Major
Business Administration
Anticipated Graduation Year
2021
Access Type
Open Access
Abstract
This research paper is examining the impact and social equity of funding for projects that improve and expand the Chicago "L" rail system. Equity is an extremely multi-faceted concept, so this report uses a metric called a “Hardship Index” that uses census data to assess the quality of living in individual neighborhoods in Chicago. This data is compared to Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) rail locations to draw conclusions between equity and access to public transit. This study also looks at other transit investment impacts such as health implications and potential macroeconomic return over time. Our data finds that there is a significant correlation between CTA access and lower hardship in serviced neighborhoods and a slight correlation between historical CTA rail projects and their social impacts. Our report endorses upcoming rail projects, such as the proposed $2.3 Billion Red Line Extension project, with the stipulation that hardship data and existing access are considered when deciding where rail extensions will be built.
Faculty Mentors & Instructors
Professor Anne Reilly
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
Linking Public Transit Investment with Social and Economic Equity of Chicago Neighborhood Communities
This research paper is examining the impact and social equity of funding for projects that improve and expand the Chicago "L" rail system. Equity is an extremely multi-faceted concept, so this report uses a metric called a “Hardship Index” that uses census data to assess the quality of living in individual neighborhoods in Chicago. This data is compared to Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) rail locations to draw conclusions between equity and access to public transit. This study also looks at other transit investment impacts such as health implications and potential macroeconomic return over time. Our data finds that there is a significant correlation between CTA access and lower hardship in serviced neighborhoods and a slight correlation between historical CTA rail projects and their social impacts. Our report endorses upcoming rail projects, such as the proposed $2.3 Billion Red Line Extension project, with the stipulation that hardship data and existing access are considered when deciding where rail extensions will be built.