From state of the practice to state of the art: improving equity analysis in regional transportation plans

Metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) in the United States develop long-range Regional transportation plans (RTPs), which are required in order for municipalities to receive federal funds for transportation projects. Title VI of the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964 requires MPOs to submit an equity analysis to demonstrate that their RTPs do not discriminate against protected groups. This paper (i) identifies and evaluates the current range of practices in transportation equity analysis in RTPs for the largest MPOs, and (ii) provides practical steps for MPOs to improve their equity analyses. To identify the range of practices, we assess how MPOs define equity goals, identify populations of concern, integrate their equity analysis into their RTP documents, use community input, and whether they meet or exceed legal standards. Additionally, we evaluate how MPOs use travel forecasting models in their equity analyses and the quality of their models; we also describe practical steps for MPOs to improve their equity analyses along this dimension. We find significant variability in how MPOs define fairness in their equity goals, define populations of concern, use community input, and use travel forecasting models in their equity analyses. For example, several MPOs conduct in-depth equity analyses using advanced travel forecasting models, synthetic populations of households, and various classifications of populations of concern. In contrast, other MPOs only display the locations of RTP projects on a map with geographies labeled as disadvantaged or non-disadvantaged. We also find that MPOs with more restrictive state requirements than federal guidelines produce higher quality equity analyses—an important finding considering the Biden Administration’s review of Executive Order 12898, a potential avenue to alter guidelines to improve MPO equity analyses.