Agency Information Collection Activities: Request for Comments for Periodic Information Collection, 8922-8925 [2015-03462]
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8922
Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 33 / Thursday, February 19, 2015 / Notices
custodian. I also determine that the
exhibition or display of the exhibit
objects at the Metropolitan Museum of
Art, New York, New York, from on or
about April 20, 2015, until on or about
July 26, 2015, and at possible additional
exhibitions or venues yet to be
determined, is in the national interest.
I have ordered that Public Notice of
these Determinations be published in
the Federal Register.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For
further information, including a list of
the imported objects, contact Paul W.
Manning, Attorney-Adviser, Office of
the Legal Adviser, U.S. Department of
State (telephone: 202–632–6469). The
mailing address is U.S. Department of
State, SA–5, L/PD, Fifth Floor (Suite
5H03), Washington, DC 20522–0505.
Dated: February 11, 2015.
Kelly Keiderling,
Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau
of Educational and Cultural Affairs,
Department of State.
[FR Doc. 2015–03496 Filed 2–18–15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4710–05–P
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Federal Aviation Administration
Public Notice for Waiver of
Aeronautical Land-Use Assurance
Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA), DOT.
ACTION: Notice of intent of waiver with
respect to land; Indianapolis
International Airport, Indianapolis,
Indiana.
AGENCY:
The FAA is considering a
proposal to change 22.212 acres of
airport land from the federal obligation
dedicating it to aeronautical use and to
authorize this land to be used for
revenue producing, non-aeronautical
purposes at Indianapolis International
Airport, Indianapolis, Indiana. The
aforementioned land is not needed for
current or future aeronautical use.
The land is north of the Indianapolis
Maintenance Center, west of the
Indianapolis Maintenance Center’s
central energy plant, and industrial
waste water treatment facility located
just south of U.S. Route 40 and west of
Brushwood Road. The land is not
currently developed. A solar power
generating facility is proposed for
development on the land.
DATES: Comments must be received on
or before March 23, 2015.
ADDRESSES: Documents are available for
review by appointment at the FAA
Chicago Airports District Office,
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SUMMARY:
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Melanie Myers, Program Manager, 2300
East Devon Avenue, Des Plaines, IL
60018 Telephone: (847) 294–7525/Fax:
(847) 294–7046 and Eric Anderson,
Indianapolis Airport Authority, 7800
Col. H. Weir Cook Memorial Drive,
Indianapolis, IN 46241; (317) 487–5135.
Written comments on the Sponsor’s
request must be delivered or mailed to:
Melanie Myers, Program Manager,
Federal Aviation Administration,
Chicago Airports District Office, 2300
East Devon Avenue, Des Plaines, IL
60018, Telephone Number: (847) 294–
7525/FAX Number: (847) 294–7046.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Melanie Myers, Program Manager,
Federal Aviation Administration,
Chicago Airports District Office, 2300
East Devon Avenue, Des Plaines, IL
60018, Telephone Number: (847) 294–
7525/FAX Number: (847) 294–7046.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In
accordance with section 47107(h) of
Title 49, United States Code, this notice
is required to be published in the
Federal Register 30 days before
modifying the land-use assurance that
requires the property to be used for an
aeronautical purpose.
The vacant property consists of
portions of 4 original airport acquired
parcels. These parcels were acquired
with local funds. The land is located
outside the airport operations area.
There are no impacts to the airport by
allowing the Indianapolis Airport
Authority to lease the property for solar
energy generation.
The Indianapolis Airport Authority
will control use of the parcel through
terms and conditions of the ground
lease. The lease will be subordinate to
the sponsor’s existing grant assurances.
This will ensure that all activities on the
parcel will be compatible with FAA
requirements and airport operations.
The disposition of proceeds from the
lease of the airport property will be in
accordance with FAA’s Policy and
Procedures Concerning the Use of
Airport Revenue, published in the
Federal Register on February 16, 1999
(64 FR 7696).
A fair market value (FMV) appraisal
for the parcel was completed in
September 2014 in accordance with
FAA Order 5100.37A. The appraisal
concluded that the FMV for an annual
commercial ground lease of the property
is $5,342.98 per acre.
This notice announces that the FAA
is considering the release of the subject
airport property at the Indianapolis
International Airport, Indianapolis,
Indiana from its obligations to be
maintained for aeronautical purposes.
Approval does not constitute a
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commitment by the FAA to financially
assist in the change in use of the subject
airport property nor a determination of
eligibility for grant-in-aid funding from
the FAA.
