Rural Communities and Transportation Equity in California's San Joaquin Valley (original) (raw)
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Transportation, 2022
As the transportation industry continues to evolve, it is urgent that we develop and implement methods for clearly evaluating the range of transportation engineering, planning, and policy impacts experienced by various population segments. While theories of transportation equity have advanced over the past decade, such advancements outpace existing methods for evaluating the fairness of large-scale transportation investments for disadvantaged communities. In this study, a regional activity-based travel model for the Bay Area, California is used to perform an equity analysis of two of the region's transportation and land-use planning scenarios. Equity outcomes are tested relative to three equity standards: Equality, Proportionality, and Rawlsian justice. The primary objective is to demonstrate the usefulness of a full-scale activity-based travel model for regional transportation equity analysis. We demonstrate that fine-grained distributional measures play an important role in examining the individual and household-level impacts of regional transportation scenarios, and can complement existing Environmental Justice assessments and equity analyses by helping to explain underlying reasons for average group impacts. Distributional measures can further reveal harmful cases when disadvantaged groups are most likely to experience the disbenefits of the transportation scenarios. Yet, each type of measures in isolation does not tell the complete story of which planning scenario is likely to deliver more equitable outcomes. Finally, we demonstrate the significance of applying equity standards for ranking planning scenarios, and we find that the ranking of scenarios will vary according to the equity standard, as well as how associated evaluation criteria are defined.
Equity Analysis of Land Use and Transport Plans Using an Integrated Spatial Model
2009
This paper describes a study to investigate how a spatial economic model can be used to evaluate the equity effects of land use and transport policies intended to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The Activity Allocation Module of the PECAS (Production, Exchange, and Consumption Allocation) Model for the Sacramento region is used to simulate two scenarios for the year 2035 arising from a recent planning process, 'Business-As-Usual' and 'Preferred Blueprint.' Advanced aggregate travel models and activity-based travel models have been applied to evaluate distributions of travel time and cost effects of transport and land use policies across different socio-economic groups. But the PECAS model system, with its representation of the interactions among the transport system and the rest of the spatial economic system, enables an evaluation of the distributions of a wider range of economic impacts, including wages, rents, productivity, and consumer surplus, for segments of households, labor, and industry. In this study, the PECAS model is applied to illustrate the distributional measures that can be obtained from this type of model and to provide insights into the equity effects of different transport and land development patterns. The results show that a more compact urban form designed around transit stations may reduce travel costs, wages, and housing costs by increasing accessibility, which can lead to substantial net benefits for industry categories and lower income households. Higher income households may be net losers, since their incomes are more dependent on reduced wages, they are less willing to switch to higher density dwellings, and they are more likely to own their own home.
Urban transport policies are characterized by a wide range of impacts, and trade-offs and conflicts among these impacts. The task of integrating and reconciling these impacts poses challenges, because they are incommensurable, and they affect different groups differentially. Further, impacts such as those related to social equity are hard to define and measure. In this paper we address two interrelated questions: How is social equity conceptualized, operationalized, and prioritized relative to environmental and other objectives; and how might social equity be more effectively integrated in urban transportation plans in North America? We critically analyze how social equity is incorporated into transportation plans in 18 large North American metropolitan areas, in terms of the quality of the related objectives, how meaningfully their achievement is assessed through the choice of performance measures or indicators, and their prioritization relative to other objectives. We observe that social equity goals and objectives are in many cases not translated into clearly specified objectives, and appropriate measures for assessing their achievement in a meaningful, disaggregated manner are often lacking. At the same time, there are good examples of social equity objectives and measures in several plans. In general, there is a stronger focus on the local environment (and congestion reduction) than on social equity in the plans. We end the paper with a discussion related to considerations for generating objectives and measures for better integrating social equity into urban transportation plans.
Identifying environmental justice communities for transportation analysis
Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, 2016
Environmental justice (EJ) refers to policy and advocacy intended to achieve equitable protection from environmental harms and access to benefits across demographic groups. Research has shown that low-income communities and communities of color are often exposed to greater harms and enjoy fewer benefits from transportation systems than the general population. However, federally-mandated EJ analyses rarely conclude that projects could result in disproportionate impacts to these communities. This paper investigates the methods used to define EJ communities-a key analytical step for which there is little specific guidance-as a potential driver of variation in observed EJ outcomes. Using a case study of transit accessibility in Fresno County, California, the paper contrasts three methods for the identification of EJ communities: (1) a commonly used threshold-based approach that groups geographic areas using demographics, (2) a population-weighted approach that calculates weighted means of performance measures, and (3) communitybased identification of EJ areas. The analysis indicates that the first method is appropriate for targeting transportation investments but not for assessing EJ outcomes, while the second two methods are appropriate for assessing EJ outcomes. Importantly, the method used to define EJ communities can substantially affect the analytical outcome, potentially shifting a finding of inequity from null to positive or vice versa. These results have important implications for transportation planning agencies and transportation service providers that conduct EJ and equity analyses, as a finding of inequity may lead to design changes or mitigations.
Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, 2018
For years, researchers and practitioners have worked toward measuring urban form, but a gap still remains in the research to quantify how urban and suburban place-types affect economic, social, and environmental outcomes at small geographic scales. To provide such analysis, this paper describes the development of a place typology and sustainability performance measurement framework for all census tracts in California. This study found there were clear trade-offs between urban and suburban living. Compared with suburbs, the households in urban places benefited from a 57.9% reduction in annual vehicle miles traveled, 37.2% lower transport-related greenhouse gas emissions per capita, and saved more than US$2,675 in annual transportation costs, while consuming less electricity (39.9%) and water per capita (63.8%). However, the cost of urban homeownership was 40% higher, despite rents being 18.5% cheaper. And although obesity and cardiovascular disease rates were 10.3% and 8.9% lower in ...
