Accessibility Measures in Practice: A Guide for Transportation Agencies (2022)

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C-1   We reviewed relevant documents produced by all 50 state DOTs (or equivalent agencies) across the U.S., the District of Columbia (DC) DOT, and the Puerto Rico (PR) Highways and Transportation Authority. Table C-1 summarizes the results of this review. Rows highlighted in gray are those 44 DOTs found to be currently using or considering accessibility measures. A detailed look at the accessibility-related practices of six DOTs follows. These six states were chosen to represent a reasonable cross section of practices. Chapter 2 of the conduct of research report for this project, published as NCHRP Web-Only Document 330, provides additional detail about the use of accessibility by state DOTs. Arkansas The Arkansas Department of Transportation (ARDOT) developed the state’s first performance- based long-range intermodal transportation plan (LRITP) in 2017. The LRITP established six outcome-driven goal areas: safety and security, infrastructure condition, mobility and system reliability, economic competitiveness, environmental sustainability, and a multimodal transporta- tion system (1). Along with these goals, ARDOT defined related objectives after considering input received during public meetings and online. For example, the seven objectives developed to advance the economic competitiveness goal are the following: • Continue development of the four-lane economic development connectors (Four-Lane Grid System) to improve connectivity to all citizens and promote economic development. • Prioritize and enhance intermodal connections for both passenger and freight movement by establishing an appropriate network of intermodal connectors. • Collaborate with the Arkansas Economic Development Commission to identify projects that will improve the state’s economic competitiveness. • Use outputs from state Rail Plan to identify rail improvement needs. • Support the maintenance and operation of state highways, bridges, transit, rail, ports, locks, and dams. • Identify key routes in need of long-term additional capacity to support Arkansas and external trading partners. • Identify projects to address localized congestion/capacity issues that negatively impact freight movement. These seven objectives were designed to address not only the LRITP’s economic competitive- ness, but also multiple national goals directly and indirectly in the area of congestion reduc- tion, system reliability, and freight and economic vitality. Table C-2 briefly illustrates how each LRITP goal addresses recommended MAP-21 national goals (2). A P P E N D I X C State DOT Accessibility Practices

C-2 Accessibility Measures in Practice: A Guide for Transportation Agencies State Agency Document Reviewed AL ALDOT Alabama 2040 Statewide Transportation Plan, Performance Measures, Statewide Bicycle Pedestrian Plan AK ADOT & PF (Public Facilities) Let's Keep Moving 2036 LRTP, Statewide Active Transportation Plan AZ ADOT What Moves You Arizona 2040 LRTP,Statewide Bicycle Pedestrian Plan AR ARDOT We Move Arkansas 2040 LRTP,Bicycle and Pedestrian Transportation Plan CA CALTRANS Caltrans Strategic Management Plan 2015-2020 CO CDOT Transportation Matters 2040 Statewide Transportation Plan CT ConnDOT 2018 Connecticut Statewide LRTP,CTDOT Performance Measures DE DelDOT Innovation in Motion 2040 LRTP,BLUEPRINT FOR A BICYCLE-FRIENDLY DELAWARE DC DDOT MoveDC FL FDOT Florida Transportation Plan, FDOT Source Book GA GDOT 2040 Statewide Transportation Plan HI Hawaii DOT SmartTRAC (LRTP) ID IDT IDAGO 2040 LRTP, Statewide Bicycle Pedestrian Study IL IDOT Illinois LRTP,Public Transportation Plan IN INDOT 2045 LRTP IA IOWA DOT Iowa in Motion 2045 LRTP, Iowa Commuter Transportation Study, Bicycle and Pedestrian Long Range Plan KS KDOT Kansas 2008 LRTP KY KY Transportation Cabinet 2035 LRTP LA DOTD 2015 Louisiana Statewide Transportation Plan ME Maine DOT Maine Strategic Transit Plan 2025 MD MDOT 2040 Maryland Transportation Plan MA MASSDOT MassDOT 2018 Annual Performance Report MI MDOT Moving Michigan Forward 2040 LRTP,2005-2030 LRTP Goals, Objectives and Performance Measures Report MN MNDOT Minnesota GO Long Range Plan, MNDOT Research Service Technical Summary MS MDOT STIP 2019-2022 MO MODOT Missouri 2018 Long Range Transportation Plan MT MDT TranPlanMT NE NEDOT Vision 2032 LRTP NV NDOT Moving Nevada Through 2028 (LRTP) NH NHDOT 2030 LRTP NJ NJDOT Transportation Choices 2030 LRTP NM NMDOT New Mexico 2040 Plan NY NYSDOT New York State’s Transportation Master Plan for 2030,STIP 2030 NC NCDOT Connecting North Carolinians to Opportunities Strategic Plan,STIP Prioritization 6.0 Scoring Criteria, Weights, and Normalization for All Modes ND NDDOT ND Moves Active Transportation and Transit Plan OH OHIO DOT Access Ohio 2040 OK OKLADOT Moving Oklahoma Forward LRTP OR ODOT Oregon Transportation Plan, Oregon Transit Development Plan Guidebook, Oregon Public Transportation Plan, Oregon Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan PA PENNDOT PA On Track LRTP RI RI DOA Division of Planning Transportation 2035 LRTP, TIP Guiding Principles SC SCDOT Charting a Course to 2040 Multimodal Transportation Plan SD SDDOT South Dakota Statewide LRTP TN TNDOT TDOT 25 Year Long-Range Transportation Policy Plan TX TxDOT Strategic Plan for Performance Measure Recommendation, Texas Transportation Plan 2050, TxDOT Strategic Plan 2011-2015 Table C-1. Documents reviewed and accessibility-related practices at U.S. DOTs.

