Date of Award

8-2016

Degree Name

Master of Science

Department

Civil and Construction Engineering

First Advisor

Dr. Jun-Seok Oh

Second Advisor

Dr. Valerian Kwigizile

Third Advisor

Dr. Amy B. Curtis

Keywords

Transportation system, human health, built environment, mortality, active transportation

Access Setting

Masters Thesis-Open Access

Abstract

Transportation systems constitute of infrastructure, commute modes, land use and other policies. The purpose of transportation is to provide easy access to goods and services. While attaining this purpose, impacts of transportation on human health and well-being have been ignored to some extent. Recently, studies have begun analyzing the impact of transportation systems on quality of life and health disparities. While many studies have discussed the impact of the transportation system on individual factors from health, a very limited number of studies have focused on the impact of multiple factors associated with multiple morbidity and mortality forms. The focus of this study is to analyze how transportation infrastructure can promote physical activities resulting in better health outcomes. Lack of data on transportation infrastructure at county-level in Michigan restricted the study. The Transportation and Health Tool developed by the US Department of Transportation was reviewed and applied to Michigan at a county-level to examine how different counties rank with respect to different transportation indicators corresponding to health conditions. Further, correlation analyses and multinomial linear regression analyses were conducted in order to determine relationships and impact magnitudes of transportation and socioeconomic factors on human health.

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