Abstract
Using ModelBuilder to Measure Environmental Justice in Transportation Plans
Track: Transportation
Author(s): Robert Done, Daoqin Tong
Federal transportation law requires that state departments of transportation and metropolitan planning organizations comply with environmental justice regulations in the development and implementation of transportation plans. Environmental justice requires that protected populations are neither disproportionately denied the benefits of nor disproportionately subjected to the detriments of transportation projects and programs.
This paper proposes the Distance Value Model (DVM) as a technique to measure environmental justice. The DVM compares two transportation project distributions: The Ideal Distribution is proportional to the population, while the Planned Distribution is a new spatial method. A statistically significant difference between the distributions may indicate environmental injustice.
The presentation will use transportation project data from a metropolitan planning organization in the western United States to demonstrate how transportation planners can use ArcGIS 9.3 Model Builder to implement the Distance Value Model. The modules will include data management, spatial analyses, and generation of the Ideal and Planned Distributions.
Robert Done
University of Arizona
808 N. Camino Miramonte
Tucson , Arizona 85716
United States
Phone: (520) 326-9530
Fax: (520) 327-4829
E-mail: rdone@email.arizona.edu
Daoqin Tong
University of Arizona
408 Harvill Building, Box #2
Tucson , Arizona 85721
United States
Phone: (520) 626-5166
E-mail: daoqin@email.arizona.edu