Saturday, Feb. 6, 2021 | 2 a.m.
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Modern transportation infrastructure gives many Americans access to jobs, health care, child care, food and recreation. But this same transit infrastructure has been used to separate majority-minority communities from majority-white suburbs, place environmental hazards in minority communities and push low-income individuals out of their homes as rents increase.
Transit agencies were created during the re-segregationist response to the civil rights movement, when the divide between “suburban” and “urban” meant the intentional divide between Black and white communities. The agencies sought to solve pressing transportation issues through the federal interstate highway system. Many projects were started in minority and low-income communities, dividing them and leading to their near abandonment, and also resulting in minority communities experiencing disproportionate exposure to pollution compared with white communities.
In the United States, African Americans are 54% more likely to be exposed to fine particulates, otherwise known as air pollution, and are three more times likely to die from asthma. This is not by chance: Because of racial discrimination and housing costs, low-income and minority neighborhoods are commonly located near air pollution hot spots such as truck routes, ports and development sites.
In order to combat these externalities and better use transportation policy as a way to alleviate poverty and social injustice, the Biden administration should focus on three areas: bringing community voices into transportation discussions, increasing access to existing modes of transportation, and increased housing support for low-income communities.
To bring more community voices into transportation, I propose the creation of Mobility Community Boards, where members of communities can be brought into conversations concerning transit equity, new developments and environmental justice. These boards can give insight to the true needs of the community, which is essential to reach an equitable and accessible transportation system.
To increase access and ridership in light of the pandemic, I recommend transportation agencies experiment with the creation of a “Free Fare Days” pilot program, inspired by the Utah Transit Authority’s free fare day plan. To further incentivize ridership, states can apply specific themes to the free fare days. These can include free days for senior citizens, students, essential workers, frontline workers or for activities such as supporting small businesses, grocery shopping, child care, doctor visits, etc.
My last recommendation to incentivize housing for low-income communities is for the federal government and local officials to use tax credits to encourage developments in low-income neighborhoods around small and medium-sized transit hubs. This would allow not only low-income individuals access to transportation essential to the needs of daily life, but also increase property values and bring in new businesses to the area.
Despite civil rights laws created to support the communities hurt by transit infrastructure, there are still many gaps in access to transportation, housing and jobs. By giving minority communities access to more choice in transportation, we are also giving them access to schooling, food, health care and jobs. In the long run, this means a more equitable, robust and resilient economy that will save the taxpayers money.
Elisa Vega is a third-year student at Northwestern University in the School of Education and Social Policy, majoring in Social Policy and Latinx Studies. She is an extern at Las Vegas-based Woods Strategies, where she focuses on the effects of transportation infrastructure on communities of color and low-income communities and how to alleviate negative effects. Her other areas of interest are social exclusion, poverty reduction and housing. The full report can be found online at WSNevada.com.
