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Agency Information Collection Activities: Request for Comments for a New Information Collection Publication: Federal Register Agency: Federal Highway Administration Byline: Jazmyne Lewis Date: 18 October 2023 Subjects: American Government  , Roads & Highways, Trucking
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[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 200 (Wednesday, October 18, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 71926-71928]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-22908]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Federal Highway Administration
[Docket No. FHWA-2023-0039]
Agency Information Collection Activities: Request for Comments
for a New Information Collection
AGENCY: Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), DOT.
ACTION: Notice and request for comments.
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SUMMARY: The FHWA invites public comments about our intention to
request the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) approval for an
information collection, which is summarized below under Supplementary
Information. We are required to publish this notice in the Federal
Register by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.
DATES: Please submit comments by December 18, 2023.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments identified by DOT Docket ID Number
0039 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: Go to 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 20590-0001.
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: Steven Jessberger, (202) 366 5052/steven.jessberger@dot.gov; Patrick Zhang, (202) 366-1941/patrick.zhang@dot.gov, Department of Transportation, Federal Highway
Administration, Office Highway Policy Information, 1200 New Jersey
Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590. Office hours are from 7 a.m. to 4
p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal Holidays.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Title: Travel Monitoring Analysis System.
Background and Justification: The purpose of this document is to
request OMB's three-year extension for a currently approved information
collection titled ``Heavy Vehicle Travel Information System (HVTIS),''
covered by OMB Control No. 2125-0587. This information collection is
due to expire on August 30, 2021. The Travel Monitoring Analysis System
(TMAS) is the current system used to collect HVTIS information;
therefore, the extension should now be titled Travel Monitoring
Analysis System.
Part A. Justification
1. Circumstances That Make the Collection of Information Necessary
23 U. S. Code 150 National Goals and Performance Management
Measures requires that the U.S. DOT to establish a performance
management system for its Federal-aid highway program. The Federal
Highway Administration (FHWA), U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT)
promulgated the performance management via 23 CFR 490: National
Performance Management Measures. Traffic data, including volume (# of
vehicles and travelers), class (types of vehicles), weight (weight of
vehicles), and travel time (speed), are parameters the performance
management program relies upon.
The FHWA is planning to continue to collect these traffic data
through the TMAS system. To carry out the data collection, the FHWA
will request that State Departments of Transportations (SDOTs) provide
traffic volume, vehicle classification, vehicle speed, vehicle weight
data, and nonmotorized data, which they collect as part of their
traffic monitoring programs.
In addition, 23 CFR 1.5 and 49 CFR 1.48 provide the Federal Highway
Administrator with authority to request such information deemed
necessary to administer the Federal-aid highway program. Traffic data
are used for assessing highway system performance under FHWA's
strategic planning and performance reporting process in accordance with
the requirement of the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA,
Sections 3 and 4).
Finally, both the 23 U. S. Code 503 and the 23 CFR 420.105(b)
require States to provide data that support FHWA's responsibilities
carrying out the Federal-aid highway program to Congress and the
public.
The data to be collected will continue to be used by the FHWA and
other DOT agencies to (a) manage its Federal-aid highway program
through the performance management mechanism, (b) evaluate changes in
vehicular and nonmotorized travel to assess impacts on highway safety,
(c) analyze the role of travel in economic development and
productivity, (d) assess impacts from truck travel on infrastructure
demands, and (e) maintain and improve our Nation's mobility while
protecting the human and natural environment.
2. How, by Whom, and for What Purpose Is the Information Used
The data submitted through TMAS will provide the amount and nature
of vehicular travel at the national, regional, and state levels. The
data also provide information on how vehicular travel pattern varies by
hour of the day, day of the week, the month of the year, and year to
year.
Data submitted under the TMAS program are essential to the FHWA and
the U.S. DOT in determining:
[[Page 71927]]
The effectiveness of current highway programs in
supporting travel demands, safety improvement, and travel reliability
The potential of possible modifications to the Federal-aid
highway program, and
The need for new programs
The adequacy of the U.S. DOT Strategic Goals in areas of:
i. Safety exposures: providing accurate and detailed exposure
information related to travel and especially the roles of different
vehicles in the same traffic stream
ii. Mobility: providing data on the relative usage of system
capacity by various vehicles by time of day and the associated share of
congestion that may be implicit in such travel
iii. Productivity: providing data necessary to estimate the tonnage
of goods and number of people being moved by time of day, and season of
the year over the various highway systems and
iv. Human and Natural Environment: providing data needed for the
highway noise and air quality effect assessments.
