Evaluating Equity in Public Engagement Processes Used in State Transportation Planning and Design

Equity as a policy value has two primary elements: a procedural element (how interested or affected stakeholders are involved in decision-making) and a distributional element (how decisions confer benefits and spread costs across different groups, especially historically disadvantaged populations). Our year 1 project explored how key personnel in the Delaware Department of Transportation conceptualized and operationalized equity in their decision-making for capital expenditures. This year 2 project would further investigate and evaluate equity in the public engagement processes used in state transportation planning and project design.

To determine the processes and practices involved, we will use a multiple case study design involving document review and semi-structured interviews with key informants of the state DOTs in Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia. Where available, we will also conduct spatial and quantitative analysis of recent public engagement data to evaluate their effectiveness at reaching target populations. The resulting evaluation will provide a baseline understanding of engagement processes and who participates across different settings and project types. Further investigation in year 3 could identify innovative and inclusive engagement processes to pilot or expand in future years. Research findings will be communicated with state DOT leadership and local government officials.

The ultimate goal of this research project is to enhance the procedural equity of stakeholder engagement in project planning and design in Delaware's, Maryland's, and Virginia’s Departments of Transportation. The research will accomplish this by evaluating these states’ stakeholder engagement techniques and offering comparative analyses to highlight strategies that generate equitable participation. The DOTs can then reinforce effective methods and reevaluate approaches that do not foster a fairer, more just, and accessible stakeholder engagement system.