The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Equity Action Plan highlights key actions the Department will undertake to expand access and opportunity to all communities while focusing on underserved, overburdened, and disadvantaged communities. The Plan’s Power of Community focus area aims to empower individuals and communities—particularly those that are underserved and disadvantaged—to have a greater voice in the transportation decisions affecting them. To achieve this goal, USDOT intends to increase the number of State departments of transportation (DOTs) and metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) officially adopting a quantitative equity screening component and a meaningful representative public involvement process to their Statewide Transportation Improvement Program (STIP) and Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) projects. These quantitative equity screening and public involvement processes will incorporate community vision and needs in planning, project selection, and design.

The Federal Highway Administration’s (FHWA’s) Office of Planning, Environment, and Realty, in cooperation with the Federal Transit Administration’s (FTA’s) Office of Planning and Environment, and USDOT’s Office of the Assistant Secretary for Transportation Policy, conducted a survey in 2022 to support the implementation of the Power of Community. The survey helped USDOT establish a baseline understanding of how transportation agencies address equity in the planning process, and how they provide opportunities for meaningful public input into decisionmaking. Although the results of the survey are still being analyzed, preliminary analysis shows a few MPO respondents have policies in place to address equity in the transportation planning process.

Below is an overview of the transportation planning process and how equity can be integrated into those plans to empower individuals in traditionally-underserved and disadvantaged communities.

Transportation Planning Process and State DOT/MPO Planning Products

Transportation planning is a cooperative, collaborative, and comprehensive process designed to foster involvement by all users of the system, including individuals, businesses, community groups, environmental organizations, safety officials, and freight operators through a proactive public participation process. Within metropolitan areas not designated as transportation management areas (TMAs), the planning process is conducted by the State and/or the public transportation operator(s), in cooperation with the MPOs. In areas designated as TMAs (urbanized areas with a population of 200,000 or more), the transportation planning process is conducted by the MPO in consultation with the State and public transit operator(s). In rural areas, transportation planning processes are carried out by the State, in cooperation with local officials in nonmetropolitan areas and transit providers. The process often involves creating vision statements, long-term planning, project planning, and conducting system‑level analyses.

Equity is an integral part of the planning process. There are multiple requirements to conduct public involvement, including Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VI); Executive Order 12898, Federal Actions to Address Environmental Justice (EJ) in Minority Populations and Low-Income Populations; and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Meaningful public involvement is a process that proactively seeks full participation from the community, considers public comments, and incorporates feedback into a project, program, or plan.

The USDOT Equity Action Plan encourages proactive equity screenings as part of the STIP and TIP development processes to incorporate community vision and need in project selection and design. Considering equity early and through methods such as public participation, data collection, and analysis improves the likelihood that the planning process will adequately be able to respond to the needs of the community it serves. Early consideration of equity may also improve project delivery by preventing costly and time-consuming delays that could arise from previously unrecognized conflicts as projects move from planning to implementation.

“Using an equity lens to identify residents and communities who have been historically excluded, and assess the barriers that prevent them from participating, will ensure that engagement is more representative and inclusive,” says Jane Grover, a principal at the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning in Illinois.

FHWA and FTA jointly provide stewardship and oversight on the statewide, nonmetropolitan, and metropolitan transportation planning process.

Transportation planning is a cooperative, performance-driven process by which long- and short-range transportation improvement priorities are determined. State DOTs and MPOs have the responsibility for programming and prioritizing projects while considering the Federal funding eligibility for each program and project.

State DOTs must prepare several planning documents related to Federal planning requirements. Long-Range Statewide Transportation Plans (LRSTPs) and Metropolitan Transportation Plans (MTPs) are two types of foundational planning documents that help guide the development of transportation planning programs and projects. LRSTPs and MTPs are policy and/or project documents that outline strategies and actions for addressing transportation issues and needs within States and metropolitan areas. These documents provide the framework for preparing project-specific transportation programs, such as STIP and TIP.

STIP and TIP are Federally-required documents that show upcoming projects that will be funded with Federal dollars over the next four years. These programs highlight how State DOTs and MPOs fund projects, and how the programs are fiscally constrained based on reasonably expected revenues. STIPs and TIPs are publicly available documents, which give the public an opportunity to review and help determine funded projects within their State or region.

Quantitative Equity Screening

Transportation planning efforts should use a data-driven process to ensure that policy priorities and investment decisions are realistic and achievable. Equity is an integral part of the data-driven process that improves the planning process’s ability to adequately respond to the needs of the community it serves.

