A new five-mile stretch of the M74 motorway is under construction in Glasgow and due for completion in 2011. The new motorway is intended to promote regeneration, improve conditions for pedestrians and cyclists on local streets and reduce road accidents, but it is also predicted to have severe adverse consequences in some neighbourhoods.
Previous systematic reviews have shown the need for more research on the effects of major transport projects on health and health inequalities. We have therefore begun a longitudinal quasi-experimental study of the effects of the new motorway.
The M74 study is a collaboration between the MRC Social and Public Health Sciences Unit and:
- David Ogilvie (MRC Epidemiology Unit, Cambridge)
- Mark Petticrew (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine)
- Rich Mitchell (Public Health and Health Policy Section, University of Glasgow)
- Steve Platt (Research Unit in Health, Behaviour and Change, University of Edinburgh)
- Nanette Mutrie (University of Strathclyde and visiting professor at this unit).
Long-term aims of the study
These are to:
- Compare regional and national trends in the socio-spatial patterning of travel behaviour and accidents using sources of routine data
- Compare changes in travel behaviour, perceptions of the local environment, and general health and wellbeing occurring in people living in the motorway corridor with those occurring in people living in control areas elsewhere in Glasgow, examining how these changes are related to people's socio-economic position and overall physical activity
- Interview a sub-sample of respondents in more detail to explore the reasons and mechanisms for any observed changes
- Conduct interviews with residents in specific neighbourhoods to obtain a qualitative understanding of the effects on local communities.
Phase 1 (2005–2006)
Before construction of the new motorway began, we surveyed local residents living in three specially-defined areas of the city with similar overall socio-economic profiles:
- One in the south, from Laurieston to Rutherglen (close to the planned route of the new motorway)
- One in the east, from Royston to Barmulloch and Ruchazie (close to the routes of the existing M8 and M80 motorways)
- One in the north, from Cowlairs to Maryhill (away from the motorway network).
The survey included items on personal and household circumstances; general health and wellbeing; perceptions of the local environment; a travel record; and the short form of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ).
We also conducted qualitative interviews with survey respondents living in neighbourhoods where the motorway is predicted to have particular positive or negative effects on local people and their environment, and examined the socio-spatial patterning of travel behaviour across the west of Scotland using data from the Scottish Household Survey.
These phase 1 studies contribute to our understanding of the cross-sectional relationships between transport, the urban environment, physical activity and health and provide a baseline for the longitudinal analysis of the effects of the new motorway.
Phase 2
Plans for the phase 2 studies — to be conducted after the opening of the new motorway — will be announced later.
Read more
© 2008 MRC - SPHSU | Site credits | Back to top