The Transportation Analysis Framework, developed in response to Senate Bill 743, requires Caltrans to evaluate highway expansion projects on the State Highway System (SHS) by their induced travel impacts, measured as vehicle miles traveled (VMT). Impacts from the projects' induced VMT must be mitigated to the extent feasible, as required by the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and the CEQA Guidelines. Because VMT by definition covers broad geographies, the impacts of SHS expansion projects and their mitigations can disproportionately benefit and harm different communities and sociodemographic groups. This project will develop guidance for evaluating sociodemographic disparities of these impacts. There are three objectives. The first is to identify key factors for equity assessment (which involves defining transportation equity and justice in the context of VMT, communities of concern, and equity-related performance measures), drawing from existing sources and stakeholder input. The second objective is to identify VMT mitigation actions relevant to SHS expansion projects. The third objective is to evaluate the outcomes of such projects and mitigation measures by assessing the equity of impacts across sociodemographic groups and in communities of concern.
