How Agency Practitioners Understand and Implement Transportation Equity in Delaware’s Capital Expenditure Process

Abstract

Equitable outcomes are an increasingly important expectation for expenditures by state Departments of Transportation, yet little is known about the methods and practices used to incorporate the amorphous concept of equity into budgetary decision-making on infrastructure. This research project employs semi-structured interviews with key personnel in the Delaware Department of Transportation (DelDOT) and local Metropolitan Planning Organizations to illuminate their conceptualization of equity and how it influences capital expenditures for the state’s transportation systems. Utilizing a pre-existing framework for understanding transportation equity, our findings indicate that key personnel in DelDOT both conceptualize and operationalize the idea along three main lines: Fair Share (communities are involved in planning, infrastructure supports non-drivers, and investments are distributed across the state), Inclusivity (infrastructure and mobility systems prioritize accessible options for individuals with special needs), and Social Justice (areas with low-income and minority communities are prioritized for investments, minority-owned businesses receive support for procurement and contracting). The mechanisms through which equity becomes operationalized in capital expenditures include federal requirements and funding, project identification and planning processes, DelDOT’s homegrown Equity Analysis Tool, Project Prioritization Criteria used to rank and sort candidate projects, and DelDOT’s Disadvantaged Business Enterprise Program.