A WAIVER OF THE NON-FEDERAL MATCH FOR THE USE OF SP&R and PL FUNDS FOR THIS PROJECT HAS BEEN APPROVED. Letters of commitment have been mailed to each State, and AASHTO will be sending invoices for payments for this project. This web site should only be used if regulations or other circumstances prevent you from making commitments or payments directly to AASHTO. Please contact Janet Oakley (joakley@aashto.org, Phone 202-624-3698) or Jack Basso (jbasso@aashto.org Phone 202-624-5800) for additional information. In 1990 and again in 2000, AASHTO partnered with all of the states on pooled fund projects to support the development of special census products and data tabulations for transportation. These census transportation data packages have proved invaluable in understanding characteristics about where people live and work, their journey to work commuting patterns, and the modes they use for getting to work. Characteristics about workers include age, sex, industry and occupation; characteristics about households include household size, number of workers, vehicle availability and income. These characteristics combined with the journey-to-work characteristics (travel mode, departure time, travel time, and work destination) make the CTPP a valuable data product. Significant cost savings were achieved by using a nationwide coordinated approach, and resulted in data availability at detailed geography (census tract and TAZs where specified) for the entire nation. The American Community Survey is the replacement for the decennial census "long form" and requires multiple years of data accumulation before small area tabulations can be released. Because of this change in survey methods, a research project to improve the useability of the data for transportation planning is needed. To address current and future needs for census data, AASHTO has decided to initiate a new 5-year CTPP based on the ACS.

To provide data tabulations from the American Community Survey (ACS) that are designed specifically for the needs of transportation planners. This data project will be called Census Transportation Planning Products (CTPP). This will include tabulations for residence, workplace, and flow between home and work. Both 3-year ACS data aggregates, and 5-year ACS data aggregates will be used for the tabulations. The geographic level of detail for the 5-year ACS will include Transportation Analysis Zones (TAZs) and census tracts. The data will be distributed to State DOTs and MPOs using the best format available which may include Internet or CDs and DVDs. In addition to data tabulations, the project will include technical support, training and capacity building, research, and project oversight.

The CTPP includes five major components: data tabulations, on-demand technical support, training and capacity building, research, and project oversight. o Develop and Distribute Data tabulations o Coordinate table design with AASHTO SCoP Census Working Group o Coordinate with Census Bureau staff on data processing and production o 5-year ACS data using 2005/06/07/08/09 data ¿X Residence, workplace, and flow data including TAZs and small census geography including tracts and block groups. ¿X Requires TAZ definition software for submitting boundaries to the Census Bureau for tabulation. ¿X Requires improvements to the workplace geocoding operations and allocation process. o 3-year ACS data using 2005/06/07 data (and maybe 2007/08/09) ¿X Residence, workplace, and flow data limited to large geographic areas ¿X Requires large transportation zones boundaries submitted to the Census Bureau for tabulation ¿X Requires improvements to the workplace geocoding operations and allocation process. o Re-package annual ACS data for transportation planners o Develop data access and data visualization tools o On-demand Technical Assistance for transportation planners focusing on State DOTs, MPOs. o On-call user support via telephone, email, web-conferencing. o Develop quick data profiles especially for trend analysis o Triage for problems and develop methods to resolve problems o Training and Capacity Building o Develop training materials, which could include a guidebook o Conduct Web-based training o Conduct on-site training o Maintain website as clearinghouse for case studies, best practices, computer-based tools o Prepare and distribute newsletter o Research Activities o Improve methods for workplace allocation o Research synthetic data approaches o Develop synthesis of best practices in using CTPP data o Research methods for integrating multiple data sets, particularly public and private data sources o Research alternatives for minimizing data suppression o Project Oversight and liaison with U.S. Department of Transportation and U.S. Census Bureau. This includes meetings of the AASHTO SCoP Census Working Group to lead the project by defining specific goals for each year and to review progress.

We anticipate most States will contribute their funds directly to AASHTO. For both 1990 and 2000 CTPP, all states participated in the program. The benefit to the transportation community for a nationwide program is that data is available for all geographies. It is easier for the U.S. Census Bureau to process the ACS data files for the entire country rather than to pick and choose. It eliminates the need to track all requests to make sure that assistance is provided only to those States and MPOs who sponsored the project. Please contact Janet Oakley (joakley@aashto.org, Phone 202-624-3698) or Jack Basso (jbasso@aashto.org Phone 202-624-5800) for additional information.