Community Health Interventions
In addition to the federal EIS process, MnDOT is conducting separate Community Health Interventions for the Hwy 252/I-94 project area. In alignment with its adopted policies, MnDOT has committed to using state resources to advance state-level goals for the transportation system that exceeds federal requirements.
The goals of the Community Health Interventions are to:
- Reexamine findings and recommendations from the 2022-2023 Equity and Health Evaluation (EHA), summarized below.
- Engage with public agencies and community health partners to understand opportunities and challenges in public health related to their work with people or places in the study area which may be affected by the future project.
- Review the health concerns of the community within the study area considering known health data and stakeholder-identified issues.
- Develop potential intervention and mitigation strategies for the study area that improve community health, wellness, and livability.
Primary topics
Health related findings of the previous EHA were reviewed, organized, and updated using new public health and demographic datasets. Combined with insights from public engagement, updated findings will be used as a lens to understand health concerns and draft recommended intervention and mitigation strategies. Notable findings are described below.
- Health outcomes, risk, and chronic disease: Residents in the project area report higher rates of chronic diseases, like asthma and heart disease compared to other Hennepin County residents. Project area residents also have lower life expectancies compared to all residents in Hennepin County, on average.
- Household wealth inequities: Households in the Hwy 252/I-94 project area have lower incomes than the typical Hennepin County household. There are significant income disparities by race and ethnicity along Hwy 252/I-94.
- Access to destinations: Most people living along Hwy 252/I-94 commute outside the study area for work. People living along the Hwy 252/I-94 project area face challenges accessing healthy food options and green space by modes other than a personal motor vehicle.
- Property acquisition: Completing the roadway project may require property acquisitions that affect residents and businesses, leading to potential displacement and economic changes.
- Placemaking: Improving aesthetics, greenspace, and visibility of pedestrians and cyclists and neighborhoods can improve the sense of safety and security for people walking, biking, and rolling in the Hwy 252/I-94 project area.
- Crashes: There are higher rates of vehicle crashes on Hwy 252 than on similar highways across the region. Hwy 252 is considered deficient based on number of crashes, crash rates, and crash indices. There have also been multiple fatal crashes involving motor vehicles and vulnerable users (e.g., pedestrians and cyclists).
- Pedestrian, bicycle, and transit equity: Pedestrians and cyclists are significantly more likely to be involved in a fatal or serious injury crash at a Hwy 252 intersection than are people in motor vehicles. Hwy 252 and I-94 present a barrier to people walking, biking, and rolling to destinations throughout the area. The Hwy 252/I-94 project area has a high concentration of households without a personal motor vehicle.
- Traffic volumes: People living along the Hwy 252/I-94 project area are concentrated in high traffic areas. Approximately half of the 25,000 people living within one-half mile of the project area, live within 300 meters (1,000 feet) of a major roadway (roadways with more than 10,000 average annual daily traffic).
- Pollution: Compared to the rest of Hennepin County, people living along Hwy 252/I-94 are more exposed to poor air quality conditions, including increased levels of diesel particulate matter, hazardous waste, and ozone. These exposures put project area residents at a greater risk of air-quality-related disease, hospitalization, and death.
- Tree canopy: Within one-half mile of the road, there are differences in tree coverage for areas with majority white and majority non-white populations. In minority-majority neighborhoods along the area, the tree canopy covers only 26% of land, while the areas with greater proportions of white residents have higher coverage. On average, 30% of the census blocks along the area have tree canopy coverage.
Public engagement
One of the essential elements of the study is the meaningful engagement of public agencies, healthcare providers, and human services organizations that serve the community along the project area. To that end, MnDOT is convening multi-perspective advisory groups to understand broader community issues and opportunities. These groups will assist in identifying current and future barriers to healthy communities in the project area.
Additional engagement of the general public for the Community Health Interventions will include a digital mapping activity and a virtual public forum to discuss resident concerns related to health and livability along the Hwy 252/I-94 study area.
The study team will use the updated findings from the EHA, feedback from community engagement, and other data from the EIS process to identify health concerns in the study area. These reviews will then form recommended intervention and mitigation strategies which MnDOT will use to support health and livability in the area through other programs, projects, and investments outside of the current Hwy 252/I-94 project.