Legal Description
A part of the Southeast Quarter and
the Southwest Quarter of Section 21,
Township 15 North, Range 2 East,
Wayne Township, Marion County,
Indiana, more particularly described as
follows:
Commencing at brass disk (IAA
monument 22–O) found at the Northeast
corner of the Southeast Quarter of said
Section 21; thence South 88 degrees 25
minutes 07 seconds West (all bearings
are based on the Indiana State Plane
Coordinate System), East Zone (NAD
83)) along the North line of said
Southeast Quarter 2288.09 feet; thence
South 01 degrees 34 minutes 53 seconds
East perpendicular to the last described
line 132.00 feet to a chain link fence and
the POINT OF BEGINNING (the
following four courses are along said
chain link fence); (1) Thence South 45
degrees 01 minutes 35 seconds East
1095.49 feet; (2) thence South 44
degrees 54 minutes 51 seconds West
286.62 feet; (3) thence South 44 degrees
32 minutes 57 seconds East 19.33 feet;
(4) thence south 44 degrees 55 minutes
22 seconds West 616.14 feet; thence
North 50 degrees 12 minutes 17 seconds
West 498.46 feet; thence North 39
degrees 47 minutes 43 seconds East
146.78 feet; thence North 50 degrees 12
minutes 17 seconds West 608.47 feet;
thence North 44 degrees 58 minutes 25
seconds East 856.65 feet to the POINT
OF BEGINNING, containing 22.212
acres, more or less.
Issued in Des Plaines, Illinois, on February
10, 2015.
Deb Bartell,
Acting Manager, Chicago Airports District
Office, FAA, Great Lakes Region.
[FR Doc. 2015–03485 Filed 2–18–15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910–13–P
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Federal Highway Administration
[Docket No. FHWA–2015–0004]
Agency Information Collection
Activities: Request for Comments for
Periodic Information Collection
Federal Highway
Administration (FHWA), U.S.
Department of Transportation.
ACTION: Notice of Request for Approval
of a New Information Collection and
Request for Comments.
AGENCY:
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Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 33 / Thursday, February 19, 2015 / Notices
The FHWA invites the public
to comment on our intention to request
the Office of Management and Budget
(OMB) to approve a new (periodic)
information collection. This collection
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
April 20, 2015.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments
identified by DOT Docket ID Number
2015–0004 by any of the following
methods:
Web site: For access to the docket to
read background documents or
comments received, go to the Federal
eRulemaking Portal: https://
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.
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:
Adella Santos, 202–366–5021, NHTS
Program Manager, Federal Highway
Administration, Office of Policy,1200
New Jersey Avenue, SE., Room E83–
426, Washington, DC 20590, Monday
through Friday, except Federal holidays.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Title: 2015 National Household Travel
Survey (NHTS).
Type of Request: New request for
periodic information collection
requirement.
Background: Title 23, United States
Code, Section 502 authorizes the
USDOT to carry out advanced research
and transportation research to measure
the performance of the surface
transportation systems in the US,
including the efficiency, energy use, air
quality, congestion, and safety of the
highway and intermodal transportation
systems. The USDOT is charged with
the overall responsibility to obtain
current information on national patterns
of travel, which establishes a data base
to better understand travel behavior,
evaluate the use of transportation
facilities, and gauge the impact of the
USDOT’s policies and programs.
The NHTS is the USDOT’s
authoritative nationally representative
data source for daily passenger travel.
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SUMMARY:
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This inventory of travel behavior
reflects travel mode (e.g., private
vehicles, public transportation, walk
and bike) and trip purpose (e.g., travel
to work, school, recreation, personal/
family trips) by U.S. household
residents. Survey results are used by
federal and state agencies to monitor the
performance and adequacy of current
facilities and infrastructure, and to plan
for future needs.
The collection and analysis of
national transportation data has been of
critical importance for nearly half a
century. Previous surveys were
conducted in 1969, 1977, 1983, 1990,
1995, 2001, and 2009. The current
survey will be the eighth in this series,
and allow researchers, planners, and
officials at the state and federal levels to
monitor travel trends.
Data from the NHTS are widely used
to support research needs within the
USDOT, and State and local agencies, in
addition to responding to queries from
Congress, the research community and
the media on important issues. Current
and recent topics of interest include:
• Travel to work patterns by
transportation mode for infrastructure
improvements and congestion
reduction,
• Access to public transit, paratransit,
and rail services by various
demographic groups,
• Measures of travel by mode to
establish exposure rates for risk
analyses,
• Support for Federal, State, and local
planning activities and policy
evaluation,
• Active transportation by walk and
bike to establish the relationship to
public health issues,
• Vehicle usage for energy
consumption analysis,
• Traffic behavior of specific
demographic group such as Millennials
and the aging population.
