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Measuring equity in transportation is vitally important to ensure that the transportation network serves the entire community without introducing barriers to access. However, not all methods for assessing transportation equity produce the same results or are appropriate for all scenarios—the analysis methods used should be selected to produce the highest likelihood of determining the most equitable outcomes. This research project synthesizes previous research investigating equity assessments by MnDOT, academia, and industry and leverages these findings in concert with directly collected community experience and staff expertise to achieve the following objectives: (1) establish a detailed understanding of current challenges and needs related to equity assessment in Minnesota; (2) identify or develop assessment methods and equity-focused strategic actions that will improve the likelihood that transportation equity in Minnesota is assessed in a manner that achieves context-sensitive outcomes representative of the communities served; and (3) facilitate the adoption of identified or developed equity assessment methods and complementary strategic actions, including information detailing appropriate use cases, data requirements, and considerations through a bespoke training program.

Transportation systems, as integral parts of human settlements, reflect the societal structures and cultural ideologies influenced predominantly by the dominant race or class. In the absence of prioritizing the transportation needs of underserved communities, transportation systems may perpetuate systematic inequities. This study aims to address the inequities present in current transportation systems by conducting a comprehensive examination of the transportation experiences of individuals belonging to ten specific underserved communities. These communities include eight within the Twin Cities metropolitan region (Latinx, African American, Hmong, people with disabilities, immigrants, people living with HIV, single mothers, and single fathers), as well as two communities in the Greater Minnesota area (transitioning home residents in Fergus Falls and tribal members of the White Earth Nation). This research adopts a mixed-method approach, incorporating both qualitative interviews and quantitative smartphone-based travel behavior surveys. The findings reveal that each community faces distinct transportation barriers, alongside shared themes in transportation inequities such as inadequate public transportation, difficulties related to car use, and the impact of transportation on significant life outcomes. Recommendations for future research and practice are provided.

This Technical Summary pertains to Report 2023-15, “Enhancing Managed Lanes Equity Analysis,” published April 2023.

Traffic congestion has become an increasingly serious problem in many cities. Ramp metering, which maintains smooth freeway mainline flow by limiting vehicle entry at entrance ramps, has been proposed and implemented in a number of metropolitan areas in and outside the U.S. to mitigate freeway congestion. This study aims to develop both efficient and equitable freeway ramp control strategies. Traffic conditions with and without ramp metering are evaluated on several representative freeways in the Twin Cities with a comprehensive set of performance measures. A unified theory for ramp metering is proposed based on a linear programming model of freeway traffic dynamics. The most efficient ramp control algorithm is found to be also the least equitable one. A novel control objective, minimizing weighted or perceived travel time, is therefore proposed to balance efficiency and equity objectives of ramp metering. This research also develops a new family of applicable ramp metering strategies, which consider both efficiency and equity, and are demonstrated in a microscopic traffic simulator. Future studies should compare various traffic control methods under the analytical framework proposed in this report. Researchers should also pursue field experiments of the proposed multi-objective ramp control strategies.

This technical summary pertains to report 2023-14, Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis to Advance Transportation.

Gender can have a significant influence on people’s behaviors and experiences. Hence, excluding gender diversity in transportation research and practices can result in biased or incomplete understandings of issues and perceptions about transportation and quality of life. This study examined whether and how gender, in a broader sense, can result in distinctly different activity-travel patterns and subjective well-being (SWB) outcomes using survey data. The study reviewed existing literature and found that gender was not binary meaning that some gender identities were not solely female or male. The literature also indicated a person’s gender typically intersected with their other social identities such as race and family type and created unique needs and experiences. To address the complex nature of gender, the team collected new data using the Daynamica smartphone application and included specific questions concerning (1) participants’ gender identities and attitudes toward gender roles, (2) their share of household-supporting tasks in 14-day travel diaries, and (3) their emotions during trips and activity participation. The team used 2021 Daynamica survey data and 2019 Travel Behavior Inventory data from the Metropolitan Council to extract activity-travel patterns before and after COVID-19. The team associated these patterns with participants’ gender and other identities and SWB outcomes through visual explorations and statistical analysis. The findings suggested the importance of capturing the complex, intersectional nature of gender, confirmed the persistent existence of gender differences in transportation needs, experiences, and SWB outcomes in Minnesota, and supported continuous efforts and investments to advance gender equity in transportation.

This Technical Summary pertains to Report 2023-10, “Advancing Equity in Accessibility and Travel Experiences: The Role of Gender and Identity,” published March 2023.

Planning and environmental studies involving managed lanes still have difficulty determining how to effectively evaluate project alternatives from an equity perspective. To most people, “equity” is ubiquitous with income, but this is a narrow focus that limits the scope of what can be considered equity, and indeed this can be true when it comes to managed lanes. As the Minnesota Department of Transportation analyzes the expansion of E-ZPass corridors, it is imperative it evaluates project alternatives from an equity perspective. The results of this study suggest that E-ZPass lane users are more racially diverse than users in the travelsheds. In two out of the four E-ZPass lane corridors, a higher proportion of E-ZPass lane users have household incomes below $100,000 compared to the travelsheds. Overall, there is a lower percentage of people with disabilities among E-ZPass lane users than those in the travelsheds. These results are driven by the makeup of E-ZPass lane users. In addition, this research project demonstrates the feasibility of incorporating quantitative and qualitative equity measures into the alternatives analysis process. The demonstration shows that the quantitative measures are all feasible with existing tools, provide meaningful information to the alternatives analysis process, and can be put into practice immediately.

Systemic inequities exist in the transportation network as decisions and services have traditionally been based on a limited perspective of community needs. Understanding the range of public uses and preferences in a multicultural society to advance an equitable transportation system requires an exploration of the lived experiences of marginalized communities. This project identified common themes and unique needs of 10 distinct Minnesota communities to support MnDOT in advancing equity

Transportation is a crucial contributor to health. It not only directly shapes the social and physical environments but also determines the type of places where people can live, learn, work, and play in their everyday lives. This project develops a conceptual framework for collaborative and equitable health and transportation planning by extending the social determinants of health framework to include three major pathways through which transportation factors operate on health and equity outcomes. The three major pathways are behavioral health, environmental health, and social exclusion, which are identified via a thorough review of the academic literature and gray resources on health and transportation connections. Of the three pathway mechanisms, social exclusion and environmental health are intrinsically linked to social equity and justice issues. We further review state-level initiatives linking transportation to health and interview six state departments of transportation that are pioneers in advocating and implementing integrated health and transportation planning. The interview results are summarized and discussed in the report. Based on the interviews, we make recommendations for the Minnesota Department of Transportation to help further its efforts on integrated health and transportation planning.