Title VI provides that recipients of Federal financial assistance cannot discriminate on the basis of race, color, or national origin in their programs and activities. FHWA regulations specify that States must collect demographic data on race and ethnicity to show the effects of transportation programs and activities and conduct Title VI reviews using the data. The demographic data are typically derived from the American Community Survey, the Decennial Census of Population and Housing, or other public sources or surveys. After the data are collected, States must pair demographic data with information on potential impacts from programs and activities, such as relocations, noise, and maintenance. States must then determine whether:

• Impacts are disproportionate or disparate between populations based on race, color, or national origin.
• There is a justification for the disproportionality or disparity.
• There is a less discriminatory way to achieve similar program results.

FHWA’s Office of Civil Rights provides multiple resources to support stakeholders in conducting Title VI data collection and disparate impact analysis. These resources can be found at https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/civilrights/programs/title_vi/. FHWA has developed multiple geographic information systems (GIS)-based quantitative equity screening tools, including the Transportation Disadvantaged Census Tracts and Planning, Environment, Realty GIS (HEPGIS), an interactive, web-based geographic map server that enables users to navigate, view, and print geospatial maps using only their web browser.

HEPGIS allows users to access multiple data layers to assist in transportation decisionmaking. The Screening Tool for Equity Analysis of Projects is an extension of HEPGIS that allows users to screen project locations to support Title VI, EJ, and other socioeconomic data analyses.

MPO Equity Screening Tool Examples

The Broward MPO in Fort Lauderdale, FL, has developed a process to evaluate its plans and programs under Federal EJ and Title VI regulations. The identification of Transportation Planning Equity Areas is intended to be one of many approaches used in the transportation planning process to facilitate informed conversations.

The Transportation Planning Equity Area composite or equity score calculated for each block group within Broward County is based on selected demographic indicators. The map (https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/7b81b04ead3b4d5c9aae8735e3b48434) is one of several resources used by the Broward MPO to help form a consistent evaluation process among its various plans and programs.

One of the main tasks for RTC is to monitor the prioritization of transportation projects in the Access 2040 Regional Transportation Plan and the changes to RTC transit routes. RTC continues to analyze any major decision made to the overall transportation system, particularly if it negatively affects areas with a high concentration of any EJ group. The composite equity factors map is intended to serve as a resource for identifying potentially disadvantaged populations within Southern Nevada and assessing equity in the planning process.

Georgia’s Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC) Equity Analysis is another example where an MPO is using equity in performance-based planning and programming to demonstrate compliance with Federal guidance, including Title VI, Executive Order 13166 on Limited English Proficiency (LEP), Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, Executive Order 12898 on EJ, and FHWA and FTA’s Title VI and EJ documents. DASH—an interactive, online tool—is used by ARC to better communicate and visualize regional trends related to transportation and equity. DASH is intended to help both policymakers and Atlanta area residents explore the region’s performance. (https://atlregional.github.io/DASH/Equity.html).

“As the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) developed our first National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure [NEVI] Plan, we used the Justice40 mapping overlay provided through the Drive Electric website as well as our own Tribal Nations boundaries layer to ensure we were including these communities as we created our longer-term vision for charging in Minnesota. Using these tools helped to visualize where we could combine the location criteria the NEVI program requires for Alternative Fuel Corridors with disadvantaged communities and where there are gaps,” says Beth Kallestad, principal sustainability planner in MnDOT’s Office of Sustainability and Public Health.

Meaningful Public Involvement

USDOT seeks full representation from the community, considers public comments and feedback, and incorporates that feedback into a project, program, or plan whenever possible. The impact of community contributions encourages early and continuous public involvement, identifies potential or latent impacts to the communities, and brings diverse viewpoints and values into the transportation decisionmaking process.

Requirements for Public Involvement

The Title VI program requires USDOT’s operating administrations to develop comprehensive community participation requirements that applicants and recipients must satisfy as a condition of receiving an award for Federal financial assistance. A community participation plan facilitates full compliance with Title VI through meaningful public participation and engagement to ensure funding recipients and organizations are adequately informed about how programs or activities will potentially impact affected communities. Diverse views must have an opportunity to be heard and considered throughout all stages of the consultation, planning, and decisionmaking process. A community participation plan, which may be an update to an existing public participation plan or other policies, should provide information about the organization’s overall public involvement activities.

USDOT operating administrations will issue guidelines establishing expectations for the community participation plans for their grant recipients. USDOT and the Federal Government must also ensure that individuals who have LEP, including a limited ability to read, speak, write, or understand English, have meaningful access to information that affects their lives. Under USDOT’s Departmental Office of Civil Rights, and as described in Policy Guidance Concerning Recipients’ Responsibilities to LEP Persons, this obligation extends to organizations and State and local agencies that receive monetary assistance from USDOT and the Federal Government. Funding recipients serving LEP populations should develop an LEP implementation plan to address the identified needs of the LEP populations they serve. The U.S. Department of Justice provides resources and further guidance at https://www.lep.gov/.