State DOT Accessibility Practices C-3   The LRITP Technical Memorandum 4A: Performance Measures 2017 (1) described recom- mended statewide performance measures. The purpose of the memorandum was to recommend rather than prescribe potential measures. The memorandum identified two measures for economic competitiveness: freight performance and accessibility. It recommended using Access Across America for statewide accessibility measurement largely because it is thought to be easily under- stood by lay audiences. It argued further that the wide adoption of this metric by peer agencies across locations allows easy comparison, and that it can be readily applied to different transpor- tation modes over time. The memorandum recommended gauging the year-to-year change in statewide average job accessibility for auto and transit because this measurement would identify how well Arkansas highway and transit systems serve workers seeking to access jobs. Additionally, accessibility mea- sures are powerful because they do not focus only on “traffic conditions” but incorporate infor- mation about opportunities as well. The agency stated that accessibility measurement would enable the agency to take the steps necessary to improve traffic conditions and transit services by better prioritizing projects. ARDOT has been making commitments and contributions to the FHWA pooled fund study supporting Access Across America since 2015. However, after reviewing publicly available documents, we were unable to confirm whether or how the Access Across America measures (or other accessibility measures) were applied for ARDOT’s most recent long-range plan and TIP LRITP Goal Area Map-21 National Goal Areas Congestion Reduction System Reliability Safety Infrastructure Condition Freight and Economic Vitality Environmental Sustainability Project Delivery Safety and Security X x x x x Infrastructure Condition x x x x x Congestion Reduction, Mobility, and System Reliability X x x x Economic Competitiveness X x x Environmental Sustainability x x Multimodal Transportation System X x x Table C-2. Arkansas LRITP goals and objectives. State Agency Document Reviewed UT UDOT Utah's 2040 Unified Transportation Plan VT VTrans Vermont 2040 LRTP VA CTB, VDOT, DRPT, OIPI LRTP (VTrans2040) Needs Assessment, DRPT Strategic Plan, OIPI Performance Management, OIPI Accessibility in Practice Guide WA WSDOT Washington Transportation Plan,Practical Solutions Performance Framework WV WVDOT West Virginia Multimodal Statewide Transportation Plan,STIP WI WISCONSIN DOT MAPSS Performance Improvement Program Connections 2030 LRTP WY WYDOT Wyoming Connects 2035 LRTP PR PRHTA 2045 Puerto Rico LRTP Note: DOTs highlighted in gray are those found to be using or considering accessibility measures. Table C-1. (Continued).

