This paper reviews the equity implications of civil infrastructure, with a specific focus on pavement systems, a subject significantly underrepresented in existing research. While broader transportation studies have extensively addressed economic and societal equity concerns, equity issues related to pavements remain underexplored. This study synthesizes perspectives on optimizing pavement funding and maintenance strategies to address functional and equity-related challenges in urban transportation systems. Additionally, critical gaps in areas such as safety, noise, and air pollution are identified, offering recommendations for emerging research directions to advance equity in pavement infrastructure. The paper aims to inform experts in transportation engineering, urban planning, and public policy on the importance of pavement engineering in achieving equity in transportation. It also demonstrates how broader concepts of transportation equity can benefit pavement engineering practices. In support of this effort, a modern artificial intelligence (AI)-informed methodology was introduced to perform a comprehensive analysis of existing literature on transportation equity. Leveraging topic modeling and the emergent capabilities of large language models (LLMs), this approach categorizes literature into relevant themes such as socio-demographics, infrastructure types (e.g., highways, bridges), and equity dimensions like planning, financing, accessibility, and sustainability. The use of structured AI tools, particularly LLMs, revealed critical intersections between pavements and broader transportation equity concerns, demonstrating the potential of these tools to uncover hidden connections and enrich future research efforts.
Smetana et al. (Fri,) studied this question.