Within the USDOT, the Federal
Highway Administration (FHWA) holds
responsibility for technical and funding
coordination. The National Highway
Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA),
Federal Transit Administration (FTA),
and the Bureau of Transportation
Statistics (BTS) are also primary data
users, and have historically participated
in project planning and financial
support.
Proposed Data Acquisition
Methodology
NHTS data are collected from a
stratified random sample of households
that represent a broad range of
geographic and demographic
characteristics. Letters and a brief
household survey are sent to selected
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households requesting some basic
demographic and contact information
and inviting them to participate in the
survey. The recruitment surveys are
returned in business reply envelopes to
the survey contractor.
Participating households are
subsequently sent a package containing
travel logs for each member of the
household age 5 and older. The
household is assigned to record their
travel on a specific day, and asked to
note every trip taken during a 24 hour
period. Based upon their preferences,
the travel information is then reported
either through the use of a survey Web
site, or through a telephone interview.
Reminders are sent periodically to
households who do not respond within
the expected timeframe. Monetary
incentives are included in each
recruitment package, and are provided
in increasing amounts for all
households that complete the survey.
The survey will collect data during an
entire 12 month period so that all 365
days of the year including weekends
and holidays are accounted for. A total
of 26,000 households will comprise the
national sample for the 2015 survey. As
described below, changes in the
establishment of the sampling frame, the
promotion of participation, and in data
retrieval techniques are planned, as
compared to previous surveys, to
improve statistical precision, enhance
response rates, and increase survey
efficiency.
Issues Related to Sampling. In
previous years, the household sample
was identified using random digit
dialing techniques. Today, only 59
percent 1 have a landline telephone in
the home (down from 75% during the
2009 NHTS) while over 80 percent of
U.S. households have access to the
Internet.2 This survey will leverage this
shift in technology, in particular the
move away from home telephone usage,
to structure a research design that uses
web, mail, and telephone data collection
modes.
The revised methodological approach
starts with a national address-based
sample (ABS), a change from the
telephone-based random digit dialing
(RDD) sample design used in recent
NHTS efforts, while also incorporating
core data elements that have been part
of the NHTS since 1969.
1 Blumberg, S.J., and Luke, J.V. (2014). Wireless
substitution: Early release of estimates from the
National Health Interview Survey, July–December
2013. National Center for Health Statistics.
Available from https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhis.htm.
2 Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population
Survey, Select Years, Internet Release date: January
2014.
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Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 33 / Thursday, February 19, 2015 / Notices
The survey sample will be drawn
from the ABS frame maintained by
Marketing Systems Group (MSG). It
originates from the U.S. Postal Service
(USPS) Computerized Delivery
Sequence file (CDS), and is updated on
a monthly basis. MSG also provides the
ability to match some auxiliary variables
(e.g., race/ethnicity, education,
household income) to a set of sampled
addresses. MSG geocodes their entire
ABS frame, so block-, block group-, and
tract-level characteristics from the
Decennial Census and the American
Community Survey (ACS) may be
appended to addresses and used for
sampling and/or data collection
purposes.
Sample Size. A sample size of 26,000
households will be included in the
national sample. Assuming response
rates of 30 percent for the recruitment
stage, 65 percent for the retrieval stage,
and a residency rate of 89 percent for
sampled addresses, a total of 149,813
sampled addresses will be required to
attain the targeted 26,000 responding
households.
Stratification. This survey produces
state-level estimates as well as national
estimates. Assuming equal costs and
population variances across states, the
most efficient design for national
estimates is one in which the sample is
allocated to the states in proportion to
the size of the civilian,
noninstitutionalized population in each
state, and the most efficient design for
state-level estimates is one in which
equal sample sizes are allocated to all
states. Various allocation options for the
national sample are being considered in
order to arrive at a final allocation for
the NHTS national sample.
With the ABS approach, identifying
targeted areas (e.g., states) that
correspond to those for which estimates
can be developed from the NHTS data
are straightforward. Addresses are
definitively linked to states, so statelevel estimation is routine. Geocoding
and GIS processing can be used to link
addresses to counties in a highly
reliable fashion. There can be some
ambiguity for addresses that are P.O.
boxes or are listed as rural route
addresses. These can be handled in a
routine manner with a set of welldefined rules as such addresses will
represent only a small proportion of a
state’s population. Thus, no important
issues arise in the definition of areas
with an ABS sample design that relies
on mail for data collection, as is the case
with the proposed approach.
