Research Project Description
Mineta Transportation Institute
Phase Two: Evaluating the Environmental Justice Effects of Land Use and Transportation Scenarios in the Sacramento Region with the PECAS Activity Allocation Model and an Advanced Travel Demand Model
Project Number: 2705
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 more than 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 calculate space, rents, flows of goods, services, and labor, and consumer surplus for each household and employment activity type.
This is phase 2 of the project.
Principal Investigator:Caroline J. Rodier, Ph.D., Assistant Research Engineer, California PATH, University of California Berkeley
Team Member: Terry Trumbull, J.D., Lecturer, San José State University
Consulting Services: HBA Specto, Inc. (Doug Hunt, Professor, University of Calgary; John Abraham, Research Faculty, University of Calgary)
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:
The proposed Phase Two study will expand the Phase Two research by linking the current Sacramento travel demand model to the PECAS activity allocation model. The linking of these two models will enable the evaluation of the EJ consumer surplus effects not only from changes in land uses in the Preferred Blueprint scenario (relative to the urban sprawl or Base Case scenario), but also from changes in travel time and cost from the transportation projects included in those scenarios. More specifically, the emphasis on transit investment in the Preferred Blueprint scenario versus highway investment in the Base Case scenario. In sum, Phase One will allow examination of EJ consumer surplus effects from changes in land use only, but Phase Two will allow examination of EJ consumer surplus effects from both changes in land uses and transportation investment scenarios.
Milestones Dates:
Task 1: Link PECAS to SACMET Model
Conduct additional calibration and programming to link the Sacramento PECAS model to the Sacramento Travel Demand model.
Task 2: Simulate Scenarios
Prepare data files for scenario and simulate scenarios including sensitivity analyses.
Task 3: Analyze Scenario Results
Analyze outputs from PECAS model and SACMET to construct a number of EJ measures.
Task 4: Draft Report
Draft final report and submit for peer review; analyze the legal requirements for EJ analysis at the federal, state, and regional level for new transportation projects.
Task 5: Final Report
Draft report including peer review comments.
Submit TRB paper for presentation and publications.
Following submission of Final Report, allow two months for MTI to complete the project: editing, proofreading, printing.
Anticipated completion date:
Total Budget: $53,550 (Includes $6,450 for MTI’s costs)
Student Involvement:
Student Research Assistant, San Jose State University TBA
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 an 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 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. 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; Transportation planning
