Ep. 32: Has the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Moved the Needle on Equity?

Episode Summary: Listen to national experts and certified planners, Keli Kemp and Kirsten Mote, both with Modern Mobility Partners, talk about what planners can do to approach transportation decision-making with an equity mindset. Listeners will learn the answers to the following questions in Episode 32: 

• How does the Biden Administration define equity? 

• What is Justice40, and why should transportation planners care about it? 

• How are these equity initiatives included in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law? 

• Has the BIL moved the needle on equity? 

• What else can be done to advance equity in transportation? 

Links: 

• The 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (colloquially the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law or BIL) allocated $1.2 trillion for transportation and infrastructure spending, with $550 billion for new investments and programs. https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/bipartisan-infrastructure-law/  

• The Biden Administration’s Justice40 Initiative is a commitment that 40% of the overall benefits of certain Federal investments flow to disadvantaged communities that are marginalized by underinvestment and overburdened by pollution. https://www.whitehouse.gov/environmentaljustice/justice40/  

• The Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool (CEJST) is a useful tool for decision makers to use to identify projects in disadvantaged communities. https://screeningtool.geoplatform.gov/en  

• USDOT’s Equitable Transportation Community (ETC) Explorer tool allows decisionmakers to identify projects in disadvantaged communities, with an emphasis on transportation burdened communities. https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/0920984aa80a4362b8778d779b090723/page/ETC-Explorer---Homepage/  

• Check out USDOT’s Equity webpage to see how the Federal government is prioritizing equity across policies and programs, with the aim of reducing transportation-related inequities nationwide. https://www.transportation.gov/priorities/equity  

Co-Hosts: 

• Keli Kemp, AICP, PTP has 25 years of experience in transportation planning and consulting and co-founded Modern Mobility Partners in early 2018 with Jennifer Zhan.  Keli holds a M.S. degree in Urban Planning from Texas A&M University. 

• Kirsten Mote, AICP has over 14 years of experience in transportation planning and is certified by MIT Media Lab’s Beyond Smart Cities program.  Kirsten is an Associate Vice President and Director of Smart Mobility Planning with Modern Mobility Partners. Kirsten holds a M.S. degree in City Planning from Georgia Institute of Technology. 

Guest Speaker: 

• Yasamin Khorashahi has over two years of experience in planning and local government decision making, and over five years of experience researching equity issues in STEM. She has a B.S. in Public Policy and a Master of City and Regional Planning, both from Georgia Tech. Yasamin joined Modern Mobility Partners as a Transportation Planner in January of 2024. 

Modern Mobility Partners is an Atlanta-based women and minority-owned transportation planning and traffic engineering consulting firm.  Service areas include smart mobility and transportation planning, demand modeling and traffic engineering, and data analytics and visualization. 

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