New subject: REMINDER: Comments due Nov 22 on Fed Reg notice on Criteria for Urban Areas

14 Oct 2010

Hi Everyone: 

I posted a link to the FR notice on August 24. (a copy of that post is
at the bottom of this message)

The CB proposed criteria are best evaluated at the local level, as the
impacts will vary widely, based on how much the jump criteria influenced
the existing urbanized areas, population growth and decline over the
last decade, and the proximity to other urbanized areas and urban
clusters.  

As a starting point,  people might want to review the existing UAs by
using HEPGIS.  

http://hepgis.fhwa.dot.gov/hepgis_v2/UrbanBoundaries/Map.aspx

This GIS was created by Bruce Spear, and is now maintained by Supin
Yoder at FHWA.  The link above takes you to the part showing the Census
urbanized areas (50k+) and urban clusters (below 50k).  It also includes
an approximation of MPO planning areas. 

You can use the "info" button and click on specific areas, and the
Census 2000 population for that area will be shown in a box below the
map (you might have to scroll down to see it).   You can use American
FactFinder to see an ESTIMATED population for the existing urbanized
areas (current boundaries).
http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/DatasetMainPageServlet?_program=ACS
&_submenuId=&_lang=en&_ts= 

By using the 2005-2007 (3-year) ACS you will have more geographic areas
included. Again, this ACS estimate does NOT have the results of the 2010
Census incorporated into it.   

HEPGIS does NOT have the 2010 Census population counts that will be used
by the Census Bureau to define the new urbanized areas, however, you
will be able to review areas that the CB is expecting to fall into an
"agglomeration" (see pages 52180 and 52181 in the FR notice).  

I (Elaine) checked a couple a "potential agglomerations" and they looked
like they were either already touching, or very close to touching, so it
would make sense to combine the areas, especially if the entire region
experienced population growth in the last decade.  Combining some of
these areas could result in a total urbanized population exceeding
200,000 (current threshold for TMA), but at least in one case that I
checked, one of the two urbanized areas in the potential agglomeration
was already over the TMA threshold.  

At previous sessions on this topic, the question of whether FHWA would
force MPOs to combine, the answer was "no, there are existing cases  of
multiple MPOs in one urbanized area."   

http://ctpp.transportation.org/Documents/UA%20Q-A.pdf 

For the Jump criteria to shift from 2.5 miles to 1.5 miles.  This could
potentially reduce some urban areas to below 50,000 or 200,000
population.  But, without the benefit of the 2010 Census block data,
guessing at specific cases is impossible.     

Hope this information is helpful to you.

Elaine

------COPY of Elaine's post to the CTPP listserv on August 24, 2010---

The Federal Register notice from the Census Bureau is now posted.

The due date for comments is November 22.

You may want to listen to Mike Ratcliffe's web presentation from June

11, 2010 that is available at:

http://ctpp.transportation.org/Pages/webinardirectory.aspx

The Census Bureau announces publication of the "Proposed Urban Area

Criteria for the 2010 Census" in the Federal Register of August 24,

2010, available on the Federal Register's website at

http://www.gpoaccess.gov/fr/

The Census Bureau is seeking public

comment on these proposed criteria.  Comments, suggestions, or

recommendations regarding the criteria should be submitted in writing,

no later than November 22, 2010, to Timothy Trainor, Chief, Geography

Division, U.S. Census Bureau, Washington, DC 20233-7400.

The Census Bureau's urban-rural classification is fundamentally a

delineation of geographical areas, identifying individual urbanized

areas of 50,000 or more people and urban clusters of at least 2,500 and

less than 50,000 people; "rural" encompasses all population and

territory not included in urban areas.  The Census Bureau's urban areas

represent densely developed territory, and encompass residential,

commercial, and other non-residential urban land uses.  Additional

information about the Census Bureau's urban-rural classification is

available on the Census Bureau's website at

http://www.census.gov/geo/www/ua/urbanruralclass.html

The proposed urban area criteria for the 2010 Census as well as

summaries of the proposed changes, are available on the Census Bureau's

website at http://www.census.gov/geo/www/ua/2010urbanruralclass.html

Changes proposed for the 2010 Census include:

   *  Use of census tracts as analysis units in the initial phase of

      delineation

   *  Potential return to a maximum jump distance of 1.5 miles (the

      distance was increased to 2.5 miles in the Census 2000 criteria).

   *  Use of land use/land cover data to identify territory containing

      non-residential urban land uses or land cover that restricts urban

      development, such as marshland and wetlands.

   *  Lowering the minimum number of enplanements (departing passengers)

      from 10,000 to 2,500 to qualify airports for inclusion in urban

      areas.

   *  Elimination of the central place concept.

   *  Requirement that, in addition to at least 2,500 total population,

an area must contain at least 1,500 persons residing outside

      institutional group quarters to qualify as urban.

   *  Splitting urban agglomerations of 1,000,000 or more population

Based on metropolitan statistical area boundaries, or, in New England,

      along metropolitan New England city and town area boundaries.
(Note:  the FR notice on pages 52180 and 52181 includes potential urban
agglomerations)

For further information about the Census Bureau urban-rural

classification, or the proposed criteria for the 2010 Census, please

contact Vincent Osier, Chief, Geographic Standards and Criteria Branch,

Geography Division, U.S. Census Bureau, via e-mail at
vincent.osier(a)census.gov  or telephone at 301-763-9039.