Agency Information Collection Activities: Notice of Request for Approval of a New Information Collection |
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Michael Howell
Federal Highway Administration
4 March 2021
[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 41 (Thursday, March 4, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 12770-12772]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-04456]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Federal Highway Administration
[Docket No. FHWA-2025-0005]
Agency Information Collection Activities: Notice of Request for
Approval of a New Information Collection
AGENCY: Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), DOT.
ACTION: Notice of Request for Approval of a New Information Collection.
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SUMMARY: The FHWA has forwarded the information collection request
described in this notice to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB)
for approval of a new (periodic) information collection. We published a
Federal Register Notice with a 60-day public comment period on this
information collection on November 18, 2019. We are required to publish
this notice in the Federal Register by the Paperwork Reduction Act of
1995.
DATES: Please submit comments by April 5, 2021.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments identified by DOT Docket ID Number
(FHWA-2125-0005) by any of the following methods:
Website: For access to the docket to read background documents or
comments received, go to the Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the online instructions for submitting
comments.
Fax: 1-202-493-2251
Mail: Docket Management Facility; U.S. Department of
Transportation, West Building Ground Floor, Room W12-140, 1200 New
Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590.
Hand Delivery or Courier: U.S. Department of Transportation, West
Building Ground Floor, Room W12-140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE,
Washington, DC 20590, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. ET, Monday through
Friday, except Federal holidays.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Daniel Jenkins, 202-366-1067,
daniel.jenkins@dot.gov, National Travel Behavior Data Program Manager,
Federal Highway Administration, Office of Policy, 1200 New Jersey
Avenue SE, Room E83-414, Washington, DC 20590, Monday through Friday,
except Federal holidays.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Title: Next Generation National Household Travel Survey (Next Gen
NHTS)
Type of Request: New request for periodic information collection
requirement
Background: Title 23, United States Code, Section 502 authorizes
the USDOT to carry out advanced research and transportation research to
measure the performance of the surface transportation systems in the
US, including the efficiency, energy use, air quality, congestion, and
safety of the highway and intermodal transportation systems. The USDOT
is charged with the overall responsibility to obtain current
information on national patterns of travel, which establishes a data
base to better understand travel behavior, evaluate the use of
transportation facilities, and gauge the impact of the USDOT's policies
and programs.
The NHTS is the USDOT's authoritative nationally representative
data source for daily passenger travel. This inventory of travel
behavior reflects travel mode (e.g., private vehicles, public
transportation, walk and bike) and trip purpose (e.g., travel to work,
school, recreation, personal/family trips) by U.S. household residents.
Survey results are used by federal and state agencies to monitor the
performance and adequacy of current facilities and infrastructure, and
to plan for future needs.
The collection and analysis of national transportation data has
been of critical importance for half a century. Previous surveys were
conducted in 1969, 1977, 1983, 1990, 1995, 2001, 2009, and 2017. The
current survey will be the ninth in this series, and allow researchers,
planners, and officials at the state and federal levels to monitor
travel trends.
Data from the NHTS are widely used to support research needs within
the USDOT, and State and local agencies, in addition to responding to
queries from Congress, the research community and the media on
important issues. Current and recent topics of interest include:
Travel to work patterns by transportation mode for
infrastructure improvements and congestion reduction,
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Access to public transit, paratransit, and rail services
by various demographic groups,
Measures of travel by mode to establish exposure rates for
risk analyses,
Support for Federal, State, and local planning activities
and policy evaluation,
Active transportation by walk and bike to establish the
relationship to public health issues,
Vehicle usage for energy consumption analysis,
Traffic behavior of specific demographic groups such as
Millennials and the aging population.
Within the USDOT, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) holds
responsibility for technical and funding coordination. The National
Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), Federal Transit
Administration (FTA), and the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS)
are also primary data users and have historically participated in
project planning and financial support.
Proposed Data Acquisition Methodology
NHTS data are collected from a probability-based sample comprised
of a representative mixture of households with respect to various
geodemographic characteristics. For this purpose, FHWA will field two
independent survey designs using two independent samples: (a) An
address-based sample (ABS) of 7,500 households and (b) a panel frame
sample (PFS) of 7,500 households drawn from a previously recruited
national probability-based online panel. The ABS sample will deliver a
set of national data that will be used for official purposes and will
be available for public use. The PFS sample will offer FHWA an
opportunity to conduct an independent assessment of the viability of an
alternative data collection methodology for future NHTS data collection
efforts.
Randomly sampled ABS households will be surveyed using a combined
mail/online survey mode in that they will receive a mailing that
directs them to an online survey system to capture household
information and core travel data. Non-internet ABS households will be
offered paper versions of the questionnaire and trip diary. For the PFS
sample, an online panel survey approach will be used, where email
invitations will be sent to selected panel members inviting them to
participate in the survey. Follow-ups with nonresponding households
from the ABS and PFS samples will utilize mail, telephone, and email
communications where contact information is available, and the contact
method is appropriate.
Monetary incentives will be provided for all ABS households that
complete the survey. As the burden is higher for those in households
with more people, larger households will receive a larger incentive
amount. Households will receive $5 per household member when all
household members complete the travel survey.
Both the ABS and PFS survey modes will collect data during an
entire 12-month period so that all 365 days of the year, including
weekends and holidays, are accounted for. To maximize the accuracy of
the recall information and to provide coverage for every day of the
year, all surveys will collect information about the travel during the
previous 24 hours. A total of 7,500 completed households will comprise
the ABS sample and 7,500 completed households will comprise the PFS
probability-based panel sample.
