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Abstract for presentation (Poster or Podium)

Social Equity, Justice, and Welfare

Assessing Indiana's transportation and environmental equity using large-scale data

Sunday, June 16, 2024

3:00 PM - 4:15 PM ET

Room: Galleria

Primary Author(s)

Rajat Verma (he/him/his)

Research Assistant
Purdue University
West Lafayette, IN, United States

Submitter(s)

RV

Rajat Verma

Purdue University
West Lafayette, Indiana, United States

Abstract: The USDOT has made equity a top issue for all transportation modes and has mandated that states should take steps to address equity (and accessibility) in statewide transportation programs. A review of literature shows that there is a substantial gap in the goal of addressing equity concerns and the practical implementation of equity assessment, primarily owing to a lack of industry standards. In this study, we explore two components of transportation and land use equity – accessibility to workplaces and other places and environmental justice measures pertaining to vehicular and industrial pollution. We propose generalized parametric metrics of accessibility and environmental justice (A&EJ). Using data of Indiana and the U.S. from multiple public and private sources, we then explore their relationships with socio-economic status (SES) and land use indicators of neighborhoods using factor analysis. We also develop an interactive analytics application for analysts to visualize the spatial relationships between the SES and A&EJ measures. We will deploy this tool to the Indiana Department of Transportation and metropolitan planning organizations of Indiana.

Learning Objectives:

Attendees can expect to learn the following from this session:

Explain the meaning of equity in transportation as used by urban planners, transportation planners, policymakers, and the government.
List the state-of-the-art tools, methods, and frameworks used to assess transportation equity.
List the criteria used by the USDOT Equity Action Plan to characterize components of equity.
Describe the terms accessibility and environmental justice and their components as used by planners.
Remember at least 3 general findings from this study and use them in casual conversations later on.