Description: <DIV STYLE="text-align:Left;"><DIV><DIV><P STYLE="text-align:Justify;margin:0 0 0 0;"><SPAN>The Equity Index measures various community indicators to understand where burdens and disadvantage exist. It allows to visualize the highest impacts for opportunities are, so that we can guide how we roll out our resources and our programs.</SPAN></P><P STYLE="text-align:Justify;margin:0 0 0 0;"><SPAN>An index is a composite of indictors that produce a single calculation which can be scored, compared, contrast, measured, and standardized. The equity index helps to identify disparities and communities of concern (COC) within the state. We have: Nine (9) indicators, 8035 census tracts, 4 categories based on the standard deviation, and Population characteristics and racial demographic overlay, so we can see how populations are affected across the state and affect the different data points.</SPAN></P><P STYLE="text-align:Justify;margin:0 0 0 0;"><SPAN>The darker colors on the map indicate areas of highest burdens whereas lightest colors indicate lower burdens. Factors such as family, Income, individual health, environmental impact, and access to transportation, influence the kind of opportunities that people have.</SPAN></P></DIV></DIV></DIV>
Description: <DIV STYLE="text-align:Left;"><DIV><DIV><P STYLE="text-align:Justify;"><SPAN><SPAN>The Indigenous-Tribal Population indicator measures the percent of Indigenous-Tribal Populations within each census tract based on all specified and non-specified tribes identified in the American Community Survey (ACS). The Total Indigenous-Tribal Population) was divided by the Census Tract Population. Data for this indicator were collected directly from the Census Bureau at the census tract level for the 2019 ACS 5-year estimate (5-year estimate, 2015-2019). </SPAN></SPAN></P><P STYLE="text-align:Justify;font-weight:bold;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size:8pt">Rationale: </SPAN></P><P STYLE="margin:0 0 11 0;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size:10pt">Many Indigenous and Tribal communities lack representation in similar indicators. Upon initial development of this EQI, Caltrans heard from tribal communities a need to represent Indigenous and Tribal Populations in relationship to transportation equity indices. Indigenous populations have been documented to have higher rates of pedestrian injury and fatality. Researchers at the Governors Highway Safety Association documented 2015 to 2019, per-capita traffic death rates for American Indian and Alaskan natives were more than two and a half times those of the population overall — and nearly three times those of White people across all modes.</SPAN></P><P STYLE="text-align:Justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-weight:bold;"><SPAN>Data Source(s)</SPAN></SPAN><SPAN>U.S. Census Bureau (Extracted, January 5, 2022). 2019 ACS 5-year estimates. American Indian And Alaska Native Alone for Selected Tribal Groupings (Table - B02014). CSV </SPAN></P></DIV></DIV></DIV>
Description: <DIV STYLE="text-align:Left;"><DIV><DIV><P STYLE="text-align:Justify;"><SPAN>The Noise indicator measures direct proximity to the highway network. To measure noise, the home is the point to measure the proximity to highway nuisance. Measuring proximity to highway noise involves creating a buffer, computing the catchment area and areas without noise, standardizing the percentage areas without noise in each census tract to the regional average, and standardizing the percentage of the area covered by the buffer in each census tract to the regional average. </SPAN></P><P STYLE="text-align:Justify;"><SPAN><SPAN>Highway traffic noise is one of the most damaging environmental nuisances for the population. Low-income people and minorities tend to live in areas with high road traffic noise. Studies have shown that children under 15 years old, people 65 years of age and over, with continued exposure to high road noise levels, can trigger many problems in their health and well-being. They are the most vulnerable groups affected by high road traffic nuisance levels. </SPAN></SPAN></P><P STYLE="text-align:Justify;"><SPAN><SPAN>Road traffic noise mitigation practices such as noise barriers have been constructed along highways that traverse residential areas, but the increasing traffic counts on those highways have diminished their effects. Considering the negative impacts of highway traffic noise on children under 15 years old, people 65 years of age and over, minorities, and low-income people, close attention should be paid to these population groups when undertaking transportation policies and investments. </SPAN></SPAN></P><P STYLE="margin:0 0 11 0;"><SPAN STYLE="font-weight:bold;font-size:10pt">Data Source(s)</SPAN><SPAN STYLE="font-size:10pt">: Caltrans Linear Referencing System (LRS) Database, Highway Performance Monitoring System (HPMS) Data (2019). California Public Road Data (PRD). Shapefile </SPAN></P></DIV></DIV></DIV>
