Health impact assessment of the massachusetts department of transportation (Massdot) grounding mcgrath study
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- HIA Training
- GM Working Group and Public Informational Meetings
- Enhanced Stakeholder Process
- Posting all documents related to the Pilot HIA on a website
- Outreach to other interested groups
- Public Comment Period for Draft GM HIA
- Scoping
Engagement ActivitiesEngagement activities involve four general approaches: (1) stakeholder meetings; (2) tiered stakeholder process; (3) posting all documents related to the pilot HIA on a website; and (4) outreach to other interested groups. Stakeholder MeetingsHIA TrainingAs part of the stakeholder process, HIA training was conducted on October 5 and 6, 2011 by the Human Impact Partners (HIP) in collaboration with the Health Impact Project. Regina Villa Associates provided administrative coordination and support. Training participants included representatives from the three executive branch secretariats involved in the HTC and importantly those individuals who will be charged with working on transportation HIA work statewide. Staff from MDPH bureaus active in HIA work (e.g., Bureau of Community Health and Prevention, BCHAP), MassDOT, EOEEA, other state agencies, and representatives of the City of Somerville also participated, with a focus on screening and scoping of the pilot HIA. GM Working Group and Public Informational MeetingsThe engagement methods and activities to share information about the study analyses have been accomplished through stakeholder and public information meetings convened by MassDOT and attended by MDPH/BEH and others. MassDOT committed to: scheduling meetings in advance, providing opportunities for timely review of materials in advance of milestones, and seeking input on wide public meeting agendas and venues. The HIA process was integrated into this schedule to ensure stakeholder involvement. The GM Working Group meetings and public informational meetings were scheduled at each major juncture of the study where decisions needed to be made regarding the selection and design of alternatives. MDPH/BEH participated in the seven GM Working Group meetings, on June 29, 2011, August 3, 2011, December 12, 2011, March 7, 2012, September 27, 2012, April 4, 2013 and April 25, 2013. MDPH/BEH also participated in two Public Informational Meetings held on September 21, 2011 and May 15, 2013. The MDPH/BEH has worked closely with MassDOT and their contractors as the study developed to identify and collect the information relevant to the pilot HIA. This approach also provided the opportunity to evaluate components of the transportation planning process that are amenable to the HIA process for developing methods and for consideration of criteria to identify transportation initiatives that would best benefit from an HIA. Enhanced Stakeholder ProcessIt is important to note that the GM Working Group has a direct role in the selection and design of alternatives considered in the MassDOT GM Study. MDPH/BEH has also established an enhanced stakeholder process to gain input from the working group members who are specifically interested in health and the pilot HIA. Posting all documents related to the Pilot HIA on a websiteMassDOT is maintaining a website for the Grounding McGrath Study: http://www.massdot.state.ma.us/planning/GroundingMcGrath.aspx. The website contains notices of meetings as well as agendas, meeting notes, and presentation slides. MDPH/BEH also provided a link to the MassDOT website on the DPH portal with the following information posted:
Outreach to other interested groupsIn addition to coordinating outreach efforts with MassDOT, MDPH/BEH has worked closely with the Central Transportation Planning Staff (CTPS) of the Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) to identify and analyze data from CTPS’s Travel Demand Model for use in the pilot HIA. MDPH/BEH has also met with officials from the City of Somerville including the Local Health Department and the Economic Development Division to gain access to city-specific data for the HIA analysis. MDPH/BEH has also been actively engaged with several public and professional organizations (e.g., Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, Massachusetts local health organizations) and HIA conferences (e.g., International HIA Conference in Quebec City, August 2012) that have requested presentations on the pilot HIA. In addition, the study is receiving a significant amount of attention from the print media including newspaper articles and op-eds, Internet blogs, and other forums that actively engage Somerville residents potentially affected by the study. Public Comment Period for Draft GM HIAMDPH/BEH released a draft HIA of the MassDOT GM Study for a 30-day public comment period from April 5, 2013 to May 5, 2013. The comment period was extended to May 20, 2013 to provide additional opportunity for public comments following the public information meeting held on May 15, 2013. All comments were reviewed and addressed in the final report as appropriate.
As previously discussed, the goal of the pilot HIA is to help inform the decision-making process by supplementing the transportation planning study with a systematic evaluation of potential risks, benefits, and tradeoffs of planning options developed in the MassDOT GM Study. The scoping phase of the HIA:
According to the North American Practice Standards for an HIA, the scoping of health concerns related to the decision should include identification of the following: (1) the decision and decision alternatives that will be studied; (2) potential significant health impacts; (3) pathways, research questions, sources of data, and methods; (4) demographic, geographical, and temporal boundaries for impact analysis; (5) the identity of affected populations including vulnerable groups; (6) roles for experts and key informants; and (7) analytical plan for assessing distribution of impacts. Conducting the HIA work in tandem with the MassDOT GM Study was accomplished by integrating the framework of the transportation planning study into the scoping phase of the HIA. Thus, the HIA has drawn extensively on the information generated from the MassDOT GM Study process.
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