income individuals.
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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.
