Assessing Measures of Transportation Disadvantage for Public Transportation Project Prioritization

US Transportation Collection2019PDFTech ReportGaustad, Brittany V.Wright, WaughMonast, KaiBardaka, EleniNorth Carolina State University. Institute for Transportation Research & EducationNorth Carolina Department of Transportation. Research and Development UnitUnited States. Department of Transportation. Federal Highway AdministrationNorth Carolina Department of Transportation. Research and Development UnitUnited StatesNorth CarolinaAccessEquity (Justice)ImplementationInfrastructureLiterature reviewsMetrics (Quantitative assessment)Strategic planningTransportation disadvantaged personsMobilityFHWA/NC/2019-16August 1, 2018 \u2013 March 30, 2019The Strategic Transportation Investment Act (STI) was passed by the North Carolina (NC) Legislature in 2013, which \u201callows the NC Department of Transportation to use its funding more efficiently and effectively to enhance North Carolina\u2019s infrastructure while supporting economic growth, job creation and a higher quality of life\u201d by allocating \u201cavailable revenues based on data-driven scoring and local input\u201d (NCDOT, 2018). The need for a metric that can represent the needs of transportation disadvantaged populations in transportation project funding was identified by the Prioritization 5.0 Workgroup. Transportation disadvantage is defined as barriers/conditions that make it difficult or impossible for individuals to access transportation services necessary to participate in essential activities outside of the home (including employment, health, education, shopping, etc.). Socially disadvantaged populations (i.e. transportation disadvantaged populations) face greater barriers to access to public transportation, which is necessary to participate in activities for daily living; for example, lowincome populations, as well as individuals with a disability, may have difficulty accessing transportation. To identify potential metrics for use in the prioritization process, a literature review and content analysis was completed, as well as peer organization document analyses and interviews. As transportation disadvantage is multi-faceted in nature, the research team has set forth seven potential metrics that can best represent transportation disadvantage; the metrics are not mutually exclusive, and it is recommended to use several of the metrics for best representation of transportation disadvantage. It is recommended for the following metrics to be compiled into a single Transportation Disadvantage Rubric: (1) mapping transportation disadvantaged populations, (2) determining the level of access to points-of-interest, (3) transportation service provision in the context of an equity analysis, (4) existing transportation services and infrastructure, (5) improved connectivity/multimodality, and (6) alleviation of specific barriers to access (i.e. project barriers). Strategies for metric implementation are also discussed.125