Racial and Socioeconomic Fairness of Area-Level Traffic-Related Air Pollution Measure Aggregation

Area of Science:

• Environmental Science
• Public Health
• Urban Planning

Background:

• Environmental Protection Agency's Environmental Justice Screen (EJ Screen) and Department of Transportation's Average Annual Daily Traffic (AADT) are common proxies for traffic pollution exposure.
• Aggregation methods for area-level traffic pollution measures have not been thoroughly tested for bias.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the fairness and agreement of EJ Screen and AADT with a parcel-level traffic proximity measure.
• To identify potential biases in commonly used traffic-related pollution exposure proxies.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a parcel-level proximity measure developed for Hamilton County, Ohio.
• Compared EJ Screen and AADT to the parcel-level measure at census block group, census tract, and ZCTA levels.
• Assessed fairness using linear regression analysis.

Main Results:

• Average Annual Daily Traffic (AADT) showed significant agreement with the parcel proximity measure.
• Environmental Justice Screen (EJ Screen) did not show significant agreement and exhibited racial and community deprivation bias.
• Biases detected in EJ Screen, while not directly against specific demographic groups, could suppress known traffic pollution effects in future studies.

Conclusions:

• Common aggregation techniques for traffic pollution proxies like EJ Screen may introduce biases.
• The findings suggest a need for re-evaluation of EJ Screen's fairness in representing traffic-related pollution exposure.
• Further research is needed to address and mitigate biases in environmental justice assessment tools.