State highway agencies use the traffic data for project and program
level applications such as geometric design, pavement design, safety
analysis, overweight and oversize vehicle permitting, designating truck
routes, estimating trends in freight movement, highway noise abatement
needs assessment.
In addition to the usage by the Federal and State governmental
agencies, institutions of higher learning, industry, consultants,
professional organizations, and the public are using the data for
research and education, business development, and general information.
3. Extent of Automated Information Collection
All data for the TMAS will be submitted electronically to the FHWA
by all State highway and local agencies, including the District of
Columbia and Puerto Rico Departments of Transportation. Reliance on
electronic reporting is responsive to limited staff resources at both
the local, State and Federal levels. With the unlimited data upload
file size, online electronic submission reduces burden to all
respondents.
The collected data will be further inserted into a Geographical
Information System by the FHWA in order to support the analysis of
point-specific vehicle travel data on a network basis. This is expected
to allow:
Correlation of pavement loadings generated by vehicles to
data in other FHWA systems that report pavement condition;
Major truck and interregional passenger corridors will be
more readily identifiable among the links comprising the Nation's
highway network, and;
Weather, natural disaster and other geographically related
phenomena can be more readily related to associated changes in travel
patterns
All data summarization, processing, and editing are fully
automated. The TMAS is supported by various software browsers for use
by the local, States and FHWA staff in order to report, edit and
summarize the collected data.
Respondents: State Departments of Transportation Agencies and
Metropolitan Planning Organizations and Local Agencies responsible for
submitting traffic data (both motorized and micromobility) to FHWA.
Frequency: All data for the TMAS will be submitted electronically
monthly to the FHWA by all State highway and local agencies, including
the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico Departments of Transportation.
Reliance on electronic reporting is responsive to limited staff
resources at both the local, State and Federal levels. With the
unlimited data upload file size, online electronic submission reduces
burden to all respondents.
The collected data will be further inserted into a Geographical
Information System by the FHWA in order to support the analysis of
point-specific vehicle travel data on a network basis. This is expected
to allow:
Correlation of pavement loadings generated by vehicles to
data in other FHWA systems that report pavement condition;
Major truck and interregional passenger corridors will be
more readily identifiable among the links comprising the Nation's
highway network, and;
Weather, natural disaster and other geographically related
phenomena can be more readily related to associated changes in travel
patterns
All data summarization, processing, and editing are fully
automated. The TMAS is supported by various software browsers for use
by the local, States and FHWA staff in order to report, edit and
summarize the collected data.
Estimated Average Burden per Response: FHWA estimates that the
average State DOT operates 60 continuous vehicle classification
installations, and 15 weigh-in-motion sites. State highway agencies
have established their Traffic Monitoring System (TMS) under the
Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act, Transportation Equity
Act for the 21st Century, and the Safe, Accountable, Flexible,
Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users. The data
collection burden relevant for this notice is the additional burden for
each State to provide a copy of its traffic data per data formats
specified in the FHWA Traffic Monitoring Guide. Automation and online
tools continue to be developed and improved in support of the TMAS and
the capability now exists for online submission and validation of
volume, speed, classification and weight data. The combined burden for
the monthly report is estimated to be 50 hours per respondent. The
estimated total burden for all States, the District of Columbia, and
Puerto Rico are 2,600 hours.
Salary costs associated with burden hours are estimated at an
average of $35.50 per hour for the technical specialists dealing with
the TMAS data types. The hourly rate is taken from Table 452 of the
2007 Statistical Abstract of the United States Census Bureau. These
costs are calculated as follows: $35.50 x 2,600 hours = $92,300.
Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours
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Reportings per Average hours Hours per year
Data type year per site per response per state
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Site Description................................................ 1 2 2
Vehicle Classification.......................................... 12 1 12
Vehicle Speed................................................... 12 1 12
Vehicle Weight.................................................. 12 1 12
Total Volume.................................................... 12 0.5 6
Total Nonmotorized Volume....................................... 12 0.5 6
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[[Page 71928]]
Total Hours per State per Year.............................. .............. .............. 50
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Public Comments Invited: You are asked to comment on any aspect of
this information collection, including: (1) Whether the proposed
collection is necessary for the FHWA's performance; (2) the accuracy of
the estimated burdens; (3) ways for the FHWA to enhance the quality,
usefulness, and clarity of the collected information; and (4) ways that
the burden could be minimized, including the use of electronic
technology, 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: October 12, 2023.
Jazmyne Lewis,
Information Collection Officer.
[FR Doc. 2023-22908 Filed 10-17-23; 8:45 am]
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