The US’s long history of exclusionary zoning and other segregationist policies, combined with transportation investments that benefit suburban homeowners over urban renters, has contributed to not only the unequal cities that we have today, but racial gaps in wealth and access to opportunity more broadly. In Dallas and South Dallas, racial inequities in access to opportunity are particularly pronounced. 

This summary identifies potential structural solutions to transportation inequities in South Dallas (which are also applicable to other cities) based on case studies of four regions that have improved or intentionally sought to increase transportation equity: Columbus, Ohio; Las Vegas, Nevada; Portland, Oregon; and King County, Washington. The case studies show that in order to address structural inequities in transportation, local governments and transit agencies must go beyond individual programs and initiatives to change decisionmaking processes as a whole so that these processes include historically excluded voices and center equity in all decisions.