Trail Blazing a Path to Equity


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Certification Maintenance


CM | 1
Eq | 1


Learning Outcomes

  • Recognize how Richmond's Path to Equity planning initiative analyzes and resolves existing transportation inequities through community-informed equity factors and innovative needs metrics.
  • Apply multimodal accessibility metrics to investigate the ways that land use, development patterns, and transportation networks perpetuate inequitable access to opportunities.
  • Anticipate how accessibility improvements, generated by multimodal transportation projects, could drive changes in land values, land uses, or demographics, and discover strategies that mitigate the potential displacement of vulnerable populations.

More Course Details

A transportation-planning overhaul in Richmond makes equity central to decision making. "Path to Equity: Policy Guide for Richmond Connects" frames a way to meet transportation system goals and shapes how multimodal transportation, accessibility, and equity needs are defined, identified, and addressed. Speakers explain how "Path to Equity" articulates desired transportation-equity outcomes; guides the identification of metrics for, and assessments of, multimodal needs; and acknowledges the city's power to perpetuate or mitigate transportation-system inequities. They describe how assessing multimodal accessibility shifts the focus of Richmond's transportation planning from improving mobility to maximizing opportunities for connections between travelers and key destinations like jobs and health care.

Using real-world examples, they demonstrate how to recalibrate common accessibility measurements and use the resulting, "enhanced" metrics to identify transportation inequities and diagnose their underlying causes, thereby preparing a guide for future planning and investments. Speakers also review proactive strategies to mitigate the displacement of vulnerable communities so that transportation investments generate equitable benefits.