Understanding municipal officials’ involvement in transportation policies supportive of walking and bicycling

Details

• Alternative Title:
  J Public Health Manag Pract
• Personal Author:
  Zwald, Marissa L. ; Eyler, Amy A. ; Goins, Karin Valentine ; Brownson, Ross C. ; Schmid, Thomas L. ; Lemon, Stephenie C.
• Description:
  Context ; Local transportation policies can impact the built environment and physical activity. Municipal officials play a critical role in transportation policy and planning decisions, yet little is known about what influences their involvement. ; Objective ; To describe municipal officials’ involvement in transportation policies that were supportive of walking and bicycling and to examine individual- and job-related predictors of involvement in transportation policies among municipal officials. ; Design ; A cross-sectional survey was administered online from June-July 2012 to municipal officials in 83 urban areas with a population of 50,000 or more residents across 8 states. ; Participants ; A total of 461 municipal officials from public health, planning, transportation, public works, community and economic development, parks and recreation, city management, and municipal legislatures responded to the survey. ; Main Outcome Measure ; Participation in the development, adoption, or implementation of a municipal transportation policy supportive of walking or bicycling. ; Results ; Multivariate logistic regression analyses, conducted in September 2013, revealed that perceived importance of economic development and traffic congestion were positively associated with involvement in a municipal transportation policy (OR=1.32, 95% CI=1.02–1.70; OR=1.59, 95% CI=1.26–2.01, respectively). Higher perceived resident support of local government to address economic development was associated with an increased likelihood of participation in a transportation policy (OR=1.70, 95% CI=1.24–2.32). Respondents who perceived lack of collaboration as a barrier were less likely to be involved in a transportation policy (OR=.78, 95% CI=.63–.97). Municipal officials that lived in the city or town in which they worked were significantly more likely to be involved in a transportation policy (OR=1.83, 95% CI=1.05–3.17). ; Conclusions ; Involvement in a local transportation policy by a municipal official was associated with greater perceived importance of economic development and traffic congestion in job responsibilities; greater perceived resident support of local government to address economic development; and residence of the municipal official. Lack of collaboration represented a barrier to local transportation policy participation.
  More +
• Subjects:
  • Adult
  • Bicycling
  • Community Participation
  • Cross-Sectional Studies
  • Economic Development
  • Environment Design
  • Female
  • Government Employees
  • Humans
  • Local Government
  More +
• Keywords:
  • Transportation policy
  • physical activity
  • built environment
  • walking
  • bicycling
  • health in all policies
• Source:
  J Public Health Manag Pract. 23(4):348-355
• Pubmed ID:
  25319080
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC4696890
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Funding:
  U48 DP001903/DP/NCCDPHP CDC HHSUnited States/
• Volume:
  23
• Issue:
  4
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/37142/cdc_37142_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 88.36 KB]
• Collection(s):
  CDC Public Access
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:0d116568bdabd22e55a55ae42116ebc5a862789a9483f5eab4c1abbb66058837