Public investments in transportation yield a range of economic benefits, but those benefits have not accrued evenly in the U.S., due in part to policy and infrastructure investment decisions. As a result, rural and low-income communities often experience limited transportation options that hurt access to health care and jobs, and minority neighborhoods located near major transportation infrastructure often experience higher safety and air and noise pollution burdens, for example.  

Recent federal initiatives have targeted advancing equity as one goal for evaluating federally funded transportation projects, but deciding whether and how to balance criteria such as project efficiency and equity requires the development of new equity metrics.  

At the request of Congress, a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine considers how state, local, and other jurisdictions can strive to use their federal funding to meet the transportation needs of all people, promoting safe and reliable access while avoiding or mitigating any adverse effects of transportation.  

DETAILS: An Assessment of Data, Tools, and Metrics for Equity in Decisions About Surface Transportation Investments is available for immediate release. Media inquiries should be directed to the Office of News and Public Information at tel. 202-334-2138 or e-mail news@nas.edu.