Presidential Executive Order 12898 on Environmental Justice (EJ) was signed in 1994, and the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) issued regulatory guidelines for addressing EJ in transportation in 1997. Transportation agencies have since adopted a range of policies, programs, and activities to identify and address disproportionately high and adverse human health and environmental effects of their policies, programs, and activities on minority and low-income populations. On the basis of the relevant literature and structured interviews, this paper assesses how state DOTs are addressing EJ issues in their decision-making processes and identifies common and effective practices. The results show that several state DOTs have implemented public involvement programs and other procedures to assess the burdens of transportation investment. However, fewer agencies assess the equity of benefits, fewer assess outcomes of EJ actions, and fewer still link EJ analysis outcomes with future funding and policy decisions. On the basis of existing practices and regulatory guidelines, the researchers formulated a performance-based, maturity-scale model that agencies can use to benchmark the effectiveness of their external and internal EJ activities in achieving EJ outcomes in transportation. The model was applied anonymously to selected agencies to demonstrate different maturity levels in addressing EJ.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
customersupport@researchsolutions.com
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.