[CTPP] statewide TAZs

This post has two purposes. First to welcome 20 folks to the list serve from states where we have ctpp contacts who have email addresses. There are about 20 states we still need to track down. To the new folks let me formally say" welcome to the CTPP listserve". We created this listserve as a mechanism to keep the flow of information relative to the CTPP moving. If you ever want to get off the listserve or change your address the best thing is to drop me an email. You can also do this through an automatic procedure which I will not bore you with now. The second and CTPP related reason for this post is to inquire about statewide TAZs. Although the voice of one or two is not a representative sample, the folks working on the CTPP are discussing the issue of statewide TAZs and their construction, and could use some input. One of the central questions that keeps coming up is, do we need statewide TAZs? and, will they be useful for states? one could argue that the CTPP is journey to work data and it represents short trips, mostly intraurban travel, when one considers statewide travel in some of the larger (spatially big) states. On the other hand, there are smaller states where the opposite is true. The bottom line of all this would be the type of planning underway and the zonal structure behind it. Ultimately it may take a state-to-state poll to identify who needs what. But for now we could use some thoughts on this. Anyone care to comment on the issue of statewide TAZs and more importantly what they should be? To get things moving let me suggest that in non urban areas they should be counties. in urban areas they would, of course, represent the TAZs developed by the MPOs. (although i welcome your replies, i would hope that we keep this discussion on the listserve by making sure you reply to listserve address) thanks ed christopher