Transportation & Health Equity

The State of Transportation and Health Equity

“There is a role for everyone in this report, whether you are
an engineer, public health advocate, funder, or elected official.” 

The State of Transportation and Health Equity, released last month by Smart Growth America, identifies the biggest challenges to health equity facing our transportation system and the best tools to address the problem. Developed through rigorous feedback from a huge panel of experts from around the county (including some from Arizona), the report presents 6 critical areas that must be addressed to advance health equity.


Stakeholders must:

  • Reframe the transportation conversation
  • Allocate funding and resources equitably
  • Improve the quality and diversity of transportation leadership
  • Prioritize historically underrepresented communities in transportation decision-making
  • Work in unison to provide people-focused infrastructure
  • Invest in communities without displacement

Smart Growth America also released an interim update to it’s full 2019 Dangerous by Design report. The 2020 interim update shows that, unfortunately, most states continue to see increases in deaths and serious injuries among people walking, biking and rolling. In the report, the top 10 most dangerous states for pedestrians remained the same as in 2019 report. See where Arizona ranks.