Transportation practitioners have the power and obligation to incorporate the voices of their communities in transportation decisionmaking and to build trust with members of underserved communities. Public involvement is not an afterthought in the decisionmaking process, but rather a core tenet for agencies, organizations, partners, and individuals who work on USDOT-funded projects to evaluate, plan, prioritize, design, construct, and maintain transportation improvements and investments. Engaging the public early, and often, can also help avoid costly re-work and delays later in the project lifecycle, including potential litigation or complaints from community members.

Historically, decisionmaking in transportation (e.g., determining community needs and project priorities, planning, and implementation) may not have always considered all the communities those decisions impact. Following the “we’ve always done it this way” thinking can result in the treatment of public involvement as a one-time event or a box to check in the project lifecycle rather than an intentional, dynamic process that continues throughout all stages of project development. When agencies use limited communication and outreach methods, such as only advertising a single meeting in an area’s largest newspaper, they frequently do not reach the broader audience who may not read the newspaper or who get news from other sources. USDOT developed the guide, Promising Practices for Meaningful Public Involvement in Transportation Decision-Making, which can assist funding recipients meet the need of meaningful public involvement.

Meaningful public involvement:

• Increases trust between the organization and the community.
• Increases the likelihood that projects, programs, or plans will be accepted.
• Creates more effective solutions.
• Improves a community’s knowledge of the project, program, or plan.
• Empowers people from different backgrounds to become involved in transportation decisionmaking.
• Delivers a better project, program, or service with diverse ideas that promote equity and inclusion.
• Ensures against compliance concerns with authorities such as Title VI and NEPA that require public input and nondiscrimination.

Public involvement strategies should involve a combination of in-person, digital, virtual, and print tools, in languages spoken by community members. Public involvement should also include intentional and varied outreach methods to ensure that people with disabilities and diverse needs and experiences are aware of and can participate in opportunities to have a meaningful impact on decisionmaking. When specific to a project or program, public involvement strategies should also be tied to the expected impacts of the project or program. Of particular impact are engagement opportunities that meet people in underserved communities and provide them with culturally sensitive methods of expressing themselves.

In-person public meetings are a common strategy, but for some people these meetings can be inconvenient or impossible to attend. Physical meeting locations can be inaccessible for persons with disabilities or for community members that might not feel comfortable attending events at government facilities, or whose work schedules do not fall within typical daytime business hours. Additionally, people in underserved communities may lack childcare, access to convenient transportation, or may need communication in alternate formats or languages. To ensure the needs and concerns of underserved populations are represented, it is important for transportation professionals to reduce barriers to participation and to expand opportunities for engagement.

Transportation agencies can increase meaningful public involvement in planning and project development by integrating virtual tools into their overall public involvement approach. Virtual Public Involvement (VPI) tools (https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/planning/public_involvement/vpi/) can enhance and broaden the reach of public engagement efforts by making participation more accessible, convenient, affordable, and enjoyable for greater numbers of people. VPI tools can provide the public with increased transparency and access to transportation planning activities and project development and decisionmaking processes, including:

• Crowdsourcing.
• Digital tools to enhance in-person events.
• Do-it-yourself videos.
• Mapping.
• Mobile applications.
• Project visualizations.
• Virtual town halls.

While using VPI techniques do not change existing public involvement requirements established by statute, regulation, or executive order, VPI does open up opportunities for underserved communities to actively participate in the process and have their voices heard. VPI is not intended to completely replace in-person engagement, but it is a valuable tactic to reach those who have historically been without options to make an impact in their communities.

Conclusion

Planning is an integral part of the transportation equation that ensures an equitable approach is applied to project and program development. Public engagement strategies that are implemented must be forward-thinking, forward-moving, and place high value on not only listening to all road users and members of the public, but also finding actionable solutions to their substantial concerns and challenges. Meaningful engagement and listening with intention will ensure that future infrastructure improvements can—and will—lead to equitable, and more accessible communities across the Nation.

Mack Frost is a transportation specialist in FHWA’s Office of Planning, focusing on advancing the Planning and Environment Linkages approach and Equity in Transportation Planning. He holds a bachelor’s degree in communication from the University of Maryland, and a master’s degree in environmental health sciences from the University of Maryland.

Anthony Boutros is a transportation specialist in FHWA’s Office of Safety, focusing on advancing Complete Streets and equity in safety programs. He holds bachelor’s degrees in sociology, public health studies, and international studies from Johns Hopkins University, and is a Truman-Albright Fellow.

For more information, please visit https://www.planning.dot.gov/planning/topic_transportationequity.aspx or contact Mack Frost at Mack.Frost@dot.gov.