Assignments for recording travel data
by sampled households will be equally
distributed across all days to ensure a
balanced day of week distribution. The
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sample (of recruitment letters to
households) will be released
periodically through a process that will
control the balance of travel days by
month.
Data Collection Methods
An updated approach to enhancing
survey response has been developed.
This includes providing progressive
monetary incentives, and using a mailout/mail-back recruitment survey. This
recruitment survey is designed to be
relevant, aesthetically pleasing, and
elicit participation by including topics
of importance to the respondent. Upon
returning the completed recruitment
survey, each household member will be
provided with personalized travel logs
by mail, and offered the option of
completing the retrieval survey by web
using a unique personal identification
number (PIN) or telephone interview.
Information Proposed for Collection
Recruitment. The survey will begin
with mailing the sampled households a
short recruitment survey designed to
collect key household information (e.g.
enumeration of household members),
additional contact information (e.g.
email address and telephone number).
This recruitment survey includes some
engaging travel-related opinion or
experience questions considered to be
highly relevant to the survey and
interesting to respondents. The initial
survey will be accompanied by a letter
from the USDOT, and a Business Reply
Envelope.
In the first mail contact, each sampled
address will receive a $2 cash incentive.
The second mail contact will include
the travel log package sent to each
recruited household and a $5 cash
incentive and a promise of an additional
$20 for successfully submitting their
travel logs. The incentives paid will be
tracked at each of the three levels
offered.
To support the mail recruitment
approach, the survey contractor will
provide a toll-free number on survey
materials and will assist the recruited
participant to provide the required
information by telephone if requested to
do so by the participant. A survey Web
site will be established for potential
respondents who want to check on the
authenticity of the survey or find out
more information. This Web site will
also serve as the portal to the survey.
All returned recruitment surveys will
be processed using commercial off-theshelf software (COTS) technology. All
data collected in the recruitment survey
will be used to populate the household
record in the survey database. As part of
the non-response protocol, non-
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responding households may also be
provided the opportunity to recruit by
web. If respondents call the help desk
or use the web to complete, their
responses are collected in the same
survey database.
The mail back recruitment approach
described here has been tested and
found to be successful in several
surveys funded by the Federal
Government (e.g., the National Crime
Victimization Survey); these surveys
have proven this method can be
implemented with large sample sizes
covering vast geographic regions. This
approach has been developed in
response to declining recruitment rates
in recent studies.
Retrieval. The NHTS data will be
collected from respondents either from
self-reporting via the web, or from
professionally trained interviewers
using a computer-assisted telephone
interviewing (CATI) system. Either
approach will be based upon a single
database that allows for sophisticated
branching and skip patterns to enhance
data retrieval by asking only those
questions that are necessary and
appropriate for the individual
participant. Look-up tables are included
to assist with information such as
vehicle makes and models. The Google
map UI is used to assist in identifying
specific place names and locations. The
location data for the participant’s home,
workplace, or school are stored and
automatically inserted in the dataset for
trips after the first report. Household
rostering is a list of all vehicles and
persons in the household that allows a
trip to be reported from one household
member and can include another
household member who travel together
to be inserted into the record for the
second person. This automatic insert of
information reduces the burden of the
second respondent to be queried about
a trip already reported by the initial
respondent.
Data range, consistency and edit
checks are automatically programmed to
reduce reporting error, survey length,
and maintain the flow of information
processing. Data cross checks also help
reduce the burden by ensuring that the
reporting is consistent within each trip.
Data retrieval is based upon materials
provided to participants as shown
below.
Travel Log Materials
Travel Log Packet. The travel log
packet will include a letter, an exemplar
log, and personalized travel logs for
each age eligible person in the
household, and will be sent using first
class postage in a 6’’x9’’ envelope. The
envelopes will be branded to match the
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Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 33 / Thursday, February 19, 2015 / Notices
emcdonald on DSK67QTVN1PROD with NOTICES
letterhead used for the invitation letter.
The second respondent incentive will
be included with the travel logs. This $5
cash incentive is expected to serve as a
‘‘good faith’’ incentive to encourage
completion of the retrieval survey.
Travel Log Letter. A household letter
will be included in the travel log packet.