C-4 Accessibility Measures in Practice: A Guide for Transportation Agencies development. We found no measurement target specifying accessibility, e.g., the number or percent change in jobs reachable by auto or transit in a given travel time threshold. This may be something that is planned for a future long-range plan or TIP. ARDOT has called for coordina- tion and collaboration with the state’s MPOs about measuring accessibility. Meanwhile, ARDOT conducted an online survey for its bicycle and pedestrian transporta- tion plan as part of public outreach activities and developed the plan based on a summary of statewide findings on trip characteristics. Florida The Florida Department of Transportation’s (FDOT’s) Florida Transportation Plan (FTP) consists of three elements: the vision element, the policy element, and the implementation ele- ment. The vision element contains trends, uncertainties, and themes that will shape the future of transportation in Florida for the next 50 years. The policy element describes goals and objectives aimed at guiding FDOT and its partners (e.g., state, regional, and local transportation agencies) towards the vision over a 25-year period. It identified seven FDOT long-range planning goals: safety and security, infrastructure, mobility, transportation choice, economic competitiveness, quality places, and environment and energy. The implementation plan describes the roles of each transportation partner in implementing the FTP, which also establishes specific short- and medium-term actions and performance measures (3). The policy and implementation elements do not specify how accessibility is measured. How- ever, the FDOT Source Book technical report (4) details the methodologies used to develop performance measures and trends for the state. As summarized in Table C-3, the measures used by FDOT are all of the proximity and access to opportunities types. Additional measures, including “weekday span of service” and “revenue miles,” among others, are included for public transit. Under the classification scheme proposed in this work, we do not consider these to be accessibility measures since they do not contain any information about impedance. An alterna- tive measure that examined proximity to public transit of a certain span would qualify as an accessibility measure under our definitions. Table C-4 summarizes example methods that FDOT uses to estimate accessibility by each mode: auto, transit, bicycle, and pedestrian. Again, the measures show a blend of proximity and access to opportunities approaches. Data for the access to opportunities measures are drawn from the Access Across America products. FDOT has been making commitments and contributions to the FHWA pooled fund study supporting Access Across America since 2015. Data for the proximity measures are drawn from various spatial data and publicly available demographic sources such as FDOT’s Roadway Characteristics Inventory, the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, FDOT’s demographic analysis data, and the National Transit Database. Consistent with Access Across America, FDOT’s access to opportunities measures use a hybrid person/place approach to arrive at an overall average measure of accessibility weighted by the number of people (in this case, workers) who live in each place. An example of the type of informa- tion provided by this measure is shown in Figure C-1, taken from The FDOT Source Book (5). Hawaii The Hawaii Department of Transportation (HDOT) developed its first statewide LRTP in 2014. Titled “Statewide Federal-Aid Highways 2035 Transportation Plan,” it identifies existing and future needs for the movement of people and goods using all surface transportation

State DOT Accessibility Practices C-5   modes (6). It set nine planning factors (named goals in other states) including one referred to as “transportation access mobility.” Table C-5 shows each of the planning factors and how they relate to the MAP-21 national performance goals. Despite the appearance of the phrase “trans- portation access” in the planning factors, it does not appear that HDOT specified or employed any accessibility measures during plan development. We were unable to find publicly available documents related to HDOT performance measure calculations. However, our review identified HDOT’s pilot effort to apply accessibility measures to STIP project selection decisions via “SmartTRAC” (Smart Transportation Rank Choice). This effort is similar to Virginia DOT’s use of “SMART SCALE,” discussed further in the section on Virginia. The effort is being undertaken with technical assistance from Smart Growth America and the State Smart Transportation Initiative. Source: Florida DOT (4). Table C-3. “Mobility Performance Measures” in the FDOT Methodologies Source Book.

C-6 Accessibility Measures in Practice: A Guide for Transportation Agencies Source: Florida DOT (4). Table C-4. Example accessibility calculation methods used by Florida DOT. Under SmartTRAC, every proposed capital project will be rated in six goal areas including safety, system preservation, access to jobs and necessities, congestion reduction, environ- mental protection, and project readiness. Up to 16 points are available in the access to jobs and necessities goal area. Up to 12 points can be awarded for meeting accessibility objectives, and an additional four points will be awarded if the projects oer benets to low-income communities. Projects are assessed for their accessibility benets using Sugar Access, but no detailed information on travel time thresholds or specic opportunity types was located in our review. Rhode Island Rhode Island established the Division of Statewide Planning (DSP) within the Department of Administration, and it serves as a central planning agency for the state. e DSP developed the Rhode Island LRTP, “Moving Forward 2040,” in 2020 and the 2022–2031 STIP in 2021 along with the State Planning Council (SPC), which functions as the single statewide MPO (7, 8). Moving Forward 2040 identies ve overarching goals with associated performance measures: support economic growth, promote environmental sustainability, strengthen communities, maintain transportation infrastructure, and connect people and places.

State DOT Accessibility Practices C-7   Accessibility-related performance measures are located in several goal areas. Table C-6 summa- rizes these measures. Rhode Island’s TIP emphasizes accessibility in several sections. According to the transit access analysis in Section 5 – Transportation Equity Benefit Analysis, 99% of carless household special population group tracts intersect with public transit routes. Similarly, 87% of aging special popula- tion group tracts and 99% of minority, low-income, and environmental justice tracts intersect bus transit routes. Figure C-2 illustrates transit access for STIP funding programs. The state’s TIP priority areas emphasize accessibility improvement in order to receive state- wide funding, including federal grants. The primary driver of projects in the state must fit into one of the six designated priority areas: asset management (state of good repair), congestion Figure C-1. Example information from FDOT Source Book. Source: Florida DOT (5).

