Data Analysis of Healthier Jupiter's Collection of Data Around Walking & Biking - Spring 2021 Intern Report
By: Joe Correa
Sociology Major
Healthier Jupiter Spring 2021 Intern
DATA ANALYSIS OF HEALTHIER JUPITER’S COLLECTION OF LOCAL DATA AROUND WALKING AND BIKING
Executive Summary:
One of the ways in which Healthier Jupiter aims to provide a healthier lifestyle to the greater Jupiter community is through policy, system, and environmental changes to create safer and accessible streets for biking and walking. In an effort to promote these changes, this report aims to provide information regarding the barriers surrounding biking and walking in cities and also to emphasize what recommendations the Jupiter community can replicate for their own people. This report will look at various organizations promoting safer biking and walking within their community across the United States and observe what recommendations, projects, and strategies worked for them and can be replicated for the Jupiter community. (talk about data)
According to the “2016 El Sol Annual Survey”, out of a survey of 124 people, about 80% report being of Hispanic descent and 42.5% of that population rely on biking as their main form of transportation with using a car following as the next form of transportation. This population in general reports that they feel unsafe when riding a bike (24%) and most reporting that they are afraid of getting hit by a vehicle (55.20%). These issues of safety can be traced to a larger issue of infrastructure, equity, accessibility, and community engagement that influence the way safety is reached in the Jupiter community. Focusing and improving on these factors of the community can create a community that promotes a safer and accessible environment for pedestrians and bike riders.
More specifically, it is noted that the issues surrounding equitable transportation is the lack of professionals in the fields of land use and transportation. Additionally, there also needs to be a focus on community engagement and empowerment in order to create solutions that are representative of the community. Infrastructure is also known to play a factor in promoting walking and biking. It is noted that improvements to streets and roadways that support multimodal travel can have benefits such as safe travel for people of all ages and abilities, improved access to jobs and essential services, and improved mobility for people and businesses, which benefits local and regional economies. Safety is also noted to be of concern for people who want to bike and walk to their destinations, with people in the Jupiter community noting that they do not believe Jupiter streets are safe to bike on and others reporting they are afraid of getting hit by a vehicle while biking or walking.
Based on this information, the recommendations listed aim to improve walking and biking in the Jupiter community through each factor. In terms of infrastructure, recommendations include use of mixed land that can create spaces that allow residents to bike or walk and reach essential destinations, such as food stores. Moreover, infrastructure changes such as protected bike lanes, improved lighting, and connected networks of pedestrian, bicycle and transit facilities. Safety recommendations include traffic calming, school zone flashers, red-light enforcement cameras and increased lighting as well as bicycle depots into public garages where people can park their bikes. Some of the major recommendations for community engagement include workshops that fit people’s schedule and work locations and are also bilingual, while also emphasizing the target community’s lived experiences and encouraging their responses in the decision making process behind transportation.
You can download and read more of the full report here.
About Joe Correa: Joe Correa is a soon to be graduating Sociology major with an interest in quantitative research as well as working in the non-profit sector. He is interested in creating better accessibility to food and health. Joe has previous experience working in a research team and his previous professional history has provided him with experience in viewing issues in his community, such as educational disparity or health impacts, through an equity lens.
References:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3557410/
https://activelivingresearch.org/sites/activelivingresearch.org/files/ALR_Review_SRTS_May2015_0.pdf
https://www.livingstreetsalliance.org/complete-streets
https://smartgrowthamerica.org/tag/complete-streets-basic-resources/