A report on participant sampling and recruitment for travel and physical activity data collection : final technical report, July 2009.

688319471Final research report.PDFTech ReportTNW2009-05DTRS99-G-0010Mode choiceSurveysStreet railroadsPublic transitTravel behaviorLight rail transitWashingtonTransportation Northwest (Organization)Moudon, Anne VernezSaelens, BrianRutherford, ScottHallenbeck, MarkTransportation Northwest (Organization)University of Washington. Dept. of Civil and Environmental EngineeringNTL-RAIL TRANSPORTATION-Rail Planning and PolicyNTL-PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION-Rail TransitNTL-PLANNING AND POLICY-Rail Planning and PolicyNTL-REFERENCES AND DIRECTORIES-StatisticsBTS Data DirectoryThe substantial investments now being made in transit yield benefits that go beyond managing traffic congestion relief,and include improved environmental quality and potential gains in human health due to increased physical activity. Pastresearch on the effects of such infrastructure investments on mode choice and physical activity has been hampered bycross-sectional designs that limit the ability to draw causal inference. A 5-year $3.3 million study was submitted to theNational Institutes of Health. The study takes advantage of the introduction of light rail transit (LRT) in Seattle. Using acase-control longitudinal panel design, 1000 adults living either close to (within 1 mile; case) or far from (control) an LRTstation will be assessed prior to (baseline), soon after (post 1), and more than 2 years after (post 2) the introduction ofLRT service. It is hypothesized that residents living close to LRT will have an increase in transportation-related walkingand total physical activity relative to residents living farther away. Individuals\ue2\u20ac\u2122 walking will be assessed via integratedinformation from portable GPS and a 7-day travel diary, and physical activity assessed via accelerometry. Neighborhoodbuilt environment will be assessed via parcel-level land use evaluation. Changes in non-LRT infrastructure andavailability (e.g., bus routes) will also be considered. The proposal has been favorably reviewed once by NIH. Theresubmission deadline is in early March. The December 2008 project start date does not give the research team the timeneeded to set up the protocol and collect the baseline data before Light Rail opens in July 2009. As a result, the researchteam has sought bridge funding for a May 2008 project start. TransNow support will contribute to this bridge funding andinsure that baseline data can be collected on 1000 subjects for 7-day travel patterns. The study natural experiment designhas strong potential to make a significant contribution to scientific knowledge and to transportation policy. Theprospective evaluation of changes in the same individuals\ue2\u20ac\u2122 transport modes and physical activity over a period of markedchange in transportation and built environment is a rare, but potent test of the impact transportation investments onbehavior