Tools to Integrate Equity into Active Transportation and Safety Investments

Historic methods of transportation decision-making often led to the design and construction of transportation facilities oriented toward motor vehicle use, without full consideration of active transportation involving vulnerable road users (such as pedestrians and cyclists) and users of micromobility services (such as e-scooters). Redlining practices often led to the placement of roads and highways that severed or boxed in neighborhoods with majority Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) populations. Such situations concentrated and deepened poverty and environmental health impacts from transportation-related pollutants. Past roadway designs and operations often emphasized higher vehicle speeds, without considering adequate facilities for safe walking and bicycling, thus creating greater exposure to serious injury and fatal crash involvement in these communities. Driver behavior and potential biases, as well as land use and transportation infrastructure, have exacerbated the disparity in outcomes from a social equity perspective. Gaining a deeper understanding of the causes of and solutions to the disproportionate burden on historically marginalized groups requires a multisectoral and multistep approach. Safety data can be used in performance analysis to inform tradeoff decisions during planning, project development, maintenance, and operations. But without the ability to also analyze and evaluate social equity considerations, the use of this critically important information within transportation agencies will be limited. There is a need to develop tools to help state departments of transportation (DOTs) ensure that traditionally underserved communities benefit from safety investments. These tools may build on the foundation provided by NCHRP Research Report 893: Systemic Pedestrian Safety Analysis and NCHRP Research Report 803: Pedestrian and Bicycle Transportation Along Existing Roads – ActiveTrans Priority Tool Guidebook. The objective of this research is to develop tools to (1) incorporate a systemic, risk-based approach to safety prioritization with a focus on promoting socially equitable outcomes and (2) integrate social and demographic equity metrics and methods in the decision-making process for investments affecting safety and Active Transportation during planning, programming, design, construction, operations, and maintenance. 

• Record URL:
  http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=5128
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Contract to a Performing Organization has not yet been awarded.

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Active
• Funding: $650000
• Contract Numbers:

  Project 08-150

• Sponsor Organizations:

  National Cooperative Highway Research Program

  Transportation Research Board
  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001

  American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO)

  444 North Capitol Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001

  Federal Highway Administration

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Project Managers:

  Brooks, Mike

• Start Date: 20240624
• Expected Completion Date: 20261223
• Actual Completion Date: 0

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Decision making; Nonmotorized transportation; Social factors; Traffic safety; Transportation equity; Transportation planning
• Subject Areas: Highways; Pedestrians and Bicyclists; Planning and Forecasting; Safety and Human Factors; Society;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01772462
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Transportation Research Board
• Contract Numbers: Project 08-150
• Files: TRB, RIP
• Created Date: May 25 2021 3:42PM