Agency Information Collection Activities: Request for Comments for Periodic Information Collection, 6259-6261 [2020-02092]
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Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 23 / Tuesday, February 4, 2020 / Notices
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inventory annually (1) its penalties for
violation of its size and weight laws,
and (2) the term and cost of its oversize
and overweight permits.
Section 141 also authorizes the
Secretary to require States to file such
information as is necessary to verify that
their certifications are accurate. To
determine whether States are adequately
enforcing their size and weight limits,
FHWA requires that each State submit
to the FHWA an updated plan for
enforcing their size and weight limits.
The plan goes into effect at the
beginning of each Federal fiscal year. At
the end of the fiscal year, States must
submit their certifications and sufficient
information to verify that their
enforcement goals established in the
plan have been met.
Respondents: The State Departments
of Transportation (or equivalent) in the
50 states, the District of Columbia, and
the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
Frequency: Annually in separate
collections: One certification and one
plan (2 collections).
Estimated Average Burden per
Response: Each response will take
approximately 40 hours.
Estimated Total Annual Burden
Hours: 4,160 hours.
Public Comments Invited: You are
asked to comment on any aspect of this
information collection, including: (1)
Whether the proposed collection of
information in the plan and in the
certification is necessary for the U.S.
DOT’s performance, including whether
the information will have practical
utility; (2) the accuracy of the U.S.
DOT’s estimate of the burden of the
proposed information collection; (3)
ways to enhance the quality, usefulness,
and clarity of the collected information;
and (4) ways that the burden could be
minimized, including the use of
electronic technology or reduced
frequency of collection of the plan,
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.
Issued on: January 30, 2020.
Michael Howell,
FHWA Information Collection Officer.
[FR Doc. 2020–02093 Filed 2–3–20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910–22–P
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Federal Highway Administration
[Docket No. FHWA–2125–0005]
Agency Information Collection
Activities: Request for Comments for
Periodic Information Collection
Federal Highway
Administration (FHWA), U.S.
Department of Transportation (USDOT).
ACTION: Notice of request for approval of
a new information collection and
request for comments.
AGENCY:
The FHWA has forwarded the
information collection request described
in this notice to the Office of
Management and Budget (OMB) for
approval of a new (periodic)
information collection. We published a
Federal Register Notice with a 60-day
public comment period on this
information collection on November 18,
2019. We are required to publish this
notice in the Federal Register by the
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.
DATES: Please submit comments by
March 5, 2020.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments
within 30 days identified by DOT
Docket ID Number (FHWA–2125–0005)
by any of the following methods:
Website: 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: For
questions concerning the Next
Generation National Household Travel
Survey (Next Gen NHTS), please contact
Daniel Jenkins, 202–366–1067,
daniel.jenkins@dot.gov, National Travel
Behavior Data Program Manager,
Federal Highway Administration, Office
of Policy, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE,
Room E83–414, Washington, DC 20590,
Monday through Friday, except Federal
holidays.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Title: Next Generation National
Household Travel Survey (Next Gen
NHTS).
SUMMARY:
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6259
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 U.S.,
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 half a century.
Previous surveys were conducted in
1969, 1977, 1983, 1990, 1995, 2001,
2009, and 2017. The current survey will
be the ninth 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,
E:\FR\FM\04FEN1.SGM
04FEN1
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Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 23 / Tuesday, February 4, 2020 / Notices
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• Traffic behavior of specific
demographic groups 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
probability-based sample comprised of a
representative mixture of households
with respect to various geodemographic
characteristics. For this purpose, a
previously recruited national panel will
serve as the sampling frame. Email
invitations which will include a link to
an online household survey will be sent
to selected panel members requesting
some basic demographic and contact
information inviting them to participate
in the survey. The invitation email will
mention the purpose of the study,
underline the voluntary nature of survey
participation, provide information about
incentive, and contain the link that will
take respondents directly into the
survey. KnowledgePanel members can
also access the online survey by logging
into their specific KnowledgePanel
home page, where they will find a
hyperlink to surveys for which they
have been selected.