The letter will further familiarize the
participants with the travel recording
stage, identify the households’ travel
date and provide details about when
and how to complete the retrieval
survey. The letter will also remind
participants about the final $20
household incentive. Like the invitation
letter, the travel log letter will be
branded.
Travel Logs. A personalized travel log
will be provided for each household
member (ages 5 and older). The logs are
intended to be a memory jogger to guide
accurate data collection and aid in the
reporting of each place visited on the
travel day.
Exemplar Log. Participants will be
provided with an exemplar log with the
instructions for recording the details
about the places visited on the travel
day.
All web and computer assisted
telephone interview (CATI) instruments
will be reviewed for Section 508
compliance using the rules specified in
sections 1194.22—‘Web-based intranet
and internet information and
applications’ and 1194.23—
‘Telecommunications products.’ All
materials will be available in both
English and Spanish language forms.
Spanish translations will be developed
using industry standards and will apply
reverse-translation protocols.
Estimated Burden Hours For
Information Collection
Frequency: This collection will be
conducted every 5–7 years.
Respondents. A stratified random
sample of 26,000 households across the
50 states and the District of Columbia
will be included in the survey.
Household will include an average of
2.5 members for a total of 65,000
individual respondents to the main
survey.
Estimated Average Burden per
Response. It will take approximately 5
minutes per household member to
complete the recruitment data form, and
20 minutes to complete the retrieval
survey. This results in a total of 25
minutes per household member.
Total Annual Burden Hours. It is
estimated that a total of 65,000 persons
will be included in the survey. This
would result in approximately 27,083
hours of support for this data collection
effort.
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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 of information is necessary
for the USDOT’s performance, including
whether the information will have
practical utility; (2) the data acquisition
methods; (3) the accuracy of the
USDOT’s estimate of the burden of the
proposed information collection; (4) the
types of data being acquired; (5) ways to
enhance the quality, usefulness, and
clarity of the collected information; and
(6) ways that the burden could be
minimized 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.
Dated: February 13, 2015.
Michael Howell,
Information Collection Officer, Federal
Highway Administration.
[FR Doc. 2015–03462 Filed 2–18–15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE P
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
8925
• Fax: 202–493–2251.
• Mail: Docket Management Facility
(M–30), 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: Same as
mail address above, between 9 a.m. and
5 p.m., e.t., Monday through Friday,
except Federal holidays. The telephone
number is 202–366–9329.
To avoid duplication, please use only
one of these four methods. See the
‘‘Public Participation and Request for
Comments’’ heading under the
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section
below for instructions on submitting
comments.
Ms.
Dee Williams, Federal Motor Carrier
Safety Administration, 1200 New Jersey
Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590,
Telephone 202–366–1812 or by email:
dee.williams@dot.gov. FMCSA office
hours are from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., e.t.,
Monday through Friday, except Federal
holidays. If you have questions on
viewing or submitting material to the
docket, contact Docket Operations at
telephone 202–366–9826.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
I. Public Participation and Request for
Comments
Federal Motor Carrier Safety
Administration
[Docket No FMCSA–2014–0177]
Crash Weighting Research Findings
FMCSA encourages you to participate
by submitting comments and related
materials.
AGENCY:
Submitting Comments
FMCSA extends the comment
period for its January 23, 2015, notice.
This notice shares information on the
‘‘Crash Weighting Analysis’’ which
informs decision-making about the
feasibility of using a motor carrier’s role
in crashes as an indicator of future crash
risk. The January notice advised the
public of the availability of the study
report for review and comment, and
requested feedback on what steps the
Agency should take regarding crash and
Police Accident Report (PAR) data
quality. The Agency extends the
deadline for comment from February 23
to March 25, 2015.
DATES: Comments must be received on
or before [March 25, 2015].
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments
identified by docket number FMCSA–
2014–0177 using any one of the
following methods:
• Federal eRulemaking Portal: https://
www.regulations.gov.
If you submit a comment, please
include the docket number for this
notice (FMCSA–2014- 0177), indicate
the specific section of this document to
which each comment applies, and
provide a reason for each suggestion or
recommendation. You may submit your
comments and material online or by fax,
mail, or hand delivery, but please use
only one of these means. FMCSA
recommends that you include your
name and a mailing address, an email
address, or a phone number in the body
of your document so the Agency can
contact you if it has questions regarding
your submission.
