Walkable communities reduce respiratory disease

Vision California

Jon Boyd, Sep 21, 10.

Creating walkable communities can reduce the incidence of many diseases, according to Vision California, an initiative to develop land use and transportation to meet environmental goals, as reported by Smart Growth America.

The study conservatively estimates that if the state of California realizes Vision California goals to decrease driving and create more walkable, mixed-use communities by 2035, the state will avoid:

» $1.66 billion (yes, with a “b”) in pollution-related heath costs
» 140 premature deaths
» 260 heart attacks
» 215 acute bronchitis incidents
» 95 cases of chronic bronchitis
» 2,370 asthma attacks
» 101,960 other respiratory symptoms
» 205 respiratory ER trips and hospitalizations
» 16,550 lost work days
» 132,190 tons of criteria pollutants