Email reminders will be sent
periodically to households who do not
respond within the expected timeframe.
Monetary incentives will be provided
for all households that complete the
survey. As the burden is higher for those
in households with more people they
will receive a larger incentive amount.
Households with 3 or fewer eligible
members (i.e., 5 years of age or older)
will receive $5 when all householders
complete the travel survey. Households
with 4 or more eligible members will
receive $10 for when all householders
complete the travel 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. To
maximize the accuracy of the recall
information and to provide coverage for
every day of the year, all retrieval
surveys will collect information about
the travel during the previous 24 hours.
A total of 7,500 households will
comprise the national sample for the
2020 data collection. As described
below, changes in the establishment of
VerDate Sep<11>2014
17:48 Feb 03, 2020
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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 (RDD) techniques. Today, only
54 percent 1 have a landline telephone
in the home (down from 75% during the
2009 NHTS) while nearly 88 percent of
US households have access to the
internet 2—although estimate of internet
access are subject to various
measurement challenges due to the
many different ways household
members can gain access to the web.
This survey will leverage this shift in
technology, the move away from home
telephone usage, to structure a research
design that uses web data collection
methods.
In 2020, the NHTS is moving to an
online probability-based sample
approach. The sample will be drawn
from a panel which is representative of
the national population. This approach
allows for a better response rate, making
the NHTS data representative of the
nation’s travel behavior, while lowering
the burden on responding households.
This is a change from the national
address-based sample (ABS), and 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.
The panel is constructed by drawing
from the USPS Delivery Sequence File
(DSF), which include all points of
delivery in the US. The needed address
samples are obtained from Marketing
Systems Group (MSG) that provides the
ability to match various auxiliary
variables to the DSF prior to sample
selection. By geocoding the entire
sampling frame, MSG can append
block-, block group-, and tract-level
characteristics from the Decennial
Census and the American Community
Survey (ACS) to each delivery point.
Sample Size. In total, completed
surveys will be secured for a nationally
representative sample of 7,500
households for the national sample.
Accounting for the various nonresponse
and incompleteness rates, however, we
anticipate needing a starting sample of
1 Blumberg, S.J., and Luke, J.V. (2018). Wireless
substitution: Early release of estimates from the
National Health Interview Survey, July–December
2017. National Center for Health Statistics.
Available from https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhis.htm.
2 Source: internet World Stats, 2017. https://
www.internetworldstats.com/stats14.htm#north
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about 29,000 households to secure the
desired number of completed surveys.
Stratification. The sample for this
survey will be designed to ensure broad
coverage of the 50 states to produce the
most efficient estimates at the national
level, as well as those needed for urban
and rural areas. Assuming equal costs
and population variances across all
areas, the most efficient design is one in
which the total sample is allocated in
proportion to the size of the civilian,
noninstitutionalized population in each
area. In contrast, the most efficient
design for area-level estimates is one in
which equal sample sizes are allocated
to each area. While different sample
allocation options for the national
sample are being considered in order to
arrive at a final allocation for the NHTS
national sample, unless required,
otherwise throughout this document it
will be assumed that the national
sample of 7,500 households will be
selected based on a proportional
allocation without any geographic
oversampling.
Given the availability of a rich
reservoir of profile data for all panel
members, with the panel approach
identifying targeted areas (e.g., urban/
rural) that correspond to those for which
efficient estimates are needed will be
rather straightforward. Moreover, with
this approach ambiguities related to
addresses that are P.O. boxes or those
remaining as simplified (void of
delivery details) will be rendered moot.
Assignments for recording travel data
by sampled households will be equally
distributed across all days to ensure an
approximately balanced day of week
distribution. To this end, the sample
will be released periodically through a
process that will control the balance of
travel days by month.
Data Collection Methods
The questionnaire for this survey will
be designed to be relevant, aesthetically
pleasing, and elicit participation by
including topics of importance to the
respondents.
Information Proposed for Collection
Recruitment and retrieval. The survey
will begin with emailing the sampled
households an invitation to the study.
The primary household respondent will
complete a short household roster to
collect key household information (e.g.
enumeration of household members.
