A Framework to Reveal Gaps in Transportation Asset Maintenance Through 311 Complaints

Several mechanisms exist for identifying sites for upgrading transportation infrastructure for non-emergency maintenance. One key element is the complaints that citizens make about broken or missing features using the 311-service call system. Researchers argue, however, that some locations with less influence, either due to depressed incomes/economy or higher percentages of racial/ethnic minority households, may have fewer complaints, resulting in less actions for maintenance. Over time such locations may end up having worse infrastructure, simply because not enough complaints are being generated in disenfranchised places. This project will rely on 311 data (2019-2023) available from open data catalogs across case cities in the U.S. The research team will focus on transportation-sector grievances and generate a new understanding of how citizen complaints cluster across census block group typologies. The team will assemble 311 data, where available, for case cities roughly the size of Denver, Colorado. The team will use U.S. Census data to identify types of block groups through cluster analysis and use causal spatial statistical models. The key output from this work is to generate an equity-focused gaps framework by relying on 311 calls, and share this learning with public-sector stakeholders.

• Record URL:
  https://www.ctips.org/projects/details.php?id=624

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Active
• Funding: $120000
• Contract Numbers:

  69A3552348308

• Sponsor Organizations:

  Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology

  University Transportation Centers Program
  Department of Transportation
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Managing Organizations:

  Center for Transformative Infrastructure Preservation and Sustainability

  North Dakota State University
  Fargo, ND  United States  58108
• Project Managers:

  Tolliver, Denver

• Performing Organizations:

  University of Colorado Denver

  Department of Civil Engineering
  1200 Larimer Street, Room 3037
  Denver, CO  United States  80217
• Principal Investigators:

  Shirgaokar, Manish

• Start Date: 20240817
• Expected Completion Date: 20260816
• Actual Completion Date: 0
• USDOT Program: University Transportation Centers Program
• Source Data: CTIPS-026

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Asset management; Cluster analysis; Customers; Equity; Maintenance management; Spatial analysis
• Geographic Terms: United States
• Subject Areas: Data and Information Technology; Highways; Maintenance and Preservation; Planning and Forecasting; Society;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01928618
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Center for Transformative Infrastructure Preservation and Sustainability
• Contract Numbers: 69A3552348308
• Files: UTC, RIP
• Created Date: Aug 24 2024 11:07AM