README for “DOT Regions - Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) Regions 2022-Present” dataset. U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA); U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT), Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) [distributor] 2025-06-09 ---------------------------------------------------------------- LINKS TO DATASET ---------------------------------------------------------------- A. Dataset archive link: https://doi.org/10.21949/1403466 B. NTAD catalog dataset link (Current Year): https://doi.org/10.21949/1528162 ---------------------------------------------------------------- SUMMARY OF DATASET ---------------------------------------------------------------- The DOT Regions - Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) Regions 2022-Present dataset is from the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), and is part of the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT)/Bureau of Transportation Statistics’s (BTS's) National Transportation Atlas Database (NTAD). PHMSA’s Office of Hazardous Materials Safety (OHMS) carries out a national safety program, including security matters, to protect against the risks to life and property inherent in the transportation of hazardous materials in commerce by all transportation modes. The PHMSA HazMat Regions layer contains polygon features representing each of the five regions— Central, Eastern, Southern, Southwest, and Western—that make up PHMSA’s Office of Hazardous Materials Safety. Each region office is charged with overseeing the safe and secure movement of daily shipments of hazardous materials by all modes of transportation. Despite regional divisions the jurisdiction of PHMSA staff is nationwide and not limited to their regional area of responsibility. ---------------------------------------------------------------- TABLE OF CONTENTS ---------------------------------------------------------------- A. General Information B. Sharing/Access & Policies Information C. Data and Related File Overview D. Methodological Information E. Data-Specific Information for: DOT Regions - Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) Regions 2022-Present [datasets] F. Update Log ---------------------------------------------------------------- A. GENERAL INFORMATION ---------------------------------------------------------------- 0. Title of Dataset: DOT Regions - Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) Regions 2022-Present [dataset] 1. Description of Dataset: The DOT Regions - Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) Regions 2022-Present dataset is from the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), and is part of the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT)/Bureau of Transportation Statistics’ (BTS's) National Transportation Atlas Database (NTAD). PHMSA’s Office of Hazardous Materials Safety (OHMS) carries out a national safety program, including security matters, to protect against the risks to life and property inherent in the transportation of hazardous materials in commerce by all transportation modes. The PHMSA HazMat Regions layer contains polygon features representing each of the five regions— Central, Eastern, Southern, Southwest, and Western—that make up PHMSA’s Office of Hazardous Materials Safety. Each region office is charged with overseeing the safe and secure movement of daily shipments of hazardous materials by all modes of transportation. Despite regional divisions the jurisdiction of PHMSA staff is nationwide and not limited to their regional area of responsibility. 2. Dataset archive link: https://doi.org/10.21949/1403466 3. Authorship Information: Principal Data Creator or Data Manager Contact Information Institution: U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) Address: 1200 New Jersey Ave SE, Washington D.C. 20590 Contact: Leigha.Gooding@dot.gov Data Distributor Contact Information Name: National Transportation Atlas Database (NTAD) Institution: U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT), Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), Office of Spatial Analysis and Visualization (OSAV) Address: 1200 New Jersey Ave. SE, Washington D.C. 20590 Email: ntad@dot.gov 4. Date of data collection and update interval: This dataset is updated as needed. This dataset is updated as needed. Dataset Manager is contacted to verify changes to data resulting in NTAD update. The metadata is updated in the same manner. For the most recent data, please visit the NTAD catalog at https://doi.org/10.21949/1528162 5. Geographic location of data collection: United States of America 6. Information about funding sources that supported the collection of the data: Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) ---------------------------------------------------------------- B. SHARING/ACCESS & POLICIES INFORMATION ---------------------------------------------------------------- 0. Recommended citation for the data: U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), U.S. Department of Transportation, Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) [distributor]. DOT Regions - Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) Regions 2022-Present [datasets]. 1. Licenses/restrictions placed on the data: These data are in the Public Domain. 2. Was data derived from another source?: No. 3. This document was created to meet the requirements enumerated in the U.S. Department of Transportation's 'Plan to Increase Public Access to the Results of Federally-Funded Scientific Research' Version 1.1 << https://doi.org/10.21949/1520559 >> and guidelines suggested by the DOT Public Access website << https://doi.org/10.21949/1503647 >>, in effect and current as of December 03, 2020. ---------------------------------------------------------------- C. DATA & RELATED FILE OVERVIEW ---------------------------------------------------------------- 1. File List for the DOT Regions - Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) Regions 2022-Present dataset A. Filename: bts_NTAD_PHMSA_Regions_DMP_20250609.pdf Short description: A PDF file containing the Data Management Plan that was created for current and future management of the data and associated files. B. Filename: bts_NTAD_PHMSA_Regions_README_20250609.txt Short description: The README.txt file that includes human-readable information about the data, variable definitions, contact information, and other contextual information. The file you are reading now. C. File List for the DOT_PHMSA_Regions_NTAD2022_Present.zip collection. Ca. Filename: NTADXXXX_GDB_Final_PHMSA_Regions_XXXX_XX_XX.gdb.zip (Folder) Short description: Compressed file folders containing the geospatial data for DOT Regions - Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) Regions 2022-Present dataset. File folders are classified by NTAD publication year and data vintage year or date respectively. Geodatabase (GDB) folders contain all the necessary components to view and otherwise interact with their data. ---------------------------------------------------------------- D. METHODOLOGICAL INFORMATION ---------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Description of methods used for collection/generation of data: The USDOT region layer for the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) was created by the Bureau and Transportation Statistics (BTS), then approved by a member of the PHMSA. BTS communicated with PHMSA personnel to help understand where the PHMSA Regions are and which areas it should encompass, mostly adhering to the regions listed via a map/table/text on PHMSA’s website https://www.phmsa.dot.gov/about-phmsa/offices. As a result, Esri’s ArcPro (or any geospatial software) was utilized in creating polygons, using the U.S. Census state 2020 TIGER/Line shapefile to designate the PHMSA regional boundaries by dissolving the Census state file to represent one cohesive entity/region. To populate the attributes, BTS communicated with the PHMSA to understand the address and contact information for each region via their website. Various fields were then added to the database schema to accommodate this information using the “add field” function within ArcGIS Pro, and then derived from the PHMSA’s website, filled out appropriately by BTS with PHMSA’s guidance and ultimate approval. 2. Instrument- or software-specific information needed to interpret the data: File geodatabase data can only be opened with Esri ArcGIS. The documentation files can be opened with any basic text editor. ---------------------------------------------------------------- E. DATA-SPECIFIC INFORMATION ---------------------------------------------------------------- 1. DOT Regions - Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) Regions data table Due to the size of the data, it is not described in detail here. Review the data dictionary present in the data folders for information on the data table. A. Number of variables (columns): The data dictionary found in PHMSA_Offices.xlsx and PHMSA_Regions.xlsx provides definitions for the variables B. Data Dictionary/Variable List: Because of the large number of variables, please refer to the Data Dictionary found within the file PHMSA_Offices.xlsx or PHMSA_Regions.xlsx for names, definitions, and formats of variables. C. Missing data codes: None ---------------------------------------------------------------- F. UPDATE LOG ---------------------------------------------------------------- This bts_PHMSA_Regions_20250609_README.txt file was originally created on 2025-05-28 by Dominic Menegus, Geographer, dominic.menegus@dot.gov [Note changes or update to the readme.txt file, e.g.:] 2025-06-09: Original file created 2025-12-09: DOI added