Transportation Equity Training for MnDOT

Summary:

Some communities have experienced disparate impacts from transportation network decisions and implementation. Highway building in the 1960s cut through or destroyed primarily Black urban communities, and policies, design and other agency functions continue to create hardships for certain segments of Minnesota’s population. Varying assumptions and perspectives, and explicit or implicit biases among MnDOT employees can unduly burden people based on their race, gender, disability, age or other characteristics. New training resources can help MnDOT advance equity by addressing existing and reducing future disparate impacts from management of the transportation system. With the goals of creating a shared understanding and building employee capacity, a project team representing multiple perspectives reviewed previous research, case studies and narratives to illustrate and explain equity issues. The team then developed a two-day training program that includes historic information about transportation equity and demonstrations of how transportation decisions can unequally impact specific demographics by resulting in, for example, changes in travel choices or behaviors, or loss of access, property and communities. Additional training products were developed along with a summary video that highlights the issues and concepts of transportation equity. Among the lessons learned was the need to diligently consider equity issues in all Minnesota communities, from urbanized areas to smaller rural communities.

Final Deliverables:

• Video #2023-33
• Research Summary

Related Materials:

• Transportation Equity Training for MnDOT Employees  - (Blog Post)

Related Research: