RE: [CTPP] FAQ's

Zia, Here in South Dakota, we are in the process of adjusting our existing FHWA adjusted urban area boundaries to incorporate the 2000 Census Bureau boundaries for all of our cities over 5000 population. Since we also haven't seen anything other than the proposals out on FHWA's website, we are assuming that Chapter 4 (Urban Area Boundaries) from the 1991 FHWA Federal-Aid Policy Guide is still valid for use in functional classification, HPMS data reporting and funding distributions for FY2003. While I have the soapbox, I'll paraphrase the discussion's we have had with our MPO's on the Census urban boundary issue. With the Census Bureau's new boundary determination procedure being based upon population density, the new census urban boundary is designed to show where urban dwelling people live and not necessarily where they work or shop. In areas where the land uses are more spread out & separated, like in our state, this leads to the 2000 Census urban boundary omitting large portions of the industrial & commercial areas that are located on the edges of the city. For counting people where they live (which is one of their primary jobs), the Census Bureau's procedure works fine. However, from a transportation system viewpoint, to go exclusively with the Census Bureau's boundary would exclude a large portion of the transportation related urban area, which needs to not only include the areas of where people live, but also where people work and transportation systems that the connect those areas. In light of this, we feel that the Census urban boundary is to be used as the base for the FHWA adjusted urban area boundary but not exclusively as the boundary. Maintaining the 1991 guidelines to accomplish this would be acceptable to us. Steven Gramm, P.E. Data Analysis Engineer / Engineering Supervisor SDDOT - Planning & Programs 700 E. Broadway Pierre, SD 57501 (605)773-6641 Steve.gramm(a)state.sd.us <mailto:Steve.gramm@state.sd.us> -----Original Message----- From: Kazimi, Zia [mailto:zkazimi@state.mt.us] Sent: Monday, July 01, 2002 5:40 PM To: Ctpp-news Subject: [CTPP] FAQ's I was wondering how other states are dealing with FHWA's quazi-official (all I've seen are the FAQ's on their website) implementation guidelines applying 2000 Census data to urban areas. I haven't seen anything from FHWA similar to what the US Bureau of Census put out in the March 15, 2002 Federal Register. Are we to assume that these Internet site FAQ's take precedence over what currently exists under USC Title 23? FHWA guidelines have been known to change depending on public input. The bottom line is, we need to start identifying our urban boundaries (deadlines are coming up - e.g. HPMS) and yet, I don't believe we have a clear mandate on how to proceed. Is this just a backdoor approach without going through a formal process or am I missing something? I would appreciate any thoughts on this. Thanks. Zia Kazimi Urban Planning Montana Department of Transportation