Acceptability of built environment interventions to support active travel in 17 Canadian metropolitan areas: findings from the THEPA study

Evidence on public acceptability can support policy makers in their decision making around which urban interventions to implement. We compare the degree of acceptability for five built environment interventions targeted at active travel and quantify individual- and neighbourhood-level factors associated with greater acceptability of these interventions. We draw on cross-sectional data from the Targeting Healthy Eating and Physical Activity (THEPA) survey of 27,162 participants living in 17 Census Metropolitan Areas in Canada. Our study focuses on the extent to which participants agreed with: increasing the number of curb extensions at intersections; building protected bicycle lanes; redistributing road space to pedestrians and cyclists; implementing traffic calming measures; and closing street segments to motor vehicles. Agreement with interventions ranged from a low of 44.3% for closing streets to a high of 73.5% for increasing the number of curb extensions. Across all interventions, people who were younger, women, born outside of Canada, had lower incomes, and used alternative modes to driving were more likely to express agreement with implementation of the interventions. There were few associations with neighbourhood-level variables. Our results provide evidence on levels of acceptability of selected transportation interventions in urban Canada as well as insight into determinants of greater acceptability.