URBANA, Ill. (Chambana Today) — The Regional Planning Commission (RPC) has developed two new online tools to help inform future policies for the benefit of Champaign County residents.
The Socio-Economic Impact Tool (SIT) and the Housing and Transportation Affordability and Accessibility Index (H&T Index) were both finalized in September, and were created to provide resources for local agencies and community members to perform small-scale analysis of existing county demographics and infrastructure conditions.
SIT develops a process that simplifies the accumulation and organization of Census Bureau data, while creating an interactive web platform that enables local agencies to easily access it. The tool delivers high-resolution equity and demographic assessments for road corridors and neighborhoods across Champaign County.
Meanwhile, the H&T Index offers more locally informed and relevant insights into the interaction between housing and transportation in Champaign County. It was developed through the accumulation and analysis of housing and transportation data, combined with other variables such as housing costs, transportation costs, and transportation accessibility, so that local agencies and the public can access how resources, costs, and accessibility are distributed across the urban area.
“Data from the H&T Index is provided at the traffic analysis zone (TAZ) scale, which means housing data can be integrated into transportation modeling and forecasting discussions,” says Transportation Planner Rafsun Mashraky. “The tool incorporates data sources that are more particular to the local area, resulting in a more accurate and more geographically precise picture of housing and transportation across individual blocks and neighborhoods.”
Both SIT and the H&T Index were developed under an Illinois Department of Transportation Statewide Planning and Research (SPR) grant awarded to CUUATS during the summer of 2023.