To submit your comment online, go to
https://www.regulations.gov and click on
the ‘‘Submit a Comment’’ box, which
will then become highlighted in blue. In
the ‘‘Document Type’’ drop down menu,
select ‘‘Rules,’’ insert ‘‘FMCSA–2014–
0177’’ in the ‘‘Keyword’’ box, and click
‘‘Search.’’ When the new screen
appears, click on ‘‘Submit a Comment’’
in the ‘‘Actions’’ column. If you submit
your comments by mail or hand
delivery, submit them in an unbound
Federal Motor Carrier Safety
Administration (FMCSA), DOT.
ACTION: Notice; Extension of comment
period.
SUMMARY:
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Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 33 (Thursday, February 19, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 8922-8925]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-03462]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Federal Highway Administration
[Docket No. FHWA-2015-0004]
Agency Information Collection Activities: Request for Comments
for Periodic Information Collection
AGENCY: Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), U.S. Department of
Transportation.
ACTION: Notice of Request for Approval of a New Information Collection
and Request for Comments.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Page 8923]]
SUMMARY: The FHWA invites the public to comment on our intention to
request the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to approve a new
(periodic) information collection. This collection 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 April 20, 2015.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments identified by DOT Docket ID Number
2015-0004 by any of the following methods:
Web site: For access to the docket to read background documents or
comments received, go to the Federal eRulemaking Portal: https://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.
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: Adella Santos, 202-366-5021, NHTS
Program Manager, Federal Highway Administration, Office of Policy,1200
New Jersey Avenue, SE., Room E83-426, Washington, DC 20590, Monday
through Friday, except Federal holidays.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Title: 2015 National Household Travel Survey (NHTS).
Type of Request: New request for periodic information collection
requirement.
Background: Title 23, United States Code, Section 502 authorizes
the USDOT to carry out advanced research and transportation research to
measure the performance of the surface transportation systems in the
US, including the efficiency, energy use, air quality, congestion, and
safety of the highway and intermodal transportation systems. The USDOT
is charged with the overall responsibility to obtain current
information on national patterns of travel, which establishes a data
base to better understand travel behavior, evaluate the use of
transportation facilities, and gauge the impact of the USDOT's policies
and programs.
The NHTS is the USDOT's authoritative nationally representative
data source for daily passenger travel. This inventory of travel
behavior reflects travel mode (e.g., private vehicles, public
transportation, walk and bike) and trip purpose (e.g., travel to work,
school, recreation, personal/family trips) by U.S. household residents.
Survey results are used by federal and state agencies to monitor the
performance and adequacy of current facilities and infrastructure, and
to plan for future needs.
The collection and analysis of national transportation data has
been of critical importance for nearly half a century. Previous surveys
were conducted in 1969, 1977, 1983, 1990, 1995, 2001, and 2009. The
current survey will be the eighth in this series, and allow
researchers, planners, and officials at the state and federal levels to
monitor travel trends.
Data from the NHTS are widely used to support research needs within
the USDOT, and State and local agencies, in addition to responding to
queries from Congress, the research community and the media on
important issues. Current and recent topics of interest include:
Travel to work patterns by transportation mode for
infrastructure improvements and congestion reduction,
Access to public transit, paratransit, and rail services
by various demographic groups,
Measures of travel by mode to establish exposure rates for
risk analyses,
Support for Federal, State, and local planning activities
and policy evaluation,
Active transportation by walk and bike to establish the
relationship to public health issues,
Vehicle usage for energy consumption analysis,
Traffic behavior of specific demographic group such as
Millennials and the aging population.
Within the USDOT, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) holds
responsibility for technical and funding coordination. The National
Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), Federal Transit
Administration (FTA), and the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS)
are also primary data users, and have historically participated in
project planning and financial support.
Proposed Data Acquisition Methodology
NHTS data are collected from a stratified random sample of
households that represent a broad range of geographic and demographic
characteristics. Letters and a brief household survey are sent to
selected households requesting some basic demographic and contact
information and inviting them to participate in the survey. The
recruitment surveys are returned in business reply envelopes to the
survey contractor.
Participating households are subsequently sent a package containing
travel logs for each member of the household age 5 and older. The
household is assigned to record their travel on a specific day, and
asked to note every trip taken during a 24 hour period. Based upon
their preferences, the travel information is then reported either
through the use of a survey Web site, or through a telephone interview.
Reminders are sent periodically to households who do not respond
within the expected timeframe. Monetary incentives are included in each
recruitment package, and are provided in increasing amounts for all
households that complete the survey.
The survey will collect data during an entire 12 month period so
that all 365 days of the year including weekends and holidays are
accounted for. A total of 26,000 households will comprise the national
sample for the 2015 survey. As described below, changes in the
establishment of the sampling frame, the promotion of participation,
and in data retrieval techniques are planned, as compared to previous
surveys, to improve statistical precision, enhance response rates, and
increase survey efficiency.