Issues Related to Sampling. The sampling design reflects the U.S.
household trends of decreasing landline telephone ownership and
increasing access to the internet. Both the ABS and PFS samples will
originate from the USPS Delivery Sequence File (DSF), which includes
all points of delivery in the US. The requisite address samples are
obtained from a third party vendor that enhances the residential
address by appending various auxiliary variables to the DSF prior to
sample selection including block-, block group-, and tract-level
characteristics from the Decennial Census, the American Community
Survey (ACS), and commercial databases.
Sample Size. In total, completed surveys will be secured for a
nationally representative sample of 7,500 households using the ABS
sample and an additional 7,500 households will be completed from the
PFS sample.
Stratification. The sample for this survey will be designed to
produce the most efficient estimates at the national level, as well as
those needed for urban and rural areas. While different sample
allocation options for the national sample are being considered in
order to arrive at a final allocation for the NHTS sample, the 7,500
households will be selected from each sampling frame in a manner that
ensures estimates can be generated for urban, rural, and national
geographic levels.
It should be noted that assignments for recording travel data by
households in each sample (ABS and PFS) will be equally distributed
across all days to ensure an approximately balanced day of week
distribution. To this end, the sample will be released periodically
through a process that will control the balance of travel days by
month.
Data Collection Methods
The questionnaire for this survey will be designed to be relevant,
aesthetically pleasing, and elicit participation by including topics of
importance to the respondents.
Information Proposed for Collection
For the ABS sample, households will receive an invitation to
complete the survey through the US mail. The online panel survey
households will receive an emailed invitation. In both survey modes,
the primary household respondent will complete a short roster to
collect key household information (e.g., enumeration of household
members and household vehicles). Then, all travel information about a
specific day from every household member 5 years of age and older will
be collected using the online travel diary or equivalent paper form.
For households choosing to complete the survey online, the primary
respondent will complete the household roster, then complete his or her
diary as well as serve as a proxy responder for all children 5-15 years
old in the household. Household members 16 and older will be invited to
complete their own online diaries. If they fail to do so in a
reasonable amount of time after multiple reminders, the primary
household member may be asked to serve as a proxy for non-responding
teens and adults in the household. Households electing to complete the
survey by mail will be provided equivalent paper forms, with similar
proxy-reporting instructions.
The online household travel diary program will allow for
sophisticated branching and skip patterns to enhance data retrieval by
asking only those questions that are necessary and appropriate for the
individual participant. Look-up tables will be included to assist with
information such as vehicle makes and models. A Google Maps API will be
used to assist in identifying specific place names and locations. The
location data for the participant's home, workplace, or school will be
stored and automatically inserted in the dataset for trips after the
first report. Household rostering will include a list of all persons in
the household and trips reported from one household member can be
referenced for ease in reporting that trip by other household members
who travelled together. This automatic insert of information reduces
the burden of the subsequent respondents to be queried
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about a trip already reported by the initial respondent.
Data range, consistency and edit checks will be automatically
programmed to reduce reporting error, survey length, and maintain the
flow of information processing. Data cross checks also help reduce the
burden by ensuring that the reporting is consistent within each trip.
Surveys completed by mail will be entered into the same online survey
program to ensure consistency in quality control efforts.
Estimated Burden Hours for Information Collection
Frequency: This collection will be conducted every 2-4 years in the
future.
Respondents. As mentioned earlier, two nationally representative
random samples of 7,500 households from the ABS and PFS samples
representing the 50 states and the District of Columbia will be
surveyed. Given that each household will include an average of 2.5
members 5-years of age or older, travel data for a total of 18,750
individual respondents will be collected for the ABS survey and an
additional 18,750 individual respondents will complete the PFS survey.
Estimated Average Burden per Response. It will take approximately 5
minutes to complete the roster data form, and 15 minutes to complete
the travel diary. This results in a total of 20 minutes for the first
household member and 15 minutes per additional household member (these
estimates are the same for both ABS and PFS respondents).
Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours. It is estimated that a total
of 18,750 persons will be included in the survey from each sampling
frame (ABS and PFS). This would result in approximately 10,625 hours of
support for this data collection effort, assuming an average of 17
minutes per person across the roster data form and retrieval survey.
Post-Collection Independent Analysis
The two proposed survey approaches will provide FHWA the
opportunity to assess validity and reliability of the panel frame
sample approach for use in future NHTS data collection cycles. At the
conclusion of this data collection effort, FHWA will conduct an
independent assessment of the results from both survey designs, with a
focus on identifying similarities and differences with respect to
survey administration metrics, including response rates, unit and item
non-response, etc. In addition, the differences in travel patterns will
also be assessed. This includes assessing the differences in trip
rates, miles traveled, distance traveled, trip purpose, travel mode,
and time of day of trip-making by specific demographic and geographic
subpopulation groupings. The results from both survey modes will also
be vetted against external data sources such as the Census, the
American Community Survey, the National Transit Database, and FHWA data
on vehicle miles traveled.
Public Comments Invited
You are asked to comment on any aspect of this information
collection, including: (1) Whether the proposed collection of
information is necessary for the USDOT's performance, including whether
the information will have practical utility; (2) the data acquisition
methods; (3) the accuracy of the USDOT's estimate of the burden of the
proposed information collection; (4) the types of data being acquired;
(5) ways to enhance the quality, usefulness, and clarity of the
collected information; and (6) ways that the burden could be minimized
without reducing the quality of the collected information. The agency
will summarize and/or include your comments in the request for OMB's
clearance of this information collection.
Authority: The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995; 44 U.S.C.
Chapter 35, as amended; and 49 CFR 1.48.
Issued on: March 1, 2021.
Michael Howell,
Information Collection Officer, Federal Highway Administration.
[FR Doc. 2021-04456 Filed 3-3-21; 8:45 am]
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