# Equity in Transportation Asset Management: A Proposed Framework
## 2 Materials and Methods
### Objectives  
Pavement quality plays a significant role in ensuring smooth transportation flow and connectivity. Well-maintained pavements offer a smoother, safer, and more reliable  
Figure 1: Schematic framework. transportation infrastructure system, which positively impacts daily activities, mobility, and access to essential services, including jobs, education, healthcare, and business opportunities. Therefore, every member of society has the right to access a good-quality pavement system. However, underserved communities often face greater challenges with the quality of their transportation infrastructure. In simple terms, underserved communities have less access to well-maintained and reliable infrastructure compared to other regions. Previous studies [38] suggest investigating various parameters' relationships with pavement condition (PC), such as population density, percentage of elderly people, race and ethnicity, traffic, education level, poverty rate, and unemployment rate. Using the factors, underserved areas were defined, as the results showed significant differences in pavement quality in areas with varying percentages of these factors. By minimizing differences in pavement quality among different groups in a community, transportation systems become more efficient and interconnected, benefiting not only underserved areas but the entire community. The first aspect of a sustainable pavement management system is social equity. Therefore, addressing these disparities by minimizing objective 1 ensures that all community members have access to safe and well-maintained pavements, promoting social inclusivity and cohesion. The objective function can be formulated as Equation (2). \[Minimize\;Objective_{1}=\sum_{i=1}^{n}\sum_{j=1}^{m}\bigl{|}PC_{UA,j}-PC_{OA,j} \bigr{|} \tag{2}\]  
where  
\(Objective_{1}\): Minimize the absolute difference in pavement conditions between underserved and other areas. \(PC_{UA,i}=\) Pavement condition in underserved areas. \(PC_{OA,j}=\) Pavement condition in other areas. \(n=\) Number of underserved areas. \(m=\) Number of other areas. constraints:  
\(PC_{UA,i},PC_{OA,j}:specified\)_ranges based on agency requirements_. Budget constraints. The environmental aspect of the pavement management system is defined as the second factor in a sustainable system. Reducing air pollution is a critical consideration in pavement planning, as air pollution, especially GHG emissions, significantly contributes to climate change and negatively affects air quality and public health. Therefore, another objective of this study is to improve air quality by selecting treatment options that produce less GHG emissions from two sources: traffic disruptions, which are influenced by traffic volume and treatment duration, and emissions from construction activities, which depend on the type of applied treatment (Equation (3)) [23; 32]. \[Minimize\;Objective_{2}=E_{C,k}+E_{T,k} \tag{3}\]  
where  
\(Objective_{2}\): Minimize the total emissions from construction and traffic disruptions. \(E_{C}=\) Emissions from construction activities in kg \(CO_{2}\) equivalents. \(E_{T}=\) Emissions from traffic disruptions in kg \(CO_{2}\) equivalents. constraints:  
Budget constraints. Emissions limits. Treatment feasibility and schedules constraints. The emissions from construction activities (\(E_{C,k}\) are dependent on the specific type of M&R treatment performed on a given road section. This component accounts for emissions generated from material production, transportation of materials and equipment, as well as the construction processes themselves. Consequently, M&R activities that are more extensive and intensive in nature will inevitably result in higher \(E_{C,k}\) levels. This is due to the larger quantities of materials required and the longer durations of the construction projects, leading to prolonged usage of emissions-producing construction equipment. The \(E_{C,k}\) can be quantified using the Equation (4) [23; 32].