Abstract
Civil engineers recognize the need to better address the potential consequences of infrastructure systems on social equity. However, the challenge has been translating social equity concerns into metrics that are usable in engineering analyses. In this case study, the authors aim to identify such metrics that can be subsequently used by engineers who seek to make equity-informed infrastructure construction, replacement, and rehabilitation decisions. Combining geospatial and statistical techniques on publicly available data sources, this research proposes a quantitative framework for how to incorporate social equity metrics into infrastructure analyses. The feasibility of this framework is analyzed in the case of Pennsylvania’s bridge system. This feasibility study finds that selection effects (i.e., factors that drive bridge siting) are stronger than treatment effects (i.e., changes that occur after bridge construction) of bridges on social equity. Consistent variables are also identified as correlated with such effects (e.g., demographic and, to a lesser degree, family variables). Overall, this research proposes measures and an approach that helps local government transportation agencies better incorporate social equity into infrastructure construction, replacement and rehabilitation.
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Data Availability Statement
Data analyzed during the study were provided by a third party. Requests for data should be directed to the provider indicated in the Acknowledgements. Information about the Journal’s data-sharing policy can be found here: http://ascelibrary.org/doi/10.1061/(ASCE)CO.1943-7862.0001263.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to acknowledge Dr. Burcu Akinci and Dr. Sean Qian for their guidance and support. Additionally, the authors would like to express gratitude to Dr. Alex Davis, Dr. Edson Severnini, Dr. Granger Morgan, Dr. Mitch Small, and anonymous reviewers for their questions, advice and suggestions. This project was financed in part by the Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force’s Captains to Prestigious Ph.D. Program and by a grant from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Community and Economic Development. Finally, the authors also acknowledge and thank the following sources of data: GeoLytics (2018), the Pennsylvania DOT (2018a), and Geofabrik (2018).
Disclaimer
The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of the United States Air Force, Department of Defense, the US Government.
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Published In
Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
Volume 146 • Issue 11 • November 2020
Copyright
© 2020 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Oct 28, 2019
Accepted: May 18, 2020
Published online: Aug 31, 2020
Published in print: Nov 1, 2020
Discussion open until: Jan 31, 2021
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