Issues Related to Sampling. In previous years, the household sample
was identified using random digit dialing techniques. Today, only 59
percent \1\ have a landline telephone in the home (down from 75% during
the 2009 NHTS) while over 80 percent of U.S. households have access to
the Internet.\2\ This survey will leverage this shift in technology, in
particular the move away from home telephone usage, to structure a
research design that uses web, mail, and telephone data collection
modes.
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\1\ Blumberg, S.J., and Luke, J.V. (2014). Wireless
substitution: Early release of estimates from the National Health
Interview Survey, July-December 2013. National Center for Health
Statistics. Available from https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhis.htm.
\2\ Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey,
Select Years, Internet Release date: January 2014.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The revised methodological approach starts with a national address-
based sample (ABS), a change from the telephone-based random digit
dialing (RDD) sample design used in recent NHTS efforts, while also
incorporating core data elements that have been part of the NHTS since
1969.
[[Page 8924]]
The survey sample will be drawn from the ABS frame maintained by
Marketing Systems Group (MSG). It originates from the U.S. Postal
Service (USPS) Computerized Delivery Sequence file (CDS), and is
updated on a monthly basis. MSG also provides the ability to match some
auxiliary variables (e.g., race/ethnicity, education, household income)
to a set of sampled addresses. MSG geocodes their entire ABS frame, so
block-, block group-, and tract-level characteristics from the
Decennial Census and the American Community Survey (ACS) may be
appended to addresses and used for sampling and/or data collection
purposes.
Sample Size. A sample size of 26,000 households will be included in
the national sample. Assuming response rates of 30 percent for the
recruitment stage, 65 percent for the retrieval stage, and a residency
rate of 89 percent for sampled addresses, a total of 149,813 sampled
addresses will be required to attain the targeted 26,000 responding
households.
Stratification. This survey produces state-level estimates as well
as national estimates. Assuming equal costs and population variances
across states, the most efficient design for national estimates is one
in which the sample is allocated to the states in proportion to the
size of the civilian, noninstitutionalized population in each state,
and the most efficient design for state-level estimates is one in which
equal sample sizes are allocated to all states. Various allocation
options for the national sample are being considered in order to arrive
at a final allocation for the NHTS national sample.
With the ABS approach, identifying targeted areas (e.g., states)
that correspond to those for which estimates can be developed from the
NHTS data are straightforward. Addresses are definitively linked to
states, so state-level estimation is routine. Geocoding and GIS
processing can be used to link addresses to counties in a highly
reliable fashion. There can be some ambiguity for addresses that are
P.O. boxes or are listed as rural route addresses. These can be handled
in a routine manner with a set of well-defined rules as such addresses
will represent only a small proportion of a state's population. Thus,
no important issues arise in the definition of areas with an ABS sample
design that relies on mail for data collection, as is the case with the
proposed approach.
Assignments for recording travel data by sampled households will be
equally distributed across all days to ensure a balanced day of week
distribution. The sample (of recruitment letters to households) will be
released periodically through a process that will control the balance
of travel days by month.
Data Collection Methods
An updated approach to enhancing survey response has been
developed. This includes providing progressive monetary incentives, and
using a mail-out/mail-back recruitment survey. This recruitment survey
is designed to be relevant, aesthetically pleasing, and elicit
participation by including topics of importance to the respondent. Upon
returning the completed recruitment survey, each household member will
be provided with personalized travel logs by mail, and offered the
option of completing the retrieval survey by web using a unique
personal identification number (PIN) or telephone interview.
Information Proposed for Collection
Recruitment. The survey will begin with mailing the sampled
households a short recruitment survey designed to collect key household
information (e.g. enumeration of household members), additional contact
information (e.g. email address and telephone number). This recruitment
survey includes some engaging travel-related opinion or experience
questions considered to be highly relevant to the survey and
interesting to respondents. The initial survey will be accompanied by a
letter from the USDOT, and a Business Reply Envelope.
In the first mail contact, each sampled address will receive a $2
cash incentive. The second mail contact will include the travel log
package sent to each recruited household and a $5 cash incentive and a
promise of an additional $20 for successfully submitting their travel
logs. The incentives paid will be tracked at each of the three levels
offered.
To support the mail recruitment approach, the survey contractor
will provide a toll-free number on survey materials and will assist the
recruited participant to provide the required information by telephone
if requested to do so by the participant. A survey Web site will be
established for potential respondents who want to check on the
authenticity of the survey or find out more information. This Web site
will also serve as the portal to the survey.
