Advancing Transportation Accessibility with AI-Powered Data

Transportation serves as the fundamental infrastructure of our communities, intricately connecting individuals and essential services. Access to safe and reliable transportation is vital for accessing job opportunities, healthcare, education, social activities, and other necessities. Yet millions of Americans grapple with accessibility challenges within the complex web of transportation networks across the US.

Comprehensive, accurate, and up-to-date geospatial data plays a pivotal role in supporting planning initiatives aimed at enhancing transportation accessibility. This blog explores how communities across the US are utilizing AI-powered geospatial data to analyze infrastructure and make enhancements to improve the accessibility of their transportation networks.

What is transportation accessibility?

The US Department of Transportation (USDOT) describes transportation accessibility as the “ability of all people to reach the destinations they need to visit to meet their needs”. It is characterized by equitable access to transportation for everyone while preventing discrimination against individuals with disabilities. A transportation network that is accessible allows people of all abilities to participate fully in various aspects of society, such as employment and recreational activities. Unfortunately, millions of people in the US experience transportation inaccessibility. The USDOT found that nearly a quarter of all transit stations across the country were reported as inaccessible. Issues with sidewalk infrastructure and essential features such as curb cuts and crosswalks contribute further to accessibility challenges.

Fortunately, municipal and state governments across the country are implementing planning initiatives to help improve transportation accessibility, supported by high-precision, AI-powered geospatial data.

Challenges in acquiring transportation mapping data

Despite the crucial role that accurate, comprehensive, and up-to-date geospatial data plays in realizing transportation accessibility, numerous Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) and Departments of Transportation (DOTs) struggle to acquire and maintain the geospatial data needed for planning. To effectively evaluate and plan for transportation accessibility, highly detailed vector data reflecting dynamic network elements such as crosswalks, sidewalks, bike lanes, and medians is essential. As you can imagine, it can be challenging to get detailed data for determining and planning transportation accessibility – such as sidewalk infrastructure with width attribution for an entire network. As a result, acquiring and sustaining this data over time has historically demanded considerable labor and financial resources from planning authorities. Some transportation planning departments opt to undertake first-party data creation, yet this approach can prove exceedingly time-consuming and expensive. Others may procure data from open platforms; however, such data may be outdated, fragmented, or lack detail. 

Leveraging AI-based geospatial data to support accessible transportation planning

Fortunately, artificial intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing this landscape. Ecopia AI (Ecopia) is empowering organizations with AI-powered geospatial data, making it easier than ever before to get the detailed transportation data needed for planning. Ecopia’s AI technology ingests imagery to extract high-precision transportation features at scale, with the accuracy of a trained GIS professional. This enables planners to spend less time on manual digitization and more time focusing on informed analysis to create more accessible transportation networks that cater to the diverse needs of communities.

Examining ADA compliance in Baltimore

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is a federal act that was established in the US in 1990 to prevent discrimination based on disabilities. This act establishes guidelines and regulations for transportation departments to develop and uphold accessible infrastructure. It outlines regulations designed to enhance accessibility for individuals with visual impairments, those who use wheelchairs, and other disabled groups. Detailed geospatial data plays a crucial role for planning departments in assessing accessibility features and ensuring compliance with ADA standards. These standards specify requirements for sidewalk width, curb ramps, bus shelters, wheelchair spaces, and other elements throughout transportation networks. Ensuring that this data is comprehensive, accurate, and up-to-date is crucial to understanding the current state of network features, identifying areas requiring improvement, and effectively planning for the future.

To demonstrate how geospatial data can provide insights into ADA compliance, Ecopia utilized data sourced from the Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT) and the US Census Bureau to analyze 700 miles of sidewalks, crosswalks, pedestrian bridges, and other infrastructure elements for ADA compliance and transportation accessibility within the region. The study also layered advanced transportation features with demographic information to uncover disparities in transportation equity. The findings generated insightful maps for decision-making, spotlighting areas with heightened transportation inequity and identifying locations with the most pressing needs. You can learn more about the project here.

