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walkable communities are also associated with numerous mental health benefits, such as
<br />reducing emotional stress and symptoms of depression. 11 Moreover, in terms of general public
<br />health, public transit use is safer than private automobile use, with a much lower fatality rate than
<br />automobile travels. 12 As one researcher has observed, "[p]eople who live or work in transit
<br />oriented communities tend to drive fewer annual miles, drive at lower speeds, and have better
<br />travel options that allow them to avoid high risk driving, such as after drinking alcohol or when
<br />ill. "13 Light rail, as a fixed public transportation system, will lay the foundation for such healthier
<br />and safer transit - oriented communities in the D -O Corridor.
<br />Additionally, light rail's resulting reduction in tailpipe emissions corresponds to
<br />significant human health effects. As noted above, driving individual automobiles creates toxic
<br />particulate matter pollution and ozone - producing chemicals that can have a wide range of
<br />adverse health effects. A recent study published in the journal Nature suggests that air pollution
<br />was responsible for 3.3 million premature deaths worldwide in 2010.14 Air pollution exacerbates
<br />asthma, which was the leading medical cause for school absences in North Carolina during the
<br />2009 -2010 school year. 15 It is also linked to low birth weight, premature birth, miscarriage,
<br />autism, ADHD, obesity, diabetes, compromised immune response, increased susceptibility to
<br />allergies, stroke, liver disease, dementia, anxiety, and depression. 16 Particulate matter pollution is
<br />created not only by burning fossil fuels, but also by road wear, brake wear, and tire wear. The
<br />cleanest electric car will still cause particulate matter pollution because it cannot avoid friction
<br />with the petroleum -based asphalt comprising our roads. However, light rail avoids these
<br />friction -based sources of pollution by not using the petroleum -based asphalt. Moreover, light
<br />rail can avoid or mitigate these many adverse health impacts by providing a high- capacity public
<br />transit alternative to driving private vehicles. Fewer cars on the road equates to cleaner air for
<br />North Carolinians.
<br />increasing the access to LRT transit for individuals to commute to work may help overcome some of the barriers to
<br />engaging in daily utilitarian exercise." Id. at 110.
<br />LITMAN, supra note 9, at 17.
<br />12 Id. at 8 -9.
<br />13 Id. at 8.
<br />14 J. Lelieveld et al. The Contribution of Outdoor Air Pollution Sources to Premature Mortality on a Global Scale,
<br />525 NATURE, 367 —371 (2015).
<br />15 N.C. DEPT. OE HEALTH & HUMAN SERvs., ASTHMA IN NORTH CAROLINA FACT SHEET 1 (2011), available at
<br />http: / /www. asthma .ncdhhs.gov /docs /factsheets/ 2011 /AsthmaInNorthCarolina.pdf, N.C. DEPT. of HEALTH & HUMAN
<br />SERvs., THE NORTH CAROLINA ASTHMA PLAN 2013 -2018 2 (2013), available at
<br />http: // www. asthma. ncdhhs .gov /docs NorthCarolinaAsthniaPlan- 2013- 2018.pdf (identifying Reducing school
<br />absences due to asthma as one of four priorities of the North Carolina Asthma Plan).
<br />16 E.g. Ambient (Outdoor) Air Quality and Health, WORLD HEALTH ORG.,
<br />http:/ /www. who. int/ mediacentre /factsheets /fs3l3 /en/ (last updated Mar. 2014); ARB Fact Sheet: Air Pollution and
<br />Health, AIR RES. BD., http: / /www.arb.ca .gov /research/health/fs /fsl /fsl.htm (last updated Dec. 2, 2009); Bradley S.
<br />Peterson, et al., Effects of Prenatal Exposure to Air Pollutants (Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons) on the
<br />Development of Brain White Matter; Cognition, and Behavior in Later Childhood, 72 JAMA PSYCHIATRY 531
<br />(2015); W. James Gauderman, et al. Association oflmproved Air Quality with Lung Development in Children, 372
<br />N. ENG. J. MED. 905 (2015).
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