The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) administers more than $50 billion in federal funds annually to states, tribes, transit agencies, and local governments that prioritize transportation improvement projects based on program eligibility and evaluation criteria. States, tribes, and local governments, often combine their funds with federal funds for surface transportation projects and have latitude in the selection, planning, and design of projects.

Insufficient investments in transportation infrastructure that serves and connects rural communities, the construction of highways, and the building of regional transit systems through low-income neighborhoods have displaced and isolated communities. Some transportation investment decisions have generated decentralization of jobs and have directed services to locations that are not walkable or served well by public transit. This led to the redevelopment of some urban neighborhoods making them unaffordable for their original residents and businesses, and resulted in undesirable effects such as increased traffic, exhaust and noise emissions, and pedestrian safety hazards. Communities with predominantly people of color and underrepresented populations have been disproportionately impacted by these past transportation infrastructure investment choices.  

Funds were allocated from the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2022 for the USDOT to: identify, assess, and develop metrics for measuring the effectiveness of surface transportation projects in addressing the transportation challenges and barriers faced by historically disadvantaged communities, areas of persistent poverty, and public transportation-dependent populations. A consensus study, conducted by the Transportation Research Board, Consensus and Advisory Studies Division, under an agreement with USDOT, identifies data, metrics, and analytic tools for states, local governments, and tribal entities to assess the equity impacts of surface transportation projects funded with federal aid. As states, tribes, transit agencies, and local governments plan and prioritize their surface transportation investments while considering equity, access to equity-related data, metrics, and analytic tools for decision-making may help them avoid creating or contributing to inequities. 

The objectives of this research are to build upon current approaches and emerging understanding of ways to assess equity to (1) pilot-test and validate equity assessment methods and tools that assess the equity impacts from heterogeneous surface transportation projects;  (2) develop new and innovative sources of data, analytic methods, and modeling tools and methods for evaluating equity impacts attributed to transportation investments; and (3) develop a transportation investment equity assessment guide and decision support tools for state DOTs, indigenous tribes, and transit agencies that help with the transportation project selections that improve access to housing, employment, health care, education, and essential services, and mitigate negative health and safety outcomes while planning, designing, constructing, operating, and maintaining surface transportation systems.