Notice2023-03396
Request for Information on US DOT Equitable Transportation Community Explorer (ETCE) Tool and Index Methodology
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
February 21, 2023
Issuing agencies
Transportation Department
Abstract
The Department of Transportation is issuing this request for information (RFI) to solicit feedback on DOT's updated Transportation Disadvantaged Census Tracts Tool (now named US DOT Equitable Transportation Community Explorer) and Index methodology that supports the Administration's Justice40 initiative.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 88 Issue 34 (Tuesday, February 21, 2023)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 34 (Tuesday, February 21, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 10642-10644]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2023-03396]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
[Docket No. DOT-OST-2023-0020]
Request for Information on US DOT Equitable Transportation
Community Explorer (ETCE) Tool and Index Methodology
AGENCY: Office of the Secretary (OST), Department of Transportation
(DOT).
ACTION: Request for information.
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SUMMARY: The Department of Transportation is issuing this request for
information (RFI) to solicit feedback on DOT's updated Transportation
Disadvantaged Census Tracts Tool (now named US DOT Equitable
Transportation Community Explorer) and Index methodology that supports
the Administration's Justice40 initiative.
DATES: Issued February 17, 2023; responses to this RFI should be
received by March 18, 2023.
ADDRESSES: Comments should refer to the docket number above and
submitted by one of the following methods:
<bullet> Federal Rulemaking Portal: <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">http://www.regulations.gov</a>.
Follow the online instructions for submitting comments.
<bullet> Mail: Docket Management Facility, U.S. Department of
Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, West Building Ground Floor,
Room W12-140, Washington, DC 20590-0001.
<bullet> Hand Delivery: 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, West Building
Ground Floor, Room W12-140, Washington, DC, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.
ET, Monday through Friday, except Federal Holidays.
Instructions: For detailed instructions on submitting comments, see
the Public Participation heading of the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION
section of this document. Note that all comments received will be
posted without change to <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">http://www.regulations.gov</a>, including any
personal information provided.
Privacy Act: Except as provided below, all comments received into
the docket will be made public in their entirety. The comments will be
searchable by the name of the individual submitting the comment (or
signing the comment, if submitted on behalf of an association,
business, labor union, etc.). You should not include information in
your comment that you do not want to be made public. For information on
DOT's compliance with the Privacy Act, please visit <a href="https://www.transportation.gov/privacy">https://www.transportation.gov/privacy</a>.
Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents or
comments received, go to <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">http://www.regulations.gov</a> or the street
address listed above. Follow the online instructions for accessing the
dockets.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information, please email
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#53192620273a3036676313373c277d343c25"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="85cff0f6f1ece6e0b1b5c5e1eaf1abe2eaf3">[email protected]</span></a> or contact Kristin Wood at 774-293-2726. Office hours
are from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. EDT, Monday through Friday, except for
Federal holidays.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
Executive Order (E.O.) 14008, ``Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home
and Abroad'', and the subsequent ``Interim Implementation Guidance for
the Justice40 Initiative'' (M-21-28) charged each federal agency with
creating an interim ``disadvantaged communities'' methodology to help
each agency achieve the goal that 40 percent of the overall benefits of
investments flow to disadvantaged communities. Recently, the Office of
Management and Budget and Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) issued
M-23-09, an addendum to the ``Interim Implementation Guidance for the
Justice40 Initiative,'' (M-21-28) providing guidance on the use of the
Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool (CEJST).
In support of the Justice40 Initiative, the Department of
Transportation (Department) developed the interim Transportation
Disadvantaged Census Tracts (Historically Disadvantaged Communities)
tool. The Department is proposing to update and rebrand its current
tool as the U.S. DOT Equitable Transportation Community Explorer
(ETCE). The tool will serve an interactive web application that
explores the cumulative burden disadvantage communities experience
resulting from underinvestment in transportation in the following five
component areas: Transportation Insecurity, Climate and Disaster Risk
Burden, Environmental Burden, Health Vulnerability, and Social
Vulnerability. ETCE uses newly available 2020 Census Tracts and data,
adds additional indicators reflective of disadvantage related to lack
of transportation investment and updates the methodology used to
calculate disadvantage. In ETCE, individual variables and datasets are
combined to create a score for each component (Transportation
Insecurity, Climate and Disaster Risk Burden, Environmental Burden,
Health Vulnerability, and Social Vulnerability). The scores from each
component are percentile ranked and combined to create an overall index
score. Under this methodology, a census tract will be considered
disadvantaged if the overall index score places it in the 65th
percentile (or higher) of all US census tracts. The 65th percentile
cutoff was chosen to be consistent with other tools that measure
disadvantage including CEJST.
Applicants to DOT's discretionary programs have the option of using
CEJST and/or ETCE when developing funding applications. State DOT's and
Metropolitan Planning Organizations can use ETCE in developing their
Statewide Transportation Improvement Programs (STIPs)/Transportation
Improvement Programs (TIPs). DOT, as appropriate, will use ETCE as a
consideration in making funding decisions and setting policy. The US
DOT Equitable Transportation Community Explorer mapping tool, index
methodology, and datasets are available at <a href="https://cms.dot.gov/priorities/updated-justice40-tool-and-index-rfi">https://cms.dot.gov/priorities/updated-justice40-tool-and-index-rfi</a>.
