The Strategic Transportation Investment Act (STI) was passed by the NC Legislature in 2013, which "allows the NC Department of Transportation to use its funding more efficiently and effectively to enhance North Carolina’s infrastructure while supporting economic growth, job creation and a higher quality of life" by allocating "available revenues based on data-driven scoring and local input" (NCDOT, 2018). During the Prioritization 5.0 funding cycle, the P5.0 Workgroup identified the need for a metric to represent the needs of transportation disadvantaged populations in future determinations of transportation project funding.
As such, the purpose of this study is to identify metrics that represent transportation disadvantage and to use them to properly disburse public transportation funds within North Carolina. Transportation disadvantage can be defined as barriers/conditions that make it difficult or impossible for individuals to access transportation services necessary to participate in essential activities outside of the home (including employment, health, education, shopping, etc.). Socially disadvantaged populations face greater barriers to access to public transportation, which is necessary to participate in activities for daily living; for example, low-income populations, as well as individuals with a disability, may have difficulty accessing transportation.
Currently, there is a lack of research on metrics representing transportation disadvantage for the purpose of integration into transportation funding decisions, and few states have an official system in which they consider the needs of disadvantaged populations in a quantitative manner. To identify potential metrics for use in the P6 prioritization process, a literature review and content analysis was completed, as well as peer organization document analyses and interviews.
As transportation disadvantage is multi-faceted in nature, the research team has set forth seven promising metrics that can best represent transportation disadvantage; the metrics are not mutually exclusive, and it is recommended to use several of the metrics for best representation of transportation disadvantage. It is recommended for the following metrics to be combined into a single rubric/score sheet representing transportation disadvantage: (1) transportation disadvantaged populations, (2) access to points-of-interest, (3) transportation service provision, (4) need for service, (5) improved connectivity/multimodality, and (6) the alleviation of project-specific barriers to access. Strategies for implementation are also discussed.
