
Academies Provides Advice on How USDOT Competitive Grants Program Can Further Consider Equity
There has been a recently large increase in competitive federal grant programs for transportation, and the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) has considerable control over how the programs are structured and the funds awarded to states and other applicants. With this, USDOT has asked TRB and the National Academies to review the ways USDOT can emphasize and promote equity within the competitive grants process.
Phase one of a three-part study was released this morning. Elevating Equity in Transportation Decision Making: Recommendations for Federal Competitive Grant Programs (TRB Special Report 348) notes that equity needs to be pursued across all facets of USDOT’s competitive grant programs, from goal setting and project evaluations to ensuring that all eligible participants have the capacity to apply for grants and to implement them successfully.
Although questions of equity—of what is fair and just—will always be a part of transportation decision making, recent decades have seen a surge in research, advocacy, and policy making aimed at making surface transportation systems in the United States more equitable. Because the federal government does not currently build, own, operate, or even plan most transportation infrastructure and services directly, creating more fair and just surface transportation systems requires incentivizing other governments, agencies, and organizations to make decisions with these aims in mind.
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