Agency Information Collection Activities: Request for Comments for a New Information Collection, 71926-71928 [2023-22908]

Agencies

• Federal Highway Administration
• DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 200 (Wednesday, October 18, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 71926-71928]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-22908]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Highway Administration

[Docket No. FHWA-2023-0039]


Agency Information Collection Activities: Request for Comments 
for a New Information Collection

AGENCY: Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), DOT.

ACTION: Notice and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The FHWA invites public comments about our intention to 
request the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) approval for an 
information collection, which 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 December 18, 2023.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments identified by DOT Docket ID Number 
0039 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: Go to 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 20590-0001.
    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: Steven Jessberger, (202) 366 5052/[email protected]; Patrick Zhang, (202) 366-1941/[email protected], Department of Transportation, Federal Highway 
Administration, Office Highway Policy Information, 1200 New Jersey 
Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590. Office hours are from 7 a.m. to 4 
p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal Holidays.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Title: Travel Monitoring Analysis System.
    Background and Justification: The purpose of this document is to 
request OMB's three-year extension for a currently approved information 
collection titled ``Heavy Vehicle Travel Information System (HVTIS),'' 
covered by OMB Control No. 2125-0587. This information collection is 
due to expire on August 30, 2021. The Travel Monitoring Analysis System 
(TMAS) is the current system used to collect HVTIS information; 
therefore, the extension should now be titled Travel Monitoring 
Analysis System.

Part A. Justification

1. Circumstances That Make the Collection of Information Necessary
    23 U. S. Code 150 National Goals and Performance Management 
Measures requires that the U.S. DOT to establish a performance 
management system for its Federal-aid highway program. The Federal 
Highway Administration (FHWA), U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) 
promulgated the performance management via 23 CFR 490: National 
Performance Management Measures. Traffic data, including volume (# of 
vehicles and travelers), class (types of vehicles), weight (weight of 
vehicles), and travel time (speed), are parameters the performance 
management program relies upon.
    The FHWA is planning to continue to collect these traffic data 
through the TMAS system. To carry out the data collection, the FHWA 
will request that State Departments of Transportations (SDOTs) provide 
traffic volume, vehicle classification, vehicle speed, vehicle weight 
data, and nonmotorized data, which they collect as part of their 
traffic monitoring programs.
    In addition, 23 CFR 1.5 and 49 CFR 1.48 provide the Federal Highway 
Administrator with authority to request such information deemed 
necessary to administer the Federal-aid highway program. Traffic data 
are used for assessing highway system performance under FHWA's 
strategic planning and performance reporting process in accordance with 
the requirement of the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA, 
Sections 3 and 4).
    Finally, both the 23 U. S. Code 503 and the 23 CFR 420.105(b) 
require States to provide data that support FHWA's responsibilities 
carrying out the Federal-aid highway program to Congress and the 
public.
    The data to be collected will continue to be used by the FHWA and 
other DOT agencies to (a) manage its Federal-aid highway program 
through the performance management mechanism, (b) evaluate changes in 
vehicular and nonmotorized travel to assess impacts on highway safety, 
(c) analyze the role of travel in economic development and 
productivity, (d) assess impacts from truck travel on infrastructure 
demands, and (e) maintain and improve our Nation's mobility while 
protecting the human and natural environment.
2. How, by Whom, and for What Purpose Is the Information Used
    The data submitted through TMAS will provide the amount and nature 
of vehicular travel at the national, regional, and state levels. The 
data also provide information on how vehicular travel pattern varies by 
hour of the day, day of the week, the month of the year, and year to 
year.
    Data submitted under the TMAS program are essential to the FHWA and 
the U.S. DOT in determining:

[[Page 71927]]