Once the household roster is complete,
the respondent will proceed to a travel
diary pre-populated for each eligible
member of the household.
Household travel diary. All travel
information about a specific day from
every household member 5 years of age
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Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 23 / Tuesday, February 4, 2020 / Notices
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and older will be collected using the
online travel diary.
Once the household roster is
completed, the primary household
respondent will complete his or her
diary and will serve as a proxy
responder for all children 5–15 years
old in the household. Household
members 16 and older will be invited to
complete their own online diaries. If
they fail to do so in a reasonable amount
of time after multiple reminders, the
primary household member may be recontacted to serve as a proxy for nonresponding teens and adults in the
household.
The household travel diary 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 API will be 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 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 will be 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.
Estimated Burden Hours for
Information Collection
Frequency: This collection will be
conducted every 2–4 years in the future.
Respondents. As mentioned earlier, a
nationally representative random
sample of 7,500 households across the
50 states and the District of Columbia
will be included in this survey. Given
that household will include an average
of 2.5 members 5-years of age or older,
travel data for a total of 18,750
individual respondents will be collected
for the main survey.
Estimated Average Burden per
Response. It will take approximately 5
minutes to complete the roster data
form, and 15 minutes to complete the
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17:48 Feb 03, 2020
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retrieval survey. This results in a total
of 20 minutes for the first household
member and 15 minutes per additional
household member.
Estimated Total Annual Burden
Hours. It is estimated that a total of
18,750 persons will be included in the
survey. This would result in
approximately 5,312.5 hours of support
for this data collection effort, assuming
an average of 17 minutes per person
across the roster survey and retrieval
survey.
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.
Issued on: January 30, 2020.
Michael Howell,
Information Collection Officer, Federal
Highway Administration.
[FR Doc. 2020–02092 Filed 2–3–20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE P
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Federal Railroad Administration
[Docket Number FRA–2009–0063]
Petition for Waiver of Compliance
Under part 211 of title 49 Code of
Federal Regulations (CFR), this
document provides the public notice
that on January 22, 2020, the Mohawk,
Adirondack, and Northern Railroad
Corporation (MHWA) petitioned the
Federal Railroad Administration (FRA)
to extend a waiver of compliance from
the safety glazing requirements of 49
CFR 223.11, Requirements for existing
locomotives. FRA assigned the petition
Docket Number FRA–2009–0063.
Specifically, MHWA seeks to extend
its waiver for one 80-ton, 470horsepower diesel-electric locomotive
numbered 1670. This locomotive was
PO 00000
Frm 00121
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
6261
built for the United States Air Force by
General Electric in March 1952.
MHWA operates this locomotive on a
terminal/switching railroad at the
former Griffiss Air Force Base in Rome,
New York, now called the Griffiss
Industrial Park. MHWA operates at
speeds not exceeding 10 miles per hour
and hauls one to three cars on a onceper-week basis. The locomotive is
equipped with safety laminate glass
(AS–1, AS–2) and is serviced and
maintained by MHWA at Rome, New
York. MHWA requests the extension
due to the ‘‘high cost to replace the
glazing and the low risk to safety of
continuing to operate with the current
glazing.’’
A copy of the petition, as well as any
written communications concerning the
petition, is available for review online at
www.regulations.gov and in person at
the U.S. Department of Transportation’s
(DOT) Docket Operations Facility, 1200
New Jersey Ave. SE, W12–140,
Washington, DC 20590. The Docket
Operations Facility is open from 9 a.m.
to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday,
except Federal Holidays.
Interested parties are invited to
participate in these proceedings by
submitting written views, data, or
comments. FRA does not anticipate
scheduling a public hearing in
connection with these proceedings since
the facts do not appear to warrant a
hearing. If any interested parties desire
an opportunity for oral comment and a
public hearing, they should notify FRA,
in writing, before the end of the
comment period and specify the basis
for their request.
All communications concerning these
proceedings should identify the
appropriate docket number and may be
submitted by any of the following
methods:
• Website: https://
www.regulations.gov. Follow the online
instructions for submitting comments.
