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News Digest

Thursday, August 1, 2019

BTS Releases Report on Public Perceptions on Transportation Characteristics of Livable Communities.

The Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), a part of the Research and Innovative Technology Administration, today released Public Perceptions on Transportation Characteristics of Livable Communities, a special report presenting the findings of a 2009 survey asking participants the importance of different transportation features for their communities. The most important of the eight characteristics defined in the survey, supported by 94 percent of respondents, was major roads or highways, followed closely by adequate downtown parking, pedestrian-friendly downtown streets, safe sidewalks, and easy access to airports. Reliable long-distance bus or rail transportation, bike lanes, and local transit were found to be important by over two-thirds of respondents. BTS surveyed about 1,000 households for this report.

Geographic Databases for 2011 Released.

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), a part of the Research and Innovative Technology Administration, released the 2011 edition of the National Transportation Atlas Databases (NTAD) this week. The 2011 edition features updated datasets from last year’s NTAD and premieres the Customs and Border Protection’s Border Crossing Database with data spatially enhanced by BTS. Also, substantial revisions were made to national parks, waterways, railways and the Federal Highway Administration’s National Bridge Inventory. This year’s NTAD consists of 32 datasets, 11 of which were updated for this 2011 release. The NTAD also includes: intermodal terminals, national railway crossings, non-attainment areas and transit rail lines and stations, among other data layers. NTAD 2011 is provided in shapefile format, which is compatible with most Geographical Information Systems (GIS) software.