Enhancing accessibility in Chicago with improved neighborhood mobility

Ecopia partnered with the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) to create a map of advanced transportation and land cover features for MPOs throughout the state, including the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP) which encompasses over 12,000 square miles. Manually digitizing these features would have taken the MPOs thousands of hours, but Ecopia’s AI-powered technology was able to extract them in record time with the level of accuracy of a GIS professional.

The 26 distinct features that Ecopia provides, including turning lanes, medians, stoplines, and more, are helping to support accessible transportation planning and ADA compliance in communities across the state. For example, an interactive map of sidewalk features from Ecopia has helped CMAP identify gaps in local sidewalk networks and develop plans for improving neighborhood mobility.

In addition to accessible transportation planning, the detailed dataset provided by Ecopia has also supported flood management and stormwater planning, housing, economic development, and other important planning initiatives throughout the state. 

Supporting accessibility in Contra Costa County with active transportation planning 

Creating accessible infrastructure not only accommodates individuals with disabilities but also promotes safer and more sustainable modes of travel for all road users. Accessible transportation is integrally linked with other transportation planning concepts such as active transportation planning and Vision Zero. Active transportation planning encompasses non-motorized forms of travel, while Vision Zero strives to eradicate all fatalities and serious injuries resulting from traffic incidents.

Ecopia collaborated with the Contra Costa Transportation Authority (CCTA) to support the community in achieving its Vision Zero and active transportation planning initiatives. Within just 2 months, Ecopia efficiently extracted transportation feature vector data from high-resolution aerial imagery, covering over 2,000 miles of road. This detailed vector data encompassed roadway and laneway specifications with width attributes, sidewalk and bike infrastructure, and more. The resulting right-of-way transportation planning maps were instrumental in aiding CCTA's pursuit of active transportation planning goals, ensuring the accessibility and safety of transportation networks.

Empowering connectivity: multimodal planning for accessibility in San Bernadino

Accessible transportation planning should aim to enhance accessibility across diverse modes of transportation. Multimodal transportation planning considers different transportation methods, such as buses, trains, and sidewalks, to create a cohesive network that enhances accessibility for all users by providing diverse and interconnected options to meet their travel needs. Providing a broad selection of accessible, dependable, and secure transportation choices fosters both accessibility and equity within transportation networks. Geospatial data plays an important role in understanding existing multimodal transportation networks and informing decisions to enhance accessibility within them. 

The San Bernardino County Transportation Authority (SBCTA), and Fehr & Peers, embarked on a project to enhance the accessibility and sustainability of transportation networks in the area. During the inventory process, it became evident that manual surveying would be a tedious and time-consuming process. SBCTA has 12,000 miles of sidewalks across the county, and assessing compliance along just 750 miles took six months for Fehr & Peers to complete. Recognizing a need for a more efficient approach, SBCTA and Fehr & Peers partnered with Ecopia to leverage advanced transportation features in the county. In three months, Ecopia digitized the county’s transportation network, which serves more than 2 million residents over 20,000 square miles. Beyond sidewalks, the advanced transportation features extracted by Ecopia included roads, left, right, split, and middle turn lanes, through lanes, shoulders, bike lanes, planting strips, raised medians, street trees, and more.  

Ecopia’s extraction of detailed transportation features has helped the county advance one of its main initiatives of furthering the development of multimodal transportation networks to support both accessibility and sustainability in the community. 

Advancing accessibility with AI-powered geospatial data 

Comprehensive, accurate, and up-to-date geospatial data is essential for tackling transportation accessibility challenges and supporting efforts in accessible transportation planning. Both advancements in technology and the availability of federal funding for Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) and Departments of Transportation (DOTs) are making accessing high-precision geospatial data more feasible than ever before.

To explore how AI-driven geospatial data can drive accessible transportation planning in your community, reach out to us for more information.