Exploring transportation equity: Development and application of a transportation justice framework

•Environmental justice methods vary across transportation agencies.•A list of demographic, socio-economic and location-based factors are identified.•Transportation Justice Threshold Index Framework (TJTIF) method is developed using GIS.•TJTIF is applied to the Marcellus Shale region in PA, highlighting Sullivan County.•TJTIF can be applied by transportation planners to identify TJ areas across municipalities. Recent efforts to emphasize social equity in transportation are emerging as local, regional and national governments have set initiatives to identify, existing and potential, disproportionate impacts to low-income and minority populations, also referred to as transportation justice (TJ). Currently, there are suggested methods for identifying transportation justice areas; however, there is no streamlined method instituted across transportation agencies. Each jurisdiction identifies transportation justice (or environmental justice) areas based on their own methodology, typically based on either average regional thresholds, graduated thresholds, or a more unique in-house index methodology. This research explores and evaluates existing methods and develops a rigorous and comprehensive method called the Transportation Justice Threshold Index Framework (TJTIF) using Geographic Information Systems (GIS), as well as factors based on demographics, socio-economics, and transportation/land use. The framework is applied to a case study region in Pennsylvania reflective of the Marcellus Shale impact area, highlighting Sullivan County, PA. The methodology and the case study application serve as an example for how transportation agencies throughout the country can promote social sustainability and enhance transportation equity.