Freight Transport and Health: A Comprehensive Investigation of Planning and Public Participation within U.S. Host Communities.

Abstract

Transportation-related air and noise pollution from heavy-duty freight engines is associated with respiratory and cardiovascular illnesses, cancer, diabetes, nervous system and cognitive effects, hospital admissions, sleep disruption, and premature mortality. Research is needed to understand how residents in host communities nearby freight gateways (e.g., ports, borders) experience and counter these impacts. With an environmental justice framework, I used: 1) spatial analyses to quantitatively describe the demographic composition of U.S. freight host communities, and 2) institutional ethnography to qualitatively investigate public participation in freight land use deliberations.

Quantitatively, I derived demographic descriptions of host communities by overlaying American Community Survey (2005-2009) tract-level data with buffered digitized images of freight gateways. At the 50 largest U.S. freight gateways, results from areally weighted analyses show that populations within 500 meters of a freight gateway have significantly higher proportions of persons of color, Hispanic ethnicity, without a high school diploma, and below the federal poverty level. Logistic regression models also compare 500-meter and 1-mile host communities to non-host communities, and overall results suggest that communities of color are disproportionately compromised by both transportation and industrial air pollution sources.

Qualitatively, I synthesized data from interviews, content analysis, and participant observations at two distinct case sites: the proposed New International Trade Crossing in Detroit, Michigan and the Port of Long Beach in Long Beach, California. Interviewees identify catalysts, barriers, and opportunities for addressing freight’s local impacts through institutionally- and community-led strategies. Macroeconomic forces often override local concerns, whereby freight-related development decisions are made in advance or outside of public participation opportunities. Still, host communities may shift deliberations by exposing overlooked risks, legally challenging assessment procedures, proposing site or project alternatives, advocating adoption of sustainable technologies, equalizing mitigation opportunities, or codifying innovative governance structures.

This study defines freight transport as an environmental justice issue. Results from quantitative analyses demonstrate patterns of exposure to well-documented freight-related health risks with implications for health equity. Qualitative inquiry enables deconstruction of theories and practices related to public participation and environmental assessment in freight host communities. Collectively, these findings inform cross-sector interventions to address global freight transport’s local threats to public health.