     The effectiveness of current highway programs in 
supporting travel demands, safety improvement, and travel reliability
     The potential of possible modifications to the Federal-aid 
highway program, and
     The need for new programs
     The adequacy of the U.S. DOT Strategic Goals in areas of:
    i. Safety exposures: providing accurate and detailed exposure 
information related to travel and especially the roles of different 
vehicles in the same traffic stream
    ii. Mobility: providing data on the relative usage of system 
capacity by various vehicles by time of day and the associated share of 
congestion that may be implicit in such travel
    iii. Productivity: providing data necessary to estimate the tonnage 
of goods and number of people being moved by time of day, and season of 
the year over the various highway systems and
    iv. Human and Natural Environment: providing data needed for the 
highway noise and air quality effect assessments.
    State highway agencies use the traffic data for project and program 
level applications such as geometric design, pavement design, safety 
analysis, overweight and oversize vehicle permitting, designating truck 
routes, estimating trends in freight movement, highway noise abatement 
needs assessment.
    In addition to the usage by the Federal and State governmental 
agencies, institutions of higher learning, industry, consultants, 
professional organizations, and the public are using the data for 
research and education, business development, and general information.
3. Extent of Automated Information Collection
    All data for the TMAS will be submitted electronically to the FHWA 
by all State highway and local agencies, including the District of 
Columbia and Puerto Rico Departments of Transportation. Reliance on 
electronic reporting is responsive to limited staff resources at both 
the local, State and Federal levels. With the unlimited data upload 
file size, online electronic submission reduces burden to all 
respondents.
    The collected data will be further inserted into a Geographical 
Information System by the FHWA in order to support the analysis of 
point-specific vehicle travel data on a network basis. This is expected 
to allow:
     Correlation of pavement loadings generated by vehicles to 
data in other FHWA systems that report pavement condition;
     Major truck and interregional passenger corridors will be 
more readily identifiable among the links comprising the Nation's 
highway network, and;
     Weather, natural disaster and other geographically related 
phenomena can be more readily related to associated changes in travel 
patterns
    All data summarization, processing, and editing are fully 
automated. The TMAS is supported by various software browsers for use 
by the local, States and FHWA staff in order to report, edit and 
summarize the collected data.
    Respondents: State Departments of Transportation Agencies and 
Metropolitan Planning Organizations and Local Agencies responsible for 
submitting traffic data (both motorized and micromobility) to FHWA.
    Frequency: All data for the TMAS will be submitted electronically 
monthly to the FHWA by all State highway and local agencies, including 
the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico Departments of Transportation. 
Reliance on electronic reporting is responsive to limited staff 
resources at both the local, State and Federal levels. With the 
unlimited data upload file size, online electronic submission reduces 
burden to all respondents.
    The collected data will be further inserted into a Geographical 
Information System by the FHWA in order to support the analysis of 
point-specific vehicle travel data on a network basis. This is expected 
to allow:
     Correlation of pavement loadings generated by vehicles to 
data in other FHWA systems that report pavement condition;
     Major truck and interregional passenger corridors will be 
more readily identifiable among the links comprising the Nation's 
highway network, and;
     Weather, natural disaster and other geographically related 
phenomena can be more readily related to associated changes in travel 
patterns
    All data summarization, processing, and editing are fully 
automated. The TMAS is supported by various software browsers for use 
by the local, States and FHWA staff in order to report, edit and 
summarize the collected data.
    Estimated Average Burden per Response: FHWA estimates that the 
average State DOT operates 60 continuous vehicle classification 
installations, and 15 weigh-in-motion sites. State highway agencies 
have established their Traffic Monitoring System (TMS) under the 
Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act, Transportation Equity 
Act for the 21st Century, and the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, 
Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users. The data 
collection burden relevant for this notice is the additional burden for 
each State to provide a copy of its traffic data per data formats 
specified in the FHWA Traffic Monitoring Guide. Automation and online 
tools continue to be developed and improved in support of the TMAS and 
the capability now exists for online submission and validation of 
volume, speed, classification and weight data. The combined burden for 
the monthly report is estimated to be 50 hours per respondent. The 
estimated total burden for all States, the District of Columbia, and 
Puerto Rico are 2,600 hours.
    Salary costs associated with burden hours are estimated at an 
average of $35.50 per hour for the technical specialists dealing with 
the TMAS data types. The hourly rate is taken from Table 452 of the 
2007 Statistical Abstract of the United States Census Bureau. These 
costs are calculated as follows: $35.50 x 2,600 hours = $92,300.

                                       Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours
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                                                                  Reportings per   Average hours  Hours per year
                            Data type                              year per site   per response      per state
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Site Description................................................               1               2               2
Vehicle Classification..........................................              12               1              12
Vehicle Speed...................................................              12               1              12
Vehicle Weight..................................................              12               1              12
Total Volume....................................................              12             0.5               6
Total Nonmotorized Volume.......................................              12             0.5               6
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    Total Hours per State per Year..............................  ..............  ..............              50
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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 is necessary for the FHWA's performance; (2) the accuracy of 
the estimated burdens; (3) ways for the FHWA 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, 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: October 12, 2023.
Jazmyne Lewis,
Information Collection Officer.
[FR Doc. 2023-22908 Filed 10-17-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-22-P