C-8 Accessibility Measures in Practice: A Guide for Transportation Agencies Table C-5. HDOT planning factors and MAP-21 performance goals. Goal Performance Measure Accessibility Measure Type Strengthen Communities % of population within ¼ mile of a dedicated bike facility Proximity Support Economic Growth Residents within ½ mile of frequent transit Proximity Support Economic Growth Jobs within ½ mile of frequent transit Proximity Source: State of Rhode Island et al. (7). Table C-6. Accessibility performance measures from the 2040 Rhode Island LRTP.

State DOT Accessibility Practices C-9   Figure C-2. STIP funding program analysis of transit accessibility. Source: State of Rhode Island et al. (8).

C-10 Accessibility Measures in Practice: A Guide for Transportation Agencies management and traffic alleviation, improving connectivity, expanding transportation options, multimodal transportation safety, and future potential projects—study and development. In Rhode Island, the TIP project selection is undertaken in two different ways. Bridge, pave- ment, traffic, and drainage projects are reviewed by Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT) staff. All other projects are evaluated by SPC subcommittees and recommended to the full Transportation Advisory Committee (TAC) and SPC for inclusion in the TIP. For instance, a transit subcommittee, comprising staff from Rhode Island Public Transit Authority (RIPTA), RIDOT, DSP, and other agencies, evaluates all transit-related projects and makes a recommen- dation for inclusion in the TIP. Virginia Until 2015, Virginia had two different statewide LRTPs: a state highway plan and “VTrans,” a multimodal transportation plan created by Virginia’s Commonwealth Transportation Board. After 2015, the two were merged into a single VTrans plan. Development of the most recent plan, VTrans 2040, involved producing two companion statewide planning documents, the VTrans2040 Vision (9) and the VTrans2040 Multimodal Transportation Plan. The VTrans2040 Vision defines statewide long-range transportation goals, objectives, trends, and guiding principles to achieve the vision. It also provides direction to regional and local transportation agencies as they seek to integrate statewide strategies and policies into their plans and programs. The VTrans2040 Vision included seven core guiding principles and five goals. The goal area most relevant to accessibility measurement is titled “accessible and connected places.” One of its associated objectives is to “increase accessibility to jobs” (9, p. 2). The VTrans2040 Multimodal Transportation Plan consists of four components: 2025 Needs Assessment, 2025 Recommendation, 2040 Scenario Analysis, and 2040 Freight Plan. The needs assessment notes the critical needs of auto and transit accessibility for Virginia’s performance-based planning (10). However, the document does not specify the accessibility measures to be applied. The methodology for accessibility measures is outlined in the SMART SCALE Technical Guide (11). SMART SCALE (System Management and Allocation of Resources for Transportation: Safety, Con- gestion, Accessibility, Land Use, Economic Development, and Environment) is Virginia’s statewide transportation prioritization process whose stated goals are to select projects that make the best use of limited tax dollars based on the VTrans2040 goals and objectives. The SMART SCALE evaluation team, comprising staff from the state’s Office of Intermodal Planning and Investment, Department of Rail and Public Transit, and VDOT, evaluates each capital project across six evaluation measures: 1. Safety 2. Congestion 3. Accessibility 4. Environmental quality 5. Economic development 6. Land use coordination By implementing SMART SCALE, Virginia pioneered the use of accessibility measures in statewide project selection. The accessibility measures in SMART SCALE consist of three com- ponents: access to jobs, access to jobs for disadvantaged populations, and access to multimodal choices. All three components are evaluated as described in Table C-7. VDOT uses Sugar Access to calculate cumulative opportunities accessibility measures associ- ated with each capital project, using travel times for automobile and public transit. It defined a 45-minute travel time threshold for auto and a 60-minute threshold for transit, and travel times are calculated between census block groups (11).

State DOT Accessibility Practices C-11   Washington The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) along with the Washington Transportation Commission developed the state’s LRTP, the “Washington Transportation Plan 2040 and Beyond” (WTP2040) in 2018 (12). The plan includes six statewide transportation goals: economic vitality, preservation, safety, mobility, environment and health, and stewardship. WSDOT has created a “Practical Solutions Performance Framework” for achieving its six transportation policy goals that emphasizes “performance-based, data-driven decision-making that guides strategic investments for all travel modes . . . [It] involves interdisciplinary and collab- orative decision-making with an emphasis on context, performance and community engage- ment” (13). The agency has created performance frameworks for the mobility and economic vitality goal areas (13). Each framework describes objectives as well as performance measures and metrics. The performance framework for mobility included three objectives: (1) improve and maintain accessibility, (2) increase and maintain predictability, and (3) improve efficiency. Each objective includes related measurement categories. Figure C-3 illustrates the associated measurement categories for each objective. Source: Virginia DOT (11). Table C-7. Accessibility measures used in Virginia DOT’s SMART SCALE. Figure C-3. Mobility performance objectives and subsequent measures at WSDOT. Source: WSDOT (13).

