The Georgia Tech Center for Quality Growth and Regional Development (CQGRD) is one of the six recipients selected. School of City and Regional Planning Professor Catherine Ross will serve as the Principal Investigator. Ross and the CQGRD will collaborate with the Coastal Region Metropolitan Planning Organization to establish a framework for the consideration of health effects in freight planning. The HIA process will focus on infrastructure, commodity, and freight needs, with an emphasis on disproportionate effects on low-income communities and people of color. Their recommendations will be integrated into the Coastal Region Metropolitan Planning Organization Freight Transportation Plan.

To encourage future use of the framework in public decision-making about freight, the Center will provide technical assistance to university, government, and nonprofit entities and will pilot the framework in a second HIA on the Cargo Atlanta Citywide Freight Study. Both HIAs will consider the potential health implications of freight planning, including diesel emissions, traffic patterns, and employment, which can affect respiratory and cardiovascular disease, injury rates, and general health.

Source: New Grantees Initiatives To Support Health in Decision-Making