Equity Priority Community

The purpose of developing EPCs was to identify communities that have historically been marginalized and underserved by transportation projects. The EPC methodology predominantly focuses on demographic characteristics within communities, rather than broader mobility concerns, including barriers to access and quality of life issues. EPCs are Census block groups that have higher concentrations of demographic characteristics than other areas within the same county. As mentioned above, EPCs were developed in partnership with community members, with each criteria weighed differently by each county, depending on which were important and relevant to the local context. EPCs include criteria that are not featured in other geographies in this analysis, such as linguistic isolation, educational attainment, cost burden (housing and transportation), age, and ability.