Transportation Equity

Pedestrian and Bicycle Planning in Rural Communities: Tools for Active Living

Aytur, SA
Satinsky, SB
Evenson, KR
Rodriguez, DA
2011

Pedestrian and bicycle planning has traditionally been viewed from an urban design perspective, rather than a rural or regional planning perspective. This study examined the prevalence and quality of pedestrian and bicycle plans in North Carolina according to geography, regional planning, and sociodemographics. Plan prevalence was lower, but plan quality tended to be higher, in rural areas compared with urban areas. Correlations between plan prevalence and active commuting were strongest in lower-income rural areas. By engaging in the planning process, rural residents and other...

Exploring Walking Differences by Socioeconomic Status Using a Spatial Agent-Based Model

Yang, Y
Roux, AV Diez
Auchincloss, AH
Rodriguez, DA
Brown, DG
2012

We use an exploratory agent-based model of adults' walking behavior within a city to examine the possible impact of interventions on socioeconomic differences in walking. Simulated results show that for persons of low socioeconomic status, increases in walking resulting from increases in their positive attitude towards walking may diminish over time if other features of the environment are not conducive to walking. Similarly, improving the safety level for the lower SES neighborhoods may be effective in increasing walking, however, the magnitude of its effectiveness varies by levels...

Assessing the Environmental, Economic and Social Benefits of Well-Located Workforce Housing

Rohe, W
Cowan, S
Rodriguez, D
1012

The jobs-housing imbalance in many metropolitan areas contributes to long work commutes and the related problems of air pollution, traffic congestion, and loss of both discretionary income and time that could be spent in more productive and meaningful ways. This is a particular problem for low- and moderate-income workers who may have to travel long distances from their places of work to find affordable housing. This article presents a methodology for assessing the potential environmental, economic, and social benefits of constructing new affordable housing close to major employment...

Spatial Inequalities and Pedestrian Injuries in Cali, Colombia

Villaveces, A
Clough, L
Rodriguez, D
Bangdiwala, S
Gutierrez, N
Serre, M
2012

To determine the temporal and spatial distribution of pedestrian injuries in Colombia in relation to the socio-economic level of individuals and the place of event occurrence. Temporal and spatial analyses of pedestrian injuries using land use regression models were developed to assess the distribution and contributing factors to pedestrian injuries associated with urban infrastructure but focusing especially on socio-economic level of injured pedestrians and characteristics of the place where events occurred while accounting for temporal variations. Data from the land use regression...

Built Environment Change and Change in BMI and Waist Circumference: Multi‐Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis

Hirsch, JA
Moore, K
Barrientos‐Gutierrez, T
Brines, SJ
Zagorski, MA
Rodriguez, D
Roux, AV Diez
2014

To examine longitudinal associations of the neighborhood built environment with objectively measured body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference (WC) in a geographically and racial/ethnically diverse group of adults. This study used data from 5,506 adult participants in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis, aged 45-84 years in 2000 (baseline). BMI and WC were assessed at baseline and four follow-up visits (median follow-up 9.1 years). Time-varying built environment measures (population density, land-use, destinations, bus access, and street characteristics) were created using...

Joint Impacts of Bus Rapid Transit and Urban Form on Vehicle Ownership: New Evidence From a Quasi-Longitudinal Analysis in Bogotá, Colombia

Combs, T
Rodriguez, D
2014

Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) has become popular as a means to provide non-automobile-based mobility and alleviate the impacts of rising traffic congestion in cities around the world. However, there is little empirical evidence supporting BRT’s potential to meet these objectives. This research improves our knowledge of BRT’s potential as an alternative to vehicle ownership at the household level and provides new evidence of the role of urban form in supporting transit investment. We use a difference-in-differences research design to examine the change in vehicle ownership from before to...

Longitudinal Analysis of Adolescent Girls’ Activity Patterns: Understanding the Influence of the Transition to Licensure

Shih, J
McKenzie, T
Merlin, L
Cohen, D
Rodriguez, D
Hu, H
Evenson, K
2015

The proportion of teens and young adults with driver’s licenses has declined sharply in many industrialized countries including the United States. Explanations for this decline have ranged from the introduction of graduated driver licensing programs to the increase in online social interaction. We used a longitudinal cohort study of teenage girls in San Diego and Minneapolis to evaluate factors associated with licensure and whether teens’ travel patterns become more independent as they age. We found that licensure depended not only on age but also on race and ethnicity as well as on...

Longitudinal Analysis of Adolescent Girls' Activity Patterns: Understanding the Influence of the Transition to Licensure

McDonald, NC
Merlin, L
Hu, H
Shih, J
Cohen, D
Evenson, K
McKenzie, T
Rodriguez, D
2017

The proportion of teens and young adults with driver's licenses has declined sharply in many industrialized countries including the United States. Explanations for this decline have ranged from the introduction of graduated driver licensing programs to the increase in online social interaction. We used a longitudinal cohort study of teenage girls in San Diego and Minneapolis to evaluate factors associated with licensure and whether teens' travel patterns become more independent as they aged. We found that licensure depended not only on age, but on race and ethnicity as well as...

Neighborhood Built Environment and Cognition in Non-Demented Older Adults: The Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis

Besser, LM
Rodriguez, DA
McDonald, N
Kukull, WA
Fitzpatrick, AL
2018

Preliminary studies suggest that neighborhood social and built environment (BE) characteristics may affect cognition in older adults. Older adults are particularly vulnerable to the neighborhood environment due to a decreasing range of routine travel with increasing age. We examined if multiple neighborhood BE characteristics are cross-sectionally associated with cognition in a diverse sample of older...

Social (In) Equity in Access to Cycling Infrastructure: Cross-sectional associations Between Bike Lanes and Area-Level Sociodemographic Characteristics in 22 large US cities

Braun, L
Rodriguez, D
Gordon-Larsen, P
2018
Cycling advocates have recently argued that low-income and minority communities across the U.S. have disproportionately low access to bike lanes. To date, however, quantitative evidence of disparities in access to bike lanes is limited to a small number of cities. We address this research gap by examining cross-sectional associations between bike lanes and...