Enhancing transportation equity analysis for long-range planning and decision making
2013
Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) regularly perform equity analyses for their longrange transportation plans, as this is required by Environmental Justice regulations. These regional-level plans may propose hundreds of transportation infrastructure and policy changes (e.g. highway and transit extensions, fare changes, pricing schemes, etc.) as well as land-use policy changes. The challenge is to assess the distribution of impacts from all the proposed changes across different population segments. In addition, these agencies are to confirm that disadvantaged groups will share equitably in the benefits and not be overly adversely affected. While there are a number of approaches used for regional transportation equity analyses in practice, approaches using large scale travel models are emerging as a common existing practice. However, the existing methods used generally fail to paint a clear picture of what groups benefit or do not benefit from the transportation improvements. In particular, there are four critical shortcomings of the existing transportation equity analysis practice. First, there is no clear framework outlining the key components of a transportation equity analysis at the regional-level. Second, the existing zonal-level group segmentation used for identifying target and comparison groups are problematic and can lead to significant biases. Third, the use of average equity indicators can be misleading, as averages tend to mask important information about the underlying distributions. Finally, there is no clear guidance on implementing scenario ranking based on the equity objectives.
Applied Geography, 2022
This study explores the association between urban form, socio-demographics, and travel behavior for 1990, 2000, and 2010 in Shelby County, Tennessee, at a micro-level using U.S. Census tracts capturing active and passive transportation modes. We used bivariate correlations between land use and land cover mix (estimated separately by Simpson's index), population, race, age, education, and commuting modes. Major findings indicate that land use mix is positively related to public transportation use while the land cover mix is negatively related; the opposite is found for both diversity measures and working from home. Greater land cover diversity discourages walking and biking and encourages car commuting; Blacks are the majority who use public transportation; older travelers are more likely to use transportation alternatives; higher-educated people tend to work from home or commute by bike. This study helps city planners in designing sustainable cities and increasing active modes use. Understanding travel patterns may help policymakers to control local/regional problems like increasing traffic congestions and emissions due to a modal shift in commuting to a private car during a COVID-19 pandemic, as well as develop strategies for encouraging active modes and public transport use in the post-COVID-19 world.
Using principles of justice to assess the modal equity of regional transportation plans
While equity has been an important consideration for transportation planning agencies in the U.S. following the passage of Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VI specifically) and the subsequent Department of Transportation directives, there is little guidance on how to assess the distribution of benefits generated by transport investment programs. As a result, the distribution of these benefits has received relatively little attention in transportation planning, compared to transport-related burdens. Drawing on philosophies of social justice, we present an equity assessment of the distribution of accessibility in order to define the rate of “access poverty” among the population. We then apply this analysis to regional transportation plan scenarios from the San Francisco Bay Area, focusing on measures of differences between public transit and automobile access. The analysis shows that virtually all neighborhoods suffer from substantial gaps between car and public transport-based accessibility, but that the two proposed transportation investment programs reduce access poverty compared to the “no project” scenario. We also investigate how access and access poverty rates vary by demographic groups and map low-income communities within access impoverished areas, which could be the subject of further focused investments.
2015
Chapter 1: Introduction Many rural towns have the advantage of developing prior to the introduction of the automobile. In these older communities, dense commercial districts and neighborhoods developed at the nexus of natural resource extraction points and transportation (including rail stations, river ports, and major crossroads) resulting in walkable access to basic services (The Partnership for Sustainable, 2011). In subsequent decades, the proliferation of the automobile has had a substantial impact on the transportation environment and land use patterns in small rural towns. Owning a car in most rural communities has become essential for accessing jobs, health care, education, recreation, and retail opportunities. Despite receiving 32 percent less in yearly income than urban households, rural households spend a larger percentage of that income on transportation related expenses (Hawk, 2013). Rural residents are additionally burdened by the costs associated with vehicle ownership because unlike their urban counterparts, access to other transportation choices is extremely limited. Safety is a major concern for making biking and walking realistic transportation options in rural towns, particularly because crashes involving bicyclists and pedestrians are much more likely to result in fatalities or serious injuries due to higher vehicle speeds and truck traffic on rural roads (Hall et al., 2004). Providing safe and accessible transportation options in rural towns not only improves individual safety and mobility, but can also be a strategy for community development. The loss of traditional natural resource-based jobs in many rural areas has forced communities to make choices to deal with economic stagnation and shrinking tax bases. Many rural towns have embraced sprawling Segment ID Location Route Type Community Asset
Evaluating the Distributional Effects of Regional Transportation Plans and Projects
2017
Metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) have long been required to consider the equity implications of their regional transportation plans and processes. Funded by the National Institute for Transportation and Communities, this research aims to provide additional guidance to MPOs on how to evaluate distributional equity in regional plans and projects. The report begins with an overview of federal requirements related to equity in transportation planning. We then synthesize contemporary methods for measuring transportation equity and the distributional effects of plans and projects from a review of the literature and MPO plans and studies. The report concludes with exploratory case studies of equity analysis in two regions representing distinctly different planning contexts and stages of addressing equity, and a summary of key methods to serve as a resource for use by MPOs in integrating equity into the regional transportation planning process.