By the California Department of Public Health ATRC Team
As we enter the winter season, many Californians will embrace the opportunity to slow down and enjoy moments of connectedness with loved ones. For others, this time of year may deepen their sense of isolation. Fortunately, active transportation has a direct role to play in decreasing social isolation and promoting strong, connected communities. You may have experienced the boost a smile or nod with another traveler provides while walking or biking. This is just one way that active transportation can help counter social isolation and begin to rebuild our communities.
Social isolation is a major public health crisis in the United States and around the world. According to a 2023 U.S. Surgeon General Advisory, lack of social connection can increase the risk for premature death as much as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. The Advisory, which defines social isolation as “objectively having few social relationships, social roles, group memberships, and infrequent social interaction,” also found that insufficient social connection is associated with a 29 percent increased risk of heart disease and a 32 percent increased risk of stroke. In 2025, the World Health Organization released a report from its Commission on Social Connection with similar findings on a global scale. The health impacts of social isolation clearly demand the attention of public health, but what exactly is the connection to active transportation?
Healthy Places by Design explains that “social isolation is not a personal choice or individual problem, but one that is rooted in community design, social norms, and systemic injustices.” The organization outlines five recommendations to improve social connections, including opportunities to support connection within transportation systems.
There are many pathways for active transportation to influence social connection. Some are intuitive and well researched. Children and caregivers from South Africa to Italy and across the U.S. benefit from walking school busses that support socialization and connection. In Singapore, planners are designing communities to ensure that older adults with early dementia feel comfortable leaving home. This helps them maintain social connections and stave off social isolation, which is associated with cognitive decline. Conversely, we’ve long known that construction of highways between or directly through communities can create physical barriers that affect social connections. Beyond these examples, new research is beginning to explore other pathways of influence. This includes, but certainly is not limited to, the relationship between active transportation and community participation.
California transportation agencies have begun to explicitly link active transportation and social connectedness in their own plans and projects. The Fresno Scribbles Bike Path Master Plan, recognizing the impact extreme heat has on both active transportation and social connection, envisions bike shelters as protective structures and social hubs. Sacramento’s Meadowview Road Complete Street Project used ATP Cycle 3 funding to better connect community members with destinations and simultaneously improve the sense of community.
ATP applicants can incorporate social connection into their projects by building stronger community partnerships at the project outset, as required by the ATP application. Prompting community members to think about shade, comfort, and other placemaking elements during engagement is advised. Applicants can also partner with local and state agencies already working to address loneliness by leveraging their expertise and community data to write compelling ATP applications that support social connection.
Multiple systems and inequities contributed to our loneliness epidemic. Therefore, we need a multi-sector response, with active transportation as a pillar, to build thriving, socially connected communities during the winter season and throughout the entire year.