Healthy Transportation Compact
Massachusetts Department of Transportation
10 Park Plaza, MBTA Board Room Conference Room 3830
July 28, 2011 Noon – 2:00pm
Co-Chair Secretary Jeffrey Mullan and Co-Chair Secretary Dr. Judy Bigby
12:00 – 12:15pm
Welcome, Introductions & Opening Comments from Co-Chairs
Secretary Jeffrey Mullan and Secretary Dr. Judy Bigby
12:15 – 12:45 pm
“What are Health Impact Assessments (HIA)
Dr. Aaron Wernham, Project Director, Health Impact Project, Pew Health Group
(15-minute presentation followed by15-minutes of questions from Compact)
12:45 – 1:00pm
DPH, MassDOT & EEA Collaboration to Implement HIA
for ‘Grounding McGrath’ Transportation Study
Suzanne Condon, Department of Public Health
1:00 – 1:05pm
Short Term Wins to Advance Healthy Transportation Goals
Catherine Cagle, Massachusetts Department of Transportation
1:05 – 1:20pm
Discussion & Comments from Healthy Transportation Compact
1:20 – 1:50pm
Public Comment Period
1:50 – 2:00pm
Closing Comments from Co-Chairs of Healthy Transportation Compact
Aaron Wernham
Project Director, Health Impact Project
Pew Health Group
Aaron Wernham, M.D., is the director of the Health Impact
Project, a collaboration of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
and The Pew Charitable Trusts designed to promote the use of
health impact assessments (HIAs) and support the growth of the
field in the United States.
Dr. Wernham is an HIA expert who has led HIAs at the state and
federal levels. He has conducted HIA trainings for, collaborated
with and advised numerous health and environmental regulatory
agencies on integrating HIAs into their programs. Prior to joining Pew, Dr. Wernham was a senior
policy analyst with the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium, where he led the first successful
efforts in the United States to formally integrate HIAs into the federal environmental impact
statement process. Dr. Wernham also directed a collaborative state-tribal-federal working group on
HIAs and, with this group, wrote HIA guidance for federal and state environmental regulatory and
permitting efforts.
Dr. Wernham received his medical degree from the University of California, San Francisco, and a
master’s degree in health and medical sciences from the University of California, Berkeley. Board
certified in family medicine, he previously served as clinical faculty in the University of
California, Davis, family medicine residency program at Contra Costa Regional Medical Center.
MassDOT Overview of Healthy Transportation Compact Legislation and Guidance
The Healthy Transportation Compact is a key requirement of the landmark transportation reform
legislation signed into law in June 2009.
Co-chaired by the Secretary of Transportation and the Secretary of Health and Human Services and
including the Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs, MassDOT Highway Administrator,
MassDOT Transit Administrator, and Commissioner of Public Health, this inter-agency initiative is
designed to facilitate transportation decisions that balance the needs of all transportation users, expand
mobility, improve public health, support a cleaner environment and create stronger communities.
The new law charges the Compact with:
• Promoting inter-agency cooperation to implement state and federal policies and programs that support
healthy transportation.
• Reducing greenhouse gas emissions, improving access to services for persons with mobility
limitations and increasing opportunities for physical activities.
• Increasing bicycle and pedestrian travel and facilitating implementation of the Bay State Greenway
Network.
• Working with the Massachusetts Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Board (MABPAB) to effectively
implement a policy of complete streets for all users, consistent with the current edition of the Project
Development and Design Guide.
• Implement health impact assessments to for use by planners, transportation administrators, public
health administrators and developers.
• Expanding service offerings for the Safe Routes to Schools program.
• Initiating public-private partnerships that support healthy transportation with private and nonprofit
institutions.
• Establishing an advisory council with private and nonprofit advocacy.
• Developing goals for the Compact and measuring progress toward these goals.
MassDOT views the Compact as an exciting opportunity to strengthen our commitment to public health and
increased access for bicyclists and pedestrians. In order to achieve this, MassDOT is committed to facilitating
comprehensive coordination among the public sector, private sector, and advocacy groups, as well as among
transportation, land use, and public health stakeholders. We have already begun to form partnerships with advocates
and public health professionals to lay the groundwork for transportation initiatives that support public healthy and
active living.
Transportation Reform Legislation
Chapter 25 of the Acts of 2009 – An Act Modernizing the Transportation Systems of the
Commonwealth
Section 33 Establishing Healthy Transportation Compact
Section 33. There shall be established within the department a healthy transportation compact. The
secretary and the secretary of health and human services shall work cooperatively to adopt best practices
to increase efficiency to achieve positive health outcomes through the coordination of land use,
transportation and public health policy. The compact shall consist of the secretary or his designee, the
secretary of health and human services or his designee, the secretary of energy and environmental affairs
or his designee, the administrator of transportation for highways or his designee, the administrator of
transportation for mass transit or his designee, and the commissioner of public health or his designee.
The secretary and the secretary of health and human services, or their designees, shall serve as cochairpersons of the compact. The chairpersons shall convene and preside at meetings of the compact,
determine the agenda of the compact, direct its work and, as appropriate to particular subject matters,
establish and direct subgroups of the compact, which shall consist exclusively of the compact's members.
The compact shall: (i) promote inter-secretariat cooperation and the establishment of a healthy
transportation policy, including appropriate mechanisms to minimize duplication and overlap of state and
federal programs and services; (ii) develop a healthy transportation framework that increases access to
healthy transportation alternatives that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, improves access to services for
persons with mobility limitations and increases opportunities for physical activities; (iii) develop methods
to increase bicycle and pedestrian travel, incorporate the principles, findings and recommendations of the
Massachusetts bicycle transportation plan and establish a framework for implementation of the Bay State
Greenway Network; (iv) develop and implement, in consultation with the bicycle and pedestrian advisory
board established in section 11A of chapter 21A, administrative and procedural mechanisms, including
the promulgation of rules and regulations, consistent with the most current edition of the Project
Development and Design Guide, or its successor, to encourage the construction of complete streets,
designed and operated to enable safe access for pedestrians, bicyclists, motorists and bus riders of all ages
to safely move along and across roadways in urban and suburban areas; (v) establish methods to
implement the use of health impact assessments to determine the effect of transportation projects on
public health and vulnerable populations; (vi) facilitate access to the most appropriate, cost-effective
transportation services within existing resources for persons with mobility challenges; (vii) expand
service offerings for the Safe Routes to Schools program; (viii) explore opportunities and encourage the
use of public-private partnerships with private and nonprofit institutions; (ix) seek to establish an advisory
council with private and nonprofit advocacy groups as the compact sees fit; (x) institute a health impact
assessment for use by planners, transportation administrators, public health administrators and
developers; and (xi) develop and implement a method for monitoring progress on achieving the goals of
this section and provide any other recommendations that would, in the judgment of the compact, advance
the principles set forth in this section.