Evaluating the Effects of Municipal Funding of Safe Routes to School Infrastructure on Child Physical Activity: A Natural Experiment

项目总结/摘要 安全上学路线（SRTS）规划或基础设施的变化可能会影响总体 通过增加上学的积极通勤（ACS），提高儿童的身体活动水平。先前 对SRTS倡议的评估表明，身体活动增加， 学生谁从事ACS，但没有研究已经评估了实施的影响， 大规模的市政SRTS基础设施项目， 使用对照、前瞻性研究设计的全市ACS。2016年11月， 流动债券基金在德克萨斯州奥斯汀获得批准，用于运输和流动项目， 其中包括用于SRTS基础设施的2750万美元。在SRTS的资金中，2250万美元是 用于成本更高的变革性基础设施项目，如受保护的自行车道， 行人岛、共用路径和行人混合信标。这个项目提供了一个 一个独特的和时间敏感的机会，进行严格的评估大规模 SRTS根据学生的身体活动水平建立环境改善 人口总体目标是评估SRTS基础设施计划对 儿童体力活动（个体水平的变化），并确定是否建立在整体变化 环境改善学生的比例谁从事ACS在奥斯汀相对于 比较城市（圣安东尼奥）在研究期间（人口水平变化）。三项研究 （a）研究1，在奥斯汀SRTS学校进行的准实验性队列研究（n = 10）。 30)和圣安东尼奥对照学校（n = 15），评价大规模， 关于学生体育活动的变革性工程基础设施项目;（B）研究2， 每年两次收集儿童ACS比例的横断面数据 在约70所奥斯汀SRTS学校和30所圣安东尼奥比较学校之间;和（3）研究3，成本 基础设施改善在增加儿童体育活动方面的有效性将 下定决心。对于研究1，将使用加速度计测量身体活动， 通过GPS;儿童和家长问卷将用于收集身体活动的自我报告数据 和特定领域的心理社会因素;邻里环境将被评估 通过环境审计和地理信息系统（GIS）。研究2的数据将是 使用标准的SRTS学生旅行记录收集。从这个拟议的项目中获得的数据将是有用的 在理解SRTS建筑环境变化在增加儿童身体健康方面的作用时， 活动和ACS。

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT Safe Routes to School (SRTS) programming or infrastructure changes can impact total physical activity levels in children through increased active commuting to school (ACS). Previous evaluations of SRTS initiatives have shown increases in physical activity and in the proportion of students who engage in ACS, but no study has evaluated the effects of the implementation of a large-scale municipal SRTS infrastructure program on objectively measured physical activity and city-wide ACS using a controlled, prospective study design. In November 2016, $720 million in Mobility Bond funds were approved in Austin, TX, for transportation and mobility projects, including $27.5 million for SRTS infrastructure. Of the SRTS funding, $22.5 million was appropriated for larger-cost, transformative infrastructure projects such as protected bike lanes, pedestrian islands, shared use paths, and pedestrian hybrid beacons. This project provides a unique and time sensitive opportunity to conduct a rigorous evaluation of large-scale SRTS built environment improvements on the physical activity levels of a student school population. The overarching goal is to assess the effects of the SRTS infrastructure initiative on child physical activity (individual level changes), and to determine if the overall changes in built environment improve the proportion of students who engage in ACS in Austin relative to a comparison city (San Antonio) over the study period (population level changes). Three studies will be conducted: (a) Study 1, a quasi-experimental cohort study in Austin SRTS schools (n = 30) and San Antonio control schools (n = 15), to evaluate the effect of large-scale, transformative engineering infrastructure projects on student physical activity; (b) Study 2, twice yearly collection of cross-sectional data on the proportion of children engaging in ACS across ~70 Austin SRTS schools and 30 San Antonio comparison schools; and (3) Study 3, cost effectiveness of the infrastructure improvements in terms of increasing child physical activity will be determined. For Study 1, physical activity will be measured using accelerometers augmented by GPS; child and parent questionnaires will be used to collect self-report data on physical activity and domain-specific psychosocial factors; and the neighborhood environment will be assessed via environmental audits and Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Data for Study 2 will be collected using standard SRTS student travel tallies. Data from this proposed project will be useful in understanding the role that SRTS built environment changes have in increasing child physical activity and ACS.