• Fax: 202–493–2251.
• Mail: Docket Operations Facility,
U.S. Department of Transportation, 1200
New Jersey Ave. SE, W12–140,
Washington, DC 20590.
• Hand Delivery: 1200 New Jersey
Ave. SE, Room W12–140, Washington,
DC 20590, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.,
Monday through Friday, except Federal
Holidays.
Communications received by March
20, 2020 will be considered by FRA
before final action is taken. Comments
received after that date will be
considered if practicable.
Anyone can search the electronic
form of any written communications
and comments received into any of our
dockets by the name of the individual
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]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 23 (Tuesday, February 4, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 6259-6261]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-02092]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Federal Highway Administration
[Docket No. FHWA-2125-0005]
Agency Information Collection Activities: Request for Comments
for Periodic Information Collection
AGENCY: Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), U.S. Department of
Transportation (USDOT).
ACTION: Notice of request for approval of a new information collection
and request for comments.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The FHWA has forwarded the information collection request
described in this notice to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB)
for approval of a new (periodic) information collection. We published a
Federal Register Notice with a 60-day public comment period on this
information collection on November 18, 2019. We are required to publish
this notice in the Federal Register by the Paperwork Reduction Act of
1995.
DATES: Please submit comments by March 5, 2020.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments within 30 days identified by DOT
Docket ID Number (FHWA-2125-0005) by any of the following methods:
Website: 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: For questions concerning the Next
Generation National Household Travel Survey (Next Gen NHTS), please
contact Daniel Jenkins, 202-366-1067, [email protected], National
Travel Behavior Data Program Manager, Federal Highway Administration,
Office of Policy, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, Room E83-414, Washington,
DC 20590, Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Title: Next Generation National Household Travel Survey (Next Gen
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
U.S., 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 half a century. Previous surveys were
conducted in 1969, 1977, 1983, 1990, 1995, 2001, 2009, and 2017. The
current survey will be the ninth 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,
[[Page 6260]]
Traffic behavior of specific demographic groups 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 probability-based sample comprised
of a representative mixture of households with respect to various
geodemographic characteristics. For this purpose, a previously
recruited national panel will serve as the sampling frame. Email
invitations which will include a link to an online household survey
will be sent to selected panel members requesting some basic
demographic and contact information inviting them to participate in the
survey. The invitation email will mention the purpose of the study,
underline the voluntary nature of survey participation, provide
information about incentive, and contain the link that will take
respondents directly into the survey. KnowledgePanel members can also
access the online survey by logging into their specific KnowledgePanel
home page, where they will find a hyperlink to surveys for which they
have been selected.
Email reminders will be sent periodically to households who do not
respond within the expected timeframe. Monetary incentives will be
provided for all households that complete the survey. As the burden is
higher for those in households with more people they will receive a
larger incentive amount. Households with 3 or fewer eligible members
(i.e., 5 years of age or older) will receive $5 when all householders
complete the travel survey. Households with 4 or more eligible members
will receive $10 for when all householders complete the travel 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. To maximize the accuracy of the recall information and
to provide coverage for every day of the year, all retrieval surveys
will collect information about the travel during the previous 24 hours.
A total of 7,500 households will comprise the national sample for the
2020 data collection. 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 (RDD) techniques. Today, only
54 percent \1\ have a landline telephone in the home (down from 75%
during the 2009 NHTS) while nearly 88 percent of US households have
access to the internet \2\--although estimate of internet access are
subject to various measurement challenges due to the many different
ways household members can gain access to the web. This survey will
leverage this shift in technology, the move away from home telephone
usage, to structure a research design that uses web data collection
methods.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ Blumberg, S.J., and Luke, J.V. (2018). Wireless
substitution: Early release of estimates from the National Health
Interview Survey, July-December 2017. National Center for Health
Statistics. Available from https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhis.htm.
\2\ Source: internet World Stats, 2017. https://www.internetworldstats.com/stats14.htm#north
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
In 2020, the NHTS is moving to an online probability-based sample
approach. The sample will be drawn from a panel which is representative
of the national population. This approach allows for a better response
rate, making the NHTS data representative of the nation's travel
behavior, while lowering the burden on responding households. This is a
change from the national address-based sample (ABS), and 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.
