Environmental Justice - Principles

Executive Order 12898 directs that "each Federal agency and State Highway Administration/Department of Transportation make achieving environmental justice part of its mission by identifying and addressing, as appropriate, disproportionately high and adverse human health or environmental effects of its programs, policies, and activities on minority populations and low-income populations".  

The US Department of Transportation (USDOT) Environmental Justice (EJ) Executive Order supplements the existing requirements of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

The concept of environmental justice is intended to ensure that procedures are in place to further protect groups which have been traditionally underserved. The fundamental principles of environmental justice are:

• To avoid, minimize, or mitigate disproportionately high and adverse human health and environmental effects, including social and economic effects, on minority populations and low-income populations
• To ensure the full and fair participation by all potentially affected communities in the transportation decision-making process
• To prevent the denial of, reduction in, or significant delay in the receipt of benefits by minority and low-income populations.

The Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) is committed to the principles of EJ and is assessing and documenting the impacts of transportation projects on minority and low-income populations as a normal part of our environmental analysis efforts. 

A key aspect of an EJ analysis is to ensure the involvement of affected communities in the project development process. Public involvement is the foundation to effectively integrating environmental justice concerns into transportation decision-making. It is not a separate task, but must be fully integrated within the full range of ADOT’s processes. 

Outreach to the public is already a critical component of ADOT's project development process (as outlined in the ADOT Public Involvement Plan). Environmental justice simply requires us to ensure that minority and low-income populations are included in this public outreach.

Contact Us 

Please contact us if you have any questions or concerns related to ADOT’s Environmental Justice policies or practices. 

ADOT Civil Rights Office
206 S. 17th Ave., MD 155A
Phoenix, AZ 85007
Phone: 602.712.8946