All returned recruitment surveys will be processed using commercial
off-the-shelf software (COTS) technology. All data collected in the
recruitment survey will be used to populate the household record in the
survey database. As part of the non-response protocol, non-responding
households may also be provided the opportunity to recruit by web. If
respondents call the help desk or use the web to complete, their
responses are collected in the same survey database.
The mail back recruitment approach described here has been tested
and found to be successful in several surveys funded by the Federal
Government (e.g., the National Crime Victimization Survey); these
surveys have proven this method can be implemented with large sample
sizes covering vast geographic regions. This approach has been
developed in response to declining recruitment rates in recent studies.
Retrieval. The NHTS data will be collected from respondents either
from self-reporting via the web, or from professionally trained
interviewers using a computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI)
system. Either approach will be based upon a single database that
allows for sophisticated branching and skip patterns to enhance data
retrieval by asking only those questions that are necessary and
appropriate for the individual participant. Look-up tables are included
to assist with information such as vehicle makes and models. The Google
map UI is used to assist in identifying specific place names and
locations. The location data for the participant's home, workplace, or
school are stored and automatically inserted in the dataset for trips
after the first report. Household rostering is a list of all vehicles
and persons in the household that allows a trip to be reported from one
household member and can include another household member who travel
together to be inserted into the record for the second person. This
automatic insert of information reduces the burden of the second
respondent to be queried about a trip already reported by the initial
respondent.
Data range, consistency and edit checks are automatically
programmed to reduce reporting error, survey length, and maintain the
flow of information processing. Data cross checks also help reduce the
burden by ensuring that the reporting is consistent within each trip.
Data retrieval is based upon materials provided to participants as
shown below.
Travel Log Materials
Travel Log Packet. The travel log packet will include a letter, an
exemplar log, and personalized travel logs for each age eligible person
in the household, and will be sent using first class postage in a
6''x9'' envelope. The envelopes will be branded to match the
[[Page 8925]]
letterhead used for the invitation letter. The second respondent
incentive will be included with the travel logs. This $5 cash incentive
is expected to serve as a ``good faith'' incentive to encourage
completion of the retrieval survey.
Travel Log Letter. A household letter will be included in the
travel log packet. The letter will further familiarize the participants
with the travel recording stage, identify the households' travel date
and provide details about when and how to complete the retrieval
survey. The letter will also remind participants about the final $20
household incentive. Like the invitation letter, the travel log letter
will be branded.
Travel Logs. A personalized travel log will be provided for each
household member (ages 5 and older). The logs are intended to be a
memory jogger to guide accurate data collection and aid in the
reporting of each place visited on the travel day.
Exemplar Log. Participants will be provided with an exemplar log
with the instructions for recording the details about the places
visited on the travel day.
All web and computer assisted telephone interview (CATI)
instruments will be reviewed for Section 508 compliance using the rules
specified in sections 1194.22--`Web-based intranet and internet
information and applications' and 1194.23--`Telecommunications
products.' All materials will be available in both English and Spanish
language forms. Spanish translations will be developed using industry
standards and will apply reverse-translation protocols.
Estimated Burden Hours For Information Collection
Frequency: This collection will be conducted every 5-7 years.
Respondents. A stratified random sample of 26,000 households across
the 50 states and the District of Columbia will be included in the
survey. Household will include an average of 2.5 members for a total of
65,000 individual respondents to the main survey.
Estimated Average Burden per Response. It will take approximately 5
minutes per household member to complete the recruitment data form, and
20 minutes to complete the retrieval survey. This results in a total of
25 minutes per household member.
Total Annual Burden Hours. It is estimated that a total of 65,000
persons will be included in the survey. This would result in
approximately 27,083 hours of support for this data collection effort.
Public Comments Invited
You are asked to comment on any aspect of this information
collection, including: (1) Whether the proposed collection of
information is necessary for the USDOT's performance, including whether
the information will have practical utility; (2) the data acquisition
methods; (3) the accuracy of the USDOT's estimate of the burden of the
proposed information collection; (4) the types of data being acquired;
(5) ways to enhance the quality, usefulness, and clarity of the
collected information; and (6) ways that the burden could be minimized
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.
Dated: February 13, 2015.
Michael Howell,
Information Collection Officer, Federal Highway Administration.
[FR Doc. 2015-03462 Filed 2-18-15; 8:45 am]
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