Research Project Description
Mineta Transportation Institute
Evaluating the Environmental Justice Effects of Land Use Scenarios in the Sacramento Region with the PECAS Activity Allocation Model
Project Number: 2601
Research Project: In 1994, a Presidential Executive Order directed every federal agency to make environmental justice (EJ) part of its mission by identifying and addressing adverse effects of its programs, policies, and activities on minority and low income populations. It is widely recognized, however, that modeling tools currently used by transportation agencies have a very limited ability, if any, to perform such analyses. Not surprisingly, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) order summarizing and expanding the Executive Order charges federal, state, and regional transportation agencies to identify, develop, and implement the analytical capabilities necessary to identify EJ effects of transportation projects, plans, and policies.
Concurrently, there has been increased recognition of the potentially harmful social, economic, and health effects of highway induced urban sprawl on low income and minority groups in the U.S. In response, many have advocated smart growth and/or transit oriented developments (TODs) policy strategies to redress these effects and improve access for disadvantages groups. Today, there are over 100 existing TOD projects in the U.S. and this number is growing.
The Sacramento region’s ambitious planning efforts have been accompanied by equally ambitious model development efforts, which have included the development and partial calibration of the advanced PECAS activity allocation model. This model can currently allocate employment and population into buildings and other built forms and simultaneously calculates space, rents, flows of goods, services, and labor, and consumer surplus for each household and employment activity type.
Principal Investigator: Caroline J. Rodier, Ph.D., Assistant Research Engineer, California PATH, University of California Berkeley
Team Member:Joseph Michael Pogodzinski, Ph.D., Professor, San Jose State University
Institution:
Mineta Transportation Institute
Telephone Number:
(408) 924-7560
Email Address: mti@mti.sjsu.edu
Project Objective:
The proposed research will enhance the calibration of the PECAS activity allocation model and use the model to simulate the EJ effects of a smart growth scenario (or the Preferred Blueprint) and an urban sprawl scenario (or the Base Case). The EJ effects simulated with the PECAS activity allocation model will include a consumer surplus measure (for each of the 16 income household classes), which will represent changes in household access to jobs and payments for goods and services (including household rents and transportation costs). In addition, the employment categories will allow for some assessment of benefits and losses to low-wage and/or minority dominated labor categories by location (e.g., service and agricultural workers).
Project Abstract:
In recent years, there has been increased recognition of the potentially harmful social, economic, and health effects of highway induced urban sprawl on low income and minority groups. Many have asserted that the emphasis of transportation policy on highway construction after World War II restricted these groups’ access to jobs, education, health care, and other important services and increased their exposure to harmful air pollutants.
In response, many have advocated smart growth and/or TODs policy strategies to redress the perceived harmful effects of urban sprawl and improve access opportunities for minorities and low income groups. Today, there are over 100 existing TOD projects in the United States. A diverse mix of TOD projects is found across the country, and current trends indicate that the number and type of TOD projects will increase over the coming years. TODs exists not just in cities with well-established rail infrastructure, but increasingly, in areas limited to bus service. While most are developed in nodes, TOD corridors are beginning to emerge, notably in the Arlington County, Virginia, and the Hollywood Area of Los Angeles.
Some studies have evaluated EJ benefits from TODs. For example, the Fruitvale TOD in Oakland, California, identified more jobs, improved property values, and better air quality to low income and minority populations as key EJ benefits from the project. However, other studies disagree that TOD policies are a solution to income equality or central city declines.
Milestones Dates:
Task 1: Literature Review
Review literature on the EJ effects of smart growth/TODs and sprawl.
Task 2: Additional PECAS Calibration
Conduct additional calibration of the Sacramento PECAS model to Sacramento area data.
Task 3: Simulate Scenarios
Prepare data files for scenario and simulate scenarios including sensitivity analyses.
Task 4: Analyze Scenario Results
Analyze outputs from PECAS model to construct a number of EJ measures.
Task 5: Draft Report
Draft final report and submit for peer review.
Task 6: Final Report
Draft report including peer review comments. (see MTI note below)
Submit TRB paper for presentation and publications following completion of report.
Total Budget: $51,518(Includes $6,450 for MTI’s costs in both above amounts)
Student Involvement:TBD
Technology Transfer Activities:
Upon publication, pdf and html versions will be available on the Mineta Transportation Institute web site. The project experience and data will be available for community meetings. Authors are encouraged to submit articles based on the research to relevant journals and to present the information to end-users at conferences.
Potential Benefits of the Project:
This project will produce a number of practical research applications. The results will:
1. Further federal, state, and regional transportation agencies’ understanding of the advantages of applying advanced activity based land use model to evaluate the EJ effects of transportation and land use plans.
2. Significantly contribute to the limited academic literature on the EJ effects of smart growth/TODs and urban sprawl.
3. Assist SACOG in their model development process by enhancing the calibration of the PECAS model and by providing opportunities for staff training on the operation of the model. The results of the study will be submitted to the Transportation Research Board for presentation and publication.
The proposed project addresses four MTI areas of emphasis: 1) interrelationships among transportation, land use, the environment, and the economy; 2) transportation decision making and consensus building; 3) transportation planning and policy development; and (4) sustainable transportation.
In addition, the proposed project directly addresses two MTI and Caltrans suggested topics: 1) Model approaches to environmental justice in transportation planning, programs and projects, including identifying and removing the barriers to minority and low-income community participation in transportation planning and decision making at the local and regional levels. 2) Address the interaction between transportation, land use, and social equity. Identify best practices in smart growth that incorporate equity principles and support those principles with transportation investment. This project also addresses the EQUITY research issue identified by the executive committee of the Transportation Research Board as critical.
TRB Keywords:Environmental impacts; Land use; Land use planning; Transportation planning; Travel demand; Travel demand management; Trip distribution
Primary Subject:
Transportation/Land Use/ Environment
Goals:
To foster an understanding of federal, state, and regional transportation agencies’ knowledge of the advantages of applying advanced activity based land use model to evaluate the EJ effects of transportation and land use plans by contributing to academic literature regarding EJ effects of smart growth/TODs and urban sprawl. This project will also assist SACOG in its model development process by enhancing the calibration of the PECAS model and by providing opportunities for staff training on the operation of the model.
Enabling Research:
Legal analysis; Modeling; Statistical analysis
Modal Orientation:
Roads; Planning