II. Key Questions for Input
Through this request for information, DOT seeks input, information,
and recommendations on the US DOT Equitable Transportation Community
Explorer from a broad array of stakeholders in the public sector,
including state, Tribal, and local governments, and territorial areas,
and in the private sector, including
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advocacy, not-for-profit, academic, and philanthropic organizations, as
well as from any other interested parties. DOT will use responses to
this RFI to consider potential updates to the US DOT Equitable
Transportation Community Explorer. After DOT has updated the tool with
any modifications that are deemed necessary, the tool will supersede
the current Transportation Disadvantaged Census Tracts (Historically
Disadvantaged Communities) tool. Respondents to this RFI do not need to
address every question, but DOT welcomes input in the following areas:
1. Methodology: Please refer to DOT's Justice40 website for more
information regarding the tool's methodology (``ETCE Technical
Documentation'' available at <a href="https://cms.dot.gov/priorities/updated-justice40-tool-and-index-rfi">https://cms.dot.gov/priorities/updated-justice40-tool-and-index-rfi</a>.). Please provide comments and specific
recommendations for improving the methodology used to identify
disadvantaged communities that support the Justice40 Initiative.
2. Datasets: Data in this version of the tool provides measures in
the areas of Transportation Insecurity, Climate and Hazard Risk,
Environmental Burden, Health Vulnerability, and Social Vulnerability
(available at <a href="https://cms.dot.gov/priorities/updated-justice40-tool-and-index-rfi">https://cms.dot.gov/priorities/updated-justice40-tool-and-index-rfi</a>).
i. What recommendations for additional datasets would enhance and
improve upon the set of indicators currently used?
ii. Are there amenities DOT should be considering travel time and
access to other than jobs?
In your comments, please include why and how the data
recommendations would improve upon the current set of data and/or
indicators used in the tool.
A. In your response, please include the following:
i. Full information regarding data sources (including URL,
government agency, and/or organization);
ii. Intended measure--what does the dataset and/or indicator
measure (for example, pollution exposure or emissions, health
conditions, transportation access, etc.)?
B. Scope--does the recommended data and/or indicator include data
from all 50 states and territories? If not, please provide comments as
to how to address the issue.
C. A summary of the quality (i.e., completeness, accuracy,
consistency, and reliability) of the data for use in the tool; and
D. Geographic resolution of the data (i.e., census block, census
tract, zip code, county, etc.).
E. Is this data set publicly available?
3. Map Usability and Accessibility: The US DOT Equitable
Transportation Community Explorer map (available at <a href="https://cms.dot.gov/priorities/updated-justice40-tool-and-index-rfi">https://cms.dot.gov/priorities/updated-justice40-tool-and-index-rfi</a>) provides
an online geospatial platform that gives the user the capability to
identify the communities identified as disadvantaged. DOT is soliciting
information regarding usability and accessibility of the geospatial
platform as follows:
i. What modifications can improve the usability, accessibility, or
design of the mapping functions that display the data and results?
ii. Are there specific features or functions that will enhance the
usability of the interactive map by community members and
organizations, government staff, and other stakeholders?
iii. How do stakeholders search for a project--ex. zip code,
address, community name, census tract number etc?
iv. Does the tool's name reflect its purpose?
4. Additional Feedback: DOT seeks any additional feedback on the
updated Disadvantaged Communities Tool.
Please note: This version of the Equitable Transportation Community
Explorer map has been developed for illustrative purposes to
demonstrate the proposed index methodology. It is subject to change
following the public comment period.
III. Public Participation
How do I prepare and submit comments?
To ensure that your comments are filed correctly, please include
the docket number provided in (DOT-OST-2023-0020) in your comments.
Please submit one copy (two copies if submitting by mail or hand
delivery) of your comments, including any attachments, to the docket
following the instructions given above under ADDRESSES. Please note, if
you are submitting comments electronically as a PDF (Adobe) file, we
ask that the documents submitted be scanned using an Optical Character
Recognition (OCR) process, thus allowing the Agency to search and copy
certain portions of your submissions.
How do I submit confidential business information?
Any submissions containing Confidential Information must be
delivered to DOT in the following manner:
<bullet> Submitted in a sealed envelope marked ``confidential
treatment requested'';
<bullet> Document(s) or information that the submitter would like
withheld from the public docket should be marked ``PROPIN'' for
``proprietary information'';
<bullet> Accompanied by an index listing the document(s) or
information that the submitter would like the Departments to withhold.
The index should include information such as numbers used to identify
the relevant document(s) or information, document title and
description, and relevant page numbers and/or section numbers within a
document; and
<bullet> Submitted with a statement explaining the submitter's
grounds for objecting to disclosing the information to the public.
DOT will treat such marked submissions as confidential under the
FOIA and not include them in the public docket. DOT also requests that
submitters of Confidential Information include a non-confidential
version (either redacted or summarized) of those confidential
submissions in the public docket. If the submitter cannot provide a
non-confidential version of its submission, DOT requests that the
submitter post a notice in the docket stating that it has provided DOT
with Confidential Information. Should a submitter fail to docket either
a nonconfidential version of its submission or to post a notice that
Confidential Information has been provided, we will note the receipt of
the submission on the docket, with the submitter's organization or name
(to the degree permitted by law) and the date of submission.
Will the Agency consider late comments?
DOT will consider all comments received before the close of
business on the comment closing date indicated above under DATES. To
the extent practicable, the Agency will also consider comments received
after that date.
How can I read the comments submitted by other people?
You may read the comments received by contacting the Dockets office
at the address provided in the ADDRESSES section. The hours of the
Docket office are indicated in the ADDRESSES section. You may also see
the comments on the internet, identified by the docket number at the
heading of this notice, at <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">http://www.regulations.gov</a>.
Please note, this RFI is a planning document and will serve as
such. The RFI should not be construed as policy, a solicitation for
applications, or an
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obligation on the part of the government.
Signed in Washington, DC, on February 14, 2023.
Christopher Coes,
Assistant Secretary for Transportation Policy, Department of
Transportation.
[FR Doc. 2023-03396 Filed 2-17-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-9X-P
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