Resources

TRANSPORTATION RESOURCES & TOOLS

Transportation and Health Tool provides easy access to data that can be used to examine health impacts related to transportation. Developed by U.S. Department of Transportation and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it includes data on transportation and health indicators such as safety, air quality, and connectivity, organized by state and metropolitan area.

Smart Growth America National Complete Streets Coalition offers fact sheets, model policies, case studies, and other guidance on complete streets. Some key resources for developing Complete Streets policies include:

Complete Streets in the Southeast: A Toolkit is a research report and how-to guide produced by AARP, Smart Growth America and the National Complete Streets Coalition based on actual complete streets programs in southeastern communities.

NACTO All Ages and Abilities Design Toolbox and Urban Street Design Guide offer state of the art guidance from the National Association of City Transportation Officials for choosing and designing streets and bikeways for all ages and abilities.

Pop-Up Demonstration Tool Kit is a set of resources developed by AARP Livable Communities to show how to do temporary “pop-up” projects, like parklets, bike lanes or protected intersections, to illustrate and gain support for Complete Streets enhancements without undertaking a large-scale project.

USDOT Complete Streets webpage provides information on improving public health by designing safer roads for all users, including pedestrians and bicyclists who are most vulnerable to injury.

Streetmix and Streetplan are tools allowing users to arrange various street design elements into a visual cross-section of a street, then share the results with others.

Building Streets for Health and Equity: Pedcast and Guide from ChangeLab Solutions includes a Healthy Streets Guide and a Road Signs “pedcast,” or walking podcast with a man-on-the-street interview style.

The Surgeon General’s Call to Action to Promote Walking and Walkable Communities is called Step It Up! This is a brief report explaining the role each sector can play in increasing walkability.

The Community Guide is a health-based task force created by DHHS and funded by the CDC that issues reviews and findings of health intervention approaches, including “Physical Activity: Built Environment Approaches Combining Transportation System Interventions with Land Use and Environmental Design.”

Built Environment Assessment Tool from the CDC measures key indicators to help program staff and evaluators understand how infrastructure, bikeability and walkability, recreation, and food access affect community health.

Physical Activity is a CDC page that provides community strategies and resources related to connectivity and zoning for walkability, including a primer on local policies that can increase walking and factsheets from nationwide studies of zoning that leads to walking. 

HEALTH IMPACT ASSESSMENT AND POLICY 

 Health Impact Assessments (HIA) provide a process and tools for evaluating the potential health impacts of a community plan, project, or policy impacting the built environment. Learn more about the HIA process and find case studies and resources here:

HealthEquityGuide.org, a project of Human Impact Partners, addresses health inequities and builds organizational capacity. This guide features strategic practices, case studies, and a four-part webinar series produced with the help of national experts and local health departments.

Build Healthy Places Network, sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, works at the intersection of planning and health, with a mission to stimulate cross-sector partnerships and build community equity. The Network features several tools, including the following:

From Start to Finish: How to Permanently Improve Government Through Health in All Policies, a ChangeLab Solutions toolkit, includes five key strategies, three model policies, and multimedia presentation tools to help implement HIAP using best practices and tested methods.

Health in All Policies: A Guide for State and Local Governments, a guide from the Public Health Institute, covers policy creation, decision-making, engagement, collaboration, and support structures. A case study demonstrates how California has used a task force to pursue an HIAP process. 

Plan4Health, a project of the American Planning Association and American Public Health Association that funds creative partnerships that increase access to healthy food and promote physical activity.

Peer Learning Network from Plan4Health provides mini-webinars, videos, and podcasts to educate those interested in promoting healthy communities.

Plan4Health Florida was funded by an APA Planners4Health grant and aims to create a coalition in Florida of planners and public health professionals. The website includes resources, outreach guides, essays, and how-to manuals.

Planning and Zoning for Health in the Built Environment features an annotated list of reports, articles, websites, toolkits, model documents, and sample plans and regulations to help planners integrate health into the built environment through planning and zoning.

Building Healthy Places Toolkit: Strategies for Enhancing Health in the Built Environment, published by the Urban Land Institute (ULI), provides strategies for enhancing health at the individual project level.

Intersections: Health and the Built Environment, another ULI report, examines how community design, active transportation, healthier buildings, food access, and clean air and water can contribute to enhanced public health.

Metrics for Planning Healthy Communities, an American Planning Association toolkit, includes metrics that can be used to assess, measure, monitor, and report progress toward healthy planning goals.  Focus areas include active living, healthy food systems, environmental exposure, emergency preparedness, and social cohesion. 

A Practitioner’s Guide for Advancing Health Equity: Community Strategies for Preventing Chronic Disease is a health equity guide developed by the CDC to assist local, state, and tribal organizations promote health and prevent chronic disease health disparities.

DATA SOURCES

National Environmental Public Health Tracking Network is coordinated by the CDC to track diseases related to environmental exposure.

Florida Environmental Public Health Tracking is the FDOH umbrella web portal for accessing reliable public health and environmental data, organized to help communities understand and compare health status and trends.

FDOH Community Profiles tool provides environmental and health data that can be grouped by topic and geography.

Florida Health Charts is the primary online source for Florida health statistics, including county and city-level data in several formats.

