Built Environments, Grocery Shopping Travel Behavior, and Food Deserts

This dissertation included three essays. The first two essays explored the relationship between built environments and people's travel mode and travel frequency to grocery stores they reported using. The third essay investigated people's access to supermarkets in King County, Washington and whether there were any food deserts in the area.;The grocery shopping travel data and the travelers' socioeconomic characteristics came from the 2009 Seattle Obesity Study (SOS) telephone survey, which included 2001 respondents sampled within King County, WA. The detailed neighborhood level GIS data was collected and generated by the Urban Form Lab at the University of Washington.;Fourteen socioeconomic status and built environment variables were significantly related to mode choice. The strongest predictors of driving to the grocery store were more cars per household adult member, more adults per household, living in a single-family house, longer distances between homes and grocery stores (both the stores used and the nearest stores), and more parking at ground around the grocery store used. Higher street density, more quick service restaurants around homes, and more non-chain grocery stores near the primary grocery store used were related to not driving. Fourteen variables were significantly related to grocery shopping frequency. Shopping at high-cost grocery stores, the number 12-18 years old children in the household, and having an indoor fitness facility around the store were the three strongest predictors for individuals making more grocery shopping trips per week. Having a golf or tennis court around home, driving to grocery store, and thinking food should be inexpensive were the three strongest predictors for fewer grocery shopping trips per week. In the third essay, access to a supermarket in King County was measured using four different travel modes (walk, bike, take bus, and drive) to three different supermarket types (low, medium, and high-cost). The results showed that 11% or 95% of the King County population within the Urban Growth Boundary (KCUGB) was within a 10-minute walk or drive of a supermarket. The above service areas also included 24% or 99% of the residential units within the KCUGB. There seemed to be few food deserts in the County.