Measuring Social Equity in Pavement Conditions Using Big Data

Pavement condition significantly impacts a region's socioeconomic status by affecting safety, economic effectiveness, and environmental aspects. The condition of the pavement directly impacts crash rates, fuel consumption, and pollution levels, necessitating equitable access for all, regardless of socioeconomic characteristics. We measured social equity in pavement condition by comparing pavement condition, represented by International Roughness Index (IRI), with community demographics. Analyzing more than 8 million records from Highway Performance Monitoring System (HPMS) data across multiple years, we established links between pavement quality and socioeconomic factors. We found that areas with higher proportion of African American, linguistically isolated population, and disadvantaged neighborhoods—in terms of housing/transportation—have lower access to high-quality pavement regardless of controlling factors such as region, road type, and traffic. Furthermore, a predictive classifier confirmed the influence of sociodemographic factors on pavement quality classification (good, acceptable, poor), emphasizing the need for social equity integration in pavement maintenance planning.