Florida Injury Surveillance Data System is used to monitor the frequency of fatal and non-fatal injuries, determine associated risk factors, evaluate the quality of data sources reporting these injuries, and provide information to the injury prevention community for program planning and evaluation.

Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (WISQARS) is an online database that aggregates data surrounding injuries, violent death, and cost of injuries from a variety of sources. Developed by the CDC, it features national, state, and regional data dating back to 1981 and presented in captivating visualizations. WISQARS can be used to access information on transportation-related fatalities and injuries, including incidents involving motorists, pedestrians, bicyclists, and motorcyclists.

Bicycling & Walking in the U.S. Benchmarking Project documents, measures, and evaluates conditions for bicycling and walking for all 50 States and numerous cities.  Data collected is used to produce a biennial report identifying the most recent data available, providing a comprehensive snapshot of biking and walking in the U.S.

BICYCLE/PEDESTRIAN GROUPS

America Walks is a nonprofit organization leading a coalition of national, state and local advocacy groups who share a vision for a walkable America.

Florida’s Pedestrian & Bicycle Safety Coalition Alert Today Florida develops and implements plans to reduce pedestrian and bicycle fatalities while promoting the health benefits of walking and cycling.  Established in 2013, the FDOT-funded program includes a diverse group of state and local partners and advocates and is charged with implementing the Florida Pedestrian and Bicycle Strategic Safety Plan.

FDOT Bicycle and Pedestrian Partnership Council (BPPC) was formed to provide policy recommendations, technical advice, and information exchange between FDOT, its partners, and bicyclists and pedestrians. The BPPC is centered on four Focus Areas: Safety, Completing the System, Health, and Cultural Change.

Florida Bicycle Association (FBA) has a comprehensive set of resources for bicyclists and conscientious motorists, including safety and law enforcement education, tips on avoiding incidents and injuries, and etiquette for path and trail riding.  They also offer three publications and complete requests for educational presentations about being Complete Streets Savvy (CSS). FBA also maintains an awards program for contributions to bicycling.

Bike/Walk Central Florida is a nonprofit organization, formed in 2010, that promotes walkable and bikeable communities in Central Florida by raising public awareness and advocating for safe, active transportation and recreation.

South Florida Bike Coalition was founded in 2007 to provide resources and legal support to grassroots bicycle/pedestrian advocacy groups that endeavor to ensure alternative, sustainable, safe and adequate transportation facilities are provided throughout South Florida.

North Florida Bicycle Club aims to improve bicycling safety, access, and respect by advocating for the rights of people who ride bicycles in North Florida.

Caloosa Riders Bicycle Club consists of a wide range of riders from various ages and backgrounds, who all share a common enthusiasm and love of cycling. Members regularly participate in weekly rides throughout Lee County, road races, and charity bike rides in Southwest Florida.

The Jacksonville Bicycle Coalition’s motto is “Fighting for Our Right-of-Way: A Duval-based order advocating for the rights of cyclists.” Their primary activities are advocacy and event coordinating; the group also maintains a record of harassments, injuries, and potential or attempted homicides reported by cyclists around the city.

BikeWalkLee is a community coalition in Lee County performing awareness and complete streets advocacy activities. See their “Better Understanding Lee’s Bicyclists (BULB)” Evaluation for analysis of who is using the Lee County’s biking infrastructure and how the County can improve access to its stadium, JetBlue Park.

Tampa BayCycle was created by the New North Transportation Alliance and the Tampa Downtown Partnership with funding support from FDOT to promote biking for transportation and recreation in the Tampa Bay Region. The organization offers safety classes, events, trail guides, and other resources for cyclists.

The Sanibel Bicycle Club was formed in 1994 and has grown to include several hundred members over the years.  The club’s mission is to promote cycling for recreation, transportation, and health, to advocate for improvements in the safety and infrastructure of Sanibel’s shared-use path system and to provide an opportunity for cycling enthusiasts to socialize together. 

FLORIDA METROPOLITAN PLANNING ORGANIZATIONS

Florida MPO Advisory Council (MPOAC), is the coordination forum for Florida’s 27 metropolitan planning organizations. The website provides information on and links to MPO/TPO websites. MPO Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committees (BPACs) or Multimodal Advisory Committees provide input on bicycle and pedestrian-related matters as part of the metropolitan transportation planning and decision-making process, including the development of bicycle and pedestrian plans:

Florida Department of Health Partnering Agencies

Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) addresses health in the built environment through a variety of initiatives, including pedestrian and bicycle safety programs and a Complete Streets initiative to design safer roads that are accessible and attractive to people of all abilities and ages, whether they are walking, driving, cycling, or using public transportation including a Complete Streets Implementation Plan and Complete Streets Policy.

Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) is also part of the Complete Streets initiative under the State Health Improvement Plan (SHIP), an objective correlated to Section 335.065, Florida Statutes regarding public transportation.

Florida Department of Education (FDOE) is also partnered with FDOH under the SHIP, with the goal of promoting practices and policies that encourage active transportation or public transportation as a means of commuting to school and work.

Florida Association of Health Planning Agencies works with FDOH to create health policy language for use in comprehensive plans.