The panel is constructed by drawing from the USPS Delivery Sequence
File (DSF), which include all points of delivery in the US. The needed
address samples are obtained from Marketing Systems Group (MSG) that
provides the ability to match various auxiliary variables to the DSF
prior to sample selection. By geocoding the entire sampling frame, MSG
can append block-, block group-, and tract-level characteristics from
the Decennial Census and the American Community Survey (ACS) to each
delivery point.
Sample Size. In total, completed surveys will be secured for a
nationally representative sample of 7,500 households for the national
sample. Accounting for the various nonresponse and incompleteness
rates, however, we anticipate needing a starting sample of about 29,000
households to secure the desired number of completed surveys.
Stratification. The sample for this survey will be designed to
ensure broad coverage of the 50 states to produce the most efficient
estimates at the national level, as well as those needed for urban and
rural areas. Assuming equal costs and population variances across all
areas, the most efficient design is one in which the total sample is
allocated in proportion to the size of the civilian,
noninstitutionalized population in each area. In contrast, the most
efficient design for area-level estimates is one in which equal sample
sizes are allocated to each area. While different sample allocation
options for the national sample are being considered in order to arrive
at a final allocation for the NHTS national sample, unless required,
otherwise throughout this document it will be assumed that the national
sample of 7,500 households will be selected based on a proportional
allocation without any geographic oversampling.
Given the availability of a rich reservoir of profile data for all
panel members, with the panel approach identifying targeted areas
(e.g., urban/rural) that correspond to those for which efficient
estimates are needed will be rather straightforward. Moreover, with
this approach ambiguities related to addresses that are P.O. boxes or
those remaining as simplified (void of delivery details) will be
rendered moot.
Assignments for recording travel data by sampled households will be
equally distributed across all days to ensure an approximately balanced
day of week distribution. To this end, the sample will be released
periodically through a process that will control the balance of travel
days by month.
Data Collection Methods
The questionnaire for this survey will be designed to be relevant,
aesthetically pleasing, and elicit participation by including topics of
importance to the respondents.
Information Proposed for Collection
Recruitment and retrieval. The survey will begin with emailing the
sampled households an invitation to the study. The primary household
respondent will complete a short household roster to collect key
household information (e.g. enumeration of household members. Once the
household roster is complete, the respondent will proceed to a travel
diary pre-populated for each eligible member of the household.
Household travel diary. All travel information about a specific day
from every household member 5 years of age
[[Page 6261]]
and older will be collected using the online travel diary.
Once the household roster is completed, the primary household
respondent will complete his or her diary and will serve as a proxy
responder for all children 5-15 years old in the household. Household
members 16 and older will be invited to complete their own online
diaries. If they fail to do so in a reasonable amount of time after
multiple reminders, the primary household member may be re-contacted to
serve as a proxy for non-responding teens and adults in the household.
The household travel diary 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 API will be 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 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 will be 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.
Estimated Burden Hours for Information Collection
Frequency: This collection will be conducted every 2-4 years in the
future.
Respondents. As mentioned earlier, a nationally representative
random sample of 7,500 households across the 50 states and the District
of Columbia will be included in this survey. Given that household will
include an average of 2.5 members 5-years of age or older, travel data
for a total of 18,750 individual respondents will be collected for the
main survey.
Estimated Average Burden per Response. It will take approximately 5
minutes to complete the roster data form, and 15 minutes to complete
the retrieval survey. This results in a total of 20 minutes for the
first household member and 15 minutes per additional household member.
Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours. It is estimated that a total
of 18,750 persons will be included in the survey. This would result in
approximately 5,312.5 hours of support for this data collection effort,
assuming an average of 17 minutes per person across the roster survey
and retrieval survey.
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.
Issued on: January 30, 2020.
Michael Howell,
Information Collection Officer, Federal Highway Administration.
[FR Doc. 2020-02092 Filed 2-3-20; 8:45 am]
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