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Data: Cross-border Trade and Traffic Flows
The TBWG Border Data Subcommittee
Data on cross-border trade and traffic flows can: help to assess travel
demand; inform policy and infrastructure planning activities; provide
insights about routing and the origin and destination of vehicles and
cross-border freight movements; and, help to assess border transit times
and performance measures. In recognition of the importance of trade
and traffic data to bi-national transportation planning, the Transportation
Border Working Group has established a data subcommittee to address
data needs, identify data gaps and assess tools for the gathering and
analysis of data, and finally, to identify trade and traffic data initiatives
of collective interest to TBWG members. This Data Subcommittee is co-chaired
by the Ontario Ministry of Transportation and the U.S. Federal Highway
Administration, on behalf of the TBWG.
The genesis of the TBWG Data Subcommittee was an October 2003 conference
in Port Huron, Michigan, which was organized by the Ontario Ministry
of Transportation and the Michigan Department of Transportation on behalf
of the TBWG, with support from the U.S. Federal Highway Administration
and Transport Canada. At this conference, TBWG members identified a
number of common “data needs”. These include: Vehicle Counts:
frequent shared information of vehicle flows; Origin and Destination
information: consistent tracking and reporting on driver, vehicle and
commodity information; Routing information i.e. developing a “big
picture” of vehicle routes and movements; Commodity attributes
including weight and value data; and, Border Congestion/Delays (Performance
Measures). The TBWG is currently assessing tools for the data gathering
and analysis and it will be identifying initiatives for further collaboration
based on these data needs. The activities of the TBWG data subcommittee
fall under the TBWG Action Plan.
Subsequent to the TBWG meeting in Montreal in December 2003, it was
decided that the first task of the data subcommittee would be to identify
effective tools and approaches for data gathering and analysis to
address data needs, particularly in the areas of:
- Vehicle Counts/Classification;
- Border Origin and Destination Surveys/Studies;
- Border Delay/Congestion;
- Customs/Trade Data sources i.e. drawing on possible data sources
such as the U.S. International Trade Data System/Advance Commercial
Environment.
For further information on the TBWG Data Subcommittee, please
contact Alicia Nolan at Alicia.Nolan@fhwa.dot.gov.
Canada-U.S. Mexico Data Interchange
There are also other groups dealing with cross-border trade and traffic
data such as the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Data Interchange. This Group
is a forum established in 1991 for the exchange of information and the
initiation of collaborative activities amongst the transportation
and statistical federal agencies in Canada, Mexico and the United
States. Its mission is to raise the general awareness and improve
the quality, relevance, and comparability of transportation data
and
information in North America. The overarching goal of the Interchange
is to promote and develop high quality, relevant, comparable data
and analysis that provide information necessary for an efficient
and fully integrated transportation system for North America.
One of the key results of the Interchange was the trilateral development
and release of the North
American Transportation in Figures report in 2000. Canada, Mexico
and the United States are updating this information as inputs to the North
American Online Database that will supply public access to relevant, timely
and comparable transportation indicators for North America due for a Phase
I release in the coming year.
The lead agencies for the Interchange are the U.S. Census Bureau,
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. DOT/Bureau of Transportation Statistics
(BTS), Statistics Canada and Transport Canada, Mexico's Ministry of
Communications and Transport, the Mexican Institute of Transportation,
and Mexico's National Institute of Statistics, Geography and Informatics.
There are four working groups as part of the Interchange:
- the North American Transportation Statistics working group
- developing a core set of comparable and timely transportation performance
measures
for North America and the inclusion of these in an online database
developed by Mexico.
- the Maritime and Trade working group - vessel and port
classification issues and consistency in these for North America,
customs issues, trade
data reconciliation and support of maritime data needed for the
online database.
- the Environment and Energy working group - developing
a comparable set of indicators in environment and energy as they relate
to transportation
across North America and the exchange of best practice and program
updates.
- the Surface Transport working group - freight surveys
and collection approaches in North America and the expansion of these
across all three
countries, measurement of border delays and efficiencies, hazmat
freight issues, North American geospatial data and North American
passenger
travel data.
The 18th North American Transportation Statistics Interchange is scheduled
for late June 2004 in Ottawa, Canada. BTS is the lead U.S. Department
of Transportation agency for North American transportation and statistics
data coordination and partners at the U.S. federal level with the
U.S. Census Bureau and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. BTS is the only
agency
within the U.S. Department of Transportation that addresses transportation
data on a trilateral basis filling data gaps associated with North
American trade and travel. The Interchange and its related activities
provide
major contributions to BTS products and other U.S. Department of Transportation
projects.
For more information on BTS products and services relating to border
issues, visit www.bts.gov/itt.
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