The study will identify data sources, metrics, and analytic tools and methods for federal, state, and local governments to make surface transportation investments that support families and residential life, home affordability, and community cohesion, safety, and economic vitality. The study will examine these interests from the perspective of people living and working in rural, exurban, suburban, and urban communities. Rather than focus on the traditional metrics used for transportation decisionmaking, such as travel cost and time, the study will focus on interests that are often treated as intangibles when planning and prioritizing transportation investments, such as reliable mobility, personal safety and security, public health and fitness, and access to transportation for all purposes, including recreation, school, shopping, and services.
The study will identify the most promising methodological approaches and requisite data sources for assessments of transportation’s impacts on these interests. To do so, the study will: (1) identify and analyze existing data and metrics to establish a baseline of currently available means for assessing and measuring these outcomes from surface transportation projects; (2) identify opportunities to improve data, the use of such data to improve metrics, and how such metrics could be applied to make more informed decisions in the planning process for surface transportation projects; and (3) consider new and innovative sources of data, analytic methods, and modeling for using such data and metrics in the transportation investment planning and decision-making process.