Description: <DIV STYLE="text-align:Left;"><DIV><DIV><P STYLE="text-align:Justify;"><SPAN><SPAN>The Nonwhite and/or Hispanic indicator measures the percent Nonwhite population within each census tract. Data for this indicator were collected directly from CalEnviroScreen v4.0 at the census tract level and cross verified with ACS table S0601 from the Census Bureau at the census tract level for the 2019 ACS 5-year estimate (5-year estimate, 2015-2019). The ACS table S0601 gives selected characteristics of the total and native populations in the united states, distinguishing between White alone and not Hispanic or Latino. </SPAN></SPAN></P><P STYLE="text-align:Justify;"><SPAN><SPAN>Given the percentages by race in CalEnviroScreen, the percentages of Hispanic, African American, Native American, Asian American, Pacific Islander, and Other Multi-races were summed to determine the percentage of nonwhite by census tract. </SPAN></SPAN></P><P STYLE="text-align:Justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-weight:bold;"><SPAN>Data Source(s)</SPAN></SPAN><SPAN><SPAN>California Environmental Protection Agency (Cal EPA) Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) (2021). CalEnviroScreen 4.0. Shapefile </SPAN></SPAN></P><P STYLE="text-align:Justify;"><SPAN>U.S. Census Bureau (Extracted, January 5, 2022). 2019 ACS 5-year estimates. Selected characteristics of the total and native populations in the united states (Table - S0601). CSV</SPAN></P></DIV></DIV></DIV>
Description: <DIV STYLE="text-align:Left;"><DIV><DIV><P STYLE="text-align:Justify;"><SPAN>The Traffic Deaths indicator measures the percent deaths within each census tract based on all accident death counts. The number of traffic deaths in the census tract is divided by the census tract population multiplied by 100 to determine the percent deaths. Traffic deaths data from 2010 to 2019 for this indicator were collected directly from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS). The geocoded crash data were combined to the census tract level for equity analysis. </SPAN></P><P STYLE="text-align:Justify;"><SPAN><SPAN>Various studies on traffic safety have primarily focused on injuries or deaths caused by motor vehicle accidents. Road, traffic, employment density, race, and income level have been used as independent variables in those studies. Crash rate or injuries counts, and loss of life have been used to quantify traffic safety for equity when conducting cost-benefit analysis. Moreover, studies of equity between races quantified crash rate as the number of people from a specified population injured in a census tract divided by the total population of that census tract. </SPAN></SPAN></P><P STYLE="text-align:Justify;"><SPAN>Safety countermeasures such as signalization, markings, and operational upgrades, geometric design, systemic safety projects, signs, and Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) can be taken to decrease the number of traffic injuries and fatalities. Systemic safety planning could be adopted to evaluate the entire system using a defined set of criteria to identify possible locations for safety investments to reduce the occurrence of and the potential for severe crashes. </SPAN></P><P STYLE="text-align:Justify;"><SPAN><SPAN>Systemic safety projects can be applied over an entire corridor to reduce crashes and risks along the whole corridor, help widen traffic safety efforts, and consider risk and crash history when finding where to make low-cost safety improvements. The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has nine recognized safety countermeasures such as road diets, medians and pedestrian crossing islands, pedestrian hybrid beacons, roundabouts, access management, retroreflective backplates, safety edge, enhanced curve delineation, and rumble strips that can be implemented depending on local transportation safety realities. </SPAN></SPAN></P><P STYLE="text-align:Justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-weight:bold;"><SPAN>Data Source(s)</SPAN></SPAN><SPAN>National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Fatality Analysis Reporting System (2021). Run a Query Using the FARS Web-Based Encyclopedia. CSV</SPAN></P></DIV></DIV></DIV>