Welcome to this virtual open house for East-West Gateway’s transportation equity analysis!
Transportation investments are critical to creating a more equitable region. This open house focuses on findings and recommendations from the transportation equity analysis.
Connected 2050 aims to build and maintain a safe and accessible multimodal transportation system that serves everybody in the St. Louis region. Learn more about Connected 2050 here.
CONTENTS
Equity Analysis Draft Recommendations
What is equity in transportation?
- Focuses on fairness and providing access to opportunity.
- Recognizes that there are often different needs, barriers, or challenges facing different populations.
- Tailors solutions and provides appropriate investments to meet those needs.
- Reflects a fair distribution of the benefits and burdens of transportation.
- Recognizes that minority and low-income communities have historically been more harmed by transportation decisions such as highway development.
The equity analysis draft recommendations are grouped into five categories:
What are your reactions to these recommendations? What additional recommendations or strategies could help to advance equitable decision-making and outcomes within the EWG region?
“St. Louis is presently a "driving" city. Owning a vehicle should not be a prerequisite to being able to live here.”
– Resident quote from the Connected 2050 public survey
Historical Overview
The equity analysis reviews past transportation planning decisions, investments, and impacts in the St. Louis region. Key findings include:
- Transportation decisions and policies over the past 50-100 years have displaced and divided communities, disrupted street networks, and promoted development of the region’s suburbs
- African American and low-income communities have been historically isolated and displaced. A notable example is the demolition of Mill Creek Valley in the late 1950s, when thousands of families and businesses were displaced as part of an urban renewal project
- Past transportation decisions contributed to the region’s “spatial mismatch”, the physical separation between low-income workers and areas of job growth, which reinforces racial segregation and limits opportunities for increased income and wealth.
“The planning of that time did not plan for the future.”
– Mill Creek Valley roundtable
Current Conditions
The current conditions analysis assesses how people in the St. Louis region use the transportation system to travel to destinations in the region. Key findings include:
- Health concerns, such as asthma, are more prevalent for minority populations because of proximity to high-trafficked roadways and exposure to vehicular emissions and pollutants
- African Americans account for a disproportionately high number of fatalities due to motor vehicle and bike/pedestrian crashes. These fatal crashes are more likely to occur in areas with higher concentrations of African Americans and low-income households.
- Access by transit is very limited in the region, which is particularly problematic for people and households without access to a personal vehicle or those unable to drive such as people with disabilities or older adults. In 2019, the disparity between Black and White no-vehicle households in St. Louis was among the highest of peer regions.
“I have trouble using fixed route [services] and trying to cross streets to get to the bus stop as a blind person with hearing loss. My guide dog can't stand in the sun for long when temps are in the 90s and there is high humidity”
– Resident quote from the Connected 2050 public survey