Data and analysis methods for metropolitan-level environmental justice assessment

An examination is made of data sources and analytical methods available to metropolitan transportation planners for use in technical activities related to environmental justice and Title VI discrimination analyses. The focus is on data and methods employed by the metropolitan planning organization for the San Francisco Bay Area. An initial technical activity is the preparation of a geographic and demographic profile of the region with respect to low-income, minority, elderly, and disabled persons. Difficulties associated with long-range forecasting of these variables at the small area (county) level and very small area (travel analysis zones, neighborhoods) level are discussed. Citizens advisory groups are needed to provide early guidance for this technical activity and to appreciate the uncertainties associated with the data and methods. Transportation analysis procedures to analyze changes in accessibility between alternatives in the long-range regional transportation plan are outlined. These methods map out changes in accessibility to evaluate impacts on transportation disadvantaged versus nondisadvantaged neighborhoods. Future data sources, including Census 2000 and the American Community Survey (ACS), are discussed. The ACS data, in particular, may prove highly beneficial in describing changing socioeconomic patterns within a metropolitan area.