C-12 Accessibility Measures in Practice: A Guide for Transportation Agencies WSDOT defines (multimodal) accessibility (14) as ease of reaching destinations (e.g., jobs, services, schools, ports) from a specific location by different travel modes; and applies four per- formance measures: 1. Major destinations accessible 2. Pedestrian facility availability and connectivity 3. Bicycle facility availability and connectivity 4. Transit availability and connectivity Different methods are used to calculate each measure. For the major destinations accessible measure, WSDOT uses Sugar Access. It calculates access to jobs and non-work destinations by auto, transit, biking, and walking. Figure C-4 shows a map of accessibility to medical facilities within a 60-minute public transit trip. The second and third measures are determined by the quantity of available pedestrian and bicycle facilities within a distance (e.g., per mile). The last measure, transit availability and connectivity, examines presence of local and regional transit service, population, and job counts within a half mile of transit stops/stations and frequency of transit service. WSDOT also applies Sugar Access to assess its economic vitality goal area by evaluating the effects of transportation investments on an area’s economic potential. The two metrics are 1. Access to jobs by driving, transit, biking, and walking 2. Access to non-work destinations by driving, transit, biking, and walking In general, WSDOT identifies several different accessibility measures to achieve long-range planning goals. However, these are recommended measures and are not a requirement to make a final statewide transportation planning decision. References 1. ArDOT. Arkansas LRTP Performance Measures. http://www.wemovearkansas.com/docs/TM4A_Performance- Measures.pdf. Accessed Aug. 14, 2019. 2. ArDOT. ArDOT LRITP Technical Memorandum 3: Goals and Objectives. http://www.wemovearkansas. com/docs/TM3_Goals-and-Objectives.pdf. Accessed Sep. 27, 2019. 3. Florida Department of Transportation. Florida Transportation Plan (FTP)—Elements of FTP. http:// floridatransportationplan.com/ftpimplementation.htm. Accessed Sep. 27, 2019. 4. Florida Department of Transportation Forecasting and Trends Office. Methodologies for the FDOT Sourcebook—A Technical Report—2020. 2021. 5. Florida Department of Transportation Forecasting and Trends Office. The FDOT Source Book. 2021. 6. Hawaii DOT. Statewide Federal Aid Highways 2035 Transportation Plan. https://hidot.hawaii.gov/highways/ files/2014/09/Statewide-Federal-Aid-Highways-2035-Transportation-Plan_Yong.pdf. Accessed Sep. 27, 2019. 7. State of Rhode Island, Department of Administration, and Department of Statewide Planning. Moving Forward 2040. 2020. 8. State of Rhode Island, Department of Administration, and Department of Statewide Planning. State Trans- portation Improvement Program 2022–2031. http://www.planning.ri.gov/planning-areas/transportation/ tip-2022-2031.php. Accessed Sep. 13, 2021. 9. Virginia Office of Intermodal Planning and Investment. VTrans2040 Vision, Goals & Objectives, and Guiding Principles. http://www.vtrans.org/resources/VTrans2040-Vision.pdf. Accessed Sep. 27, 2019. 10. Virginia Office of Intermodal Planning and Investment. VTrans2040, VTrans Multimodal Transporta- tion Plan 2025 Needs Assessment. http://www.vtrans.org/resources/VTrans2040-Needs-Assessment.pdf. Accessed Sep. 27, 2019. 11. Virginia DOT. SMART SCALE Technical Guide. Richmond, VA, 2016. 12. Washington State Transportation Commission. Washington Transportation Plan. https://wstc.wa.gov/wtp/ documents/wtp2040.pdf. Accessed Sep. 27, 2019. 13. WSDOT. Learn about the Practical Solutions Performance Framework. http://performanceframework. wsdot-sites.com/learn-about-the-practical-solutions-performance-framework/. Accessed Sep. 27, 2019. 14. WSDOT. Multimodal Accessibility at WSDOT. https://www.wsdot.wa.gov/planning/multimodal-accessibility. Accessed Sep. 27, 2019.

State DOT Accessibility Practices C-13   Figure C-4. WSDOT visualization of Sugar Access results showing access to medical facilities within a 60-minute transit trip.