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NAPA VALLEY COUNTYWIDE TRANSPORTATION PLAN MAY 2021
HEALTH AND SAFETY How we travel not only influences our quality of life, but also our safety and our health. Certain modes of transportation promote good health, like walking, bicycling, and taking transit. Other modes can be harmful to our health and the environment, in particular, motor vehicles. Recognizing that health and transportation are intrinsically connected, transportation and health officials are partnering to encourage individuals to use more active-based and sustainable commute modes. It was not until well into the 20th century that most American households had cars. While cars have undoubtedly provided greater mobility and individual travel independence that enhances personal freedom and facilitates expanded access to work and recreation options, it has come at a significant price to our health and environmental well-being. Land use patterns have contributed significantly to transportation-related health issues. New developments have separated workers from jobs, central shopping districts from housing, and communities from public transit. Origins and destinations have become further apart because of the convenience of the automobile. To connect these more distant locations, we have built roadways, many of which cannot accommodate bicycle and pedestrian traffic, that facilitate greater automobile use. Health considerations and policy initiatives have emerged in multiple sectors to address the adverse health and safety impacts of transportation. Transportation planners and public health officials have forged alliances to discover how strategic transportation planning can contribute to public health goals. The Community Health Assessment (CHA, 2018) developed by the Napa County Public Health Department used an in-depth cooperative process to create the Live Healthy Napa County (LHNC) collaborative which acknowledges that how people travel and their access to mobility plays a role in both physical and mental health. The CHA, in which NVTA plays an active role, will guide the development of the Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP) to establish specific goals for improving the health and well-being for people who live and work in Napa County.
LHNC embarked on this most current strategic planning process in 2017. Since the completion of the first health assessment and improvement plan in 2014, LHNC has increasingly focused on addressing social determinants of health and health inequities among Napa County residents. The social determinants of health include economic, social, physical, and environmental factors, and are the strongest predictors of illness and mortality. LHNC adapted the Livable Communities Framework14 strategies developed by the World Health Organization, describing eight domains that address the social determinants of health: TRANSPORT
OUTDOOR SPACE & BUILDINGS
COMMUNICATION & INFORMATION
SOCIAL DETERMINANTS
SOCIAL PARTICIPATION
RESPECT & SOCIAL INCLUSION
COMMUNITY SUPPORT & HEALTH
Napa County Department of Public Health. 2018 Napa County Community Health Assessment. http://www.livehealthynapacounty.org/uploads/5/1/4/4/51449431/cha_exec_summary_eng.pdf.
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HOUSING
CIVIC PARTICIPATION & ENJOYMENT
