First Statewide Conference on Building Healthier Communities
Healthy Communities Active Transportation (HCAT) Conference March 30
COLUMBUS (Monday, March 29, 2010) – Joining the fight against inactivity and obesity, the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) along with other federal, state and local advocates will hold Ohio’s first statewide conference focusing on how to build healthy communities and encourage active transportation, such as biking, walking and transit.
Experts in transportation, environmental policy, land use and economic development will present at the Healthy Communities Active Transportation (HCAT) Conference aimed at changing behaviors and moving public and private projects toward sustainable investments in order to help make Ohio a more competitive state in the 21st Century.
With ODOT, other conference advocates promoting safety and “Complete Streets” as a path to building healthy communities and transportation choices for Ohioans are the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission, the Ohio Association of Regional Councils, the Ohio departments of Health and Natural Resources and the Federal Highway Administration.
The conference will feature a keynote address from well known speaker, Mark Fenton, entitled Building Healthy Communities in Every Sense of the Word. This will be an inspiring and thought-provoking look at what it takes to create behavior changes - more and safer walking, bicycling, and transit use - across the population.
One aspect to be explored at the conference is “Complete Streets” - a guiding principle for integrating walking, biking and transit into Ohio’s transportation planning. Transportation plans will provide for needed sidewalks, bike lanes, special bus lanes, comfortable and accessible transit stops, frequent crossing opportunities, median islands, accessible pedestrian signals, curb extensions and more, where safe and appropriate.
Date: Tuesday, March 30
Time: 8:30 a.m.
Location: Riffe Center in Downtown Columbus across from the Statehouse
More information is visit the website at: http://www.dot.state.oh.us/hcat
For more information contact:
Scott Varner, Central Office Communications, at 614-644-8640