Data needs assessment for making transportation decisions in Virginia.

Details

• Creators:
  Khattak, Asad J. ; Wang, Xin ; Son, Sanghoon ; Liu, Jun
• Corporate Creators:
  Virginia Center for Transportation Innovation and Research
• Corporate Contributors:
  Virginia. Dept. of Transportation ; United States. Federal Highway Administration
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  • Transportation system management
  • Needs assessment
  • Decision making
  • Surveys
  • Databases
  • Information dissemination
• Publication/ Report Number:
  FHWA/VCTIR 15-R23
• Resource Type:
  Tech Report
• Geographical Coverage:
  Virginia
• Corporate Publisher:
  Virginia Center for Transportation Innovation and Research
• Abstract:
  To better plan, operate, and maintain the transportation system in Virginia, this study identifies Virginia transportation ; professionals’ planning-related data needs, obstacles to fulfilling those needs, and potential solutions for overcoming those ; obstacles. ; Based on interviews with practitioners, a survey of 182 professionals, and a review of data management practices in the ; literature, the study finds that needs vary by organizational type: whereas only 41% of the Virginia Department of Transportation ; (VDOT) survey respondents have at least one unmet data need, this percentage climbs to 70% for metropolitan planning ; organization and local respondents. When all respondents were asked to name, out of 51 databases, those that were needed but ; not available, almost one-fifth of all respondents cited three databases relating to infrastructure, safety, and operations; in Virginia ; these databases are known as roadway network system (RNS), Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP), and data ; maintained by the Traffic Operations Center (TOC), respectively. ; A primary obstacle to meeting data needs is data availability: some proprietary data owned by VDOT cannot legally be ; shared with external agencies, some datasets are restricted in how they can be shared due to security concerns, and some datasets ; can be shared but are not known to external partners. Other obstacles include data quality, time required to access datasets, and ; database diversity as the survey suggested that planners need access to a wider variety of databases than do other types of ; transportation professionals. ; Potential solutions documented in the report are to increase user awareness through seminars or the creation of a ; transportation data map, improve ease of access for select users through the use of virtual private networks, improve ease of use ; through providing a single location as a starting point for acquiring some publicly available existing data, and integrate databases ; in instances where common data elements allow such integration. In the short term, two recommended courses of action appear ; feasible: (1) conduct a workshop to make external partners and VDOT staff aware of some of these diverse databases, and (2) ; conduct periodic meetings of planning, information technology, and research staff to identify ways to enhance data sharing.
  More +
• Format:
  PDF
• Funding:
  101730
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/28965/dot_28965_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 861.10 KB]
• Collection(s):
  US Transportation Collection
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:f20451f2cd67a45893c3a1d84d53cb9d834246ecb69d6f262d16ede262fdd0cd12614406a3b3b6d2692b0c4abca55570b8d64cca206f1f6f7a199888fbb6f7d8