Database Development of Land Use Characteristics along Major U.S. Highways

BTS Productshttps://doi.org/10.21949/15016672000PDFResearch PaperXiong, D.Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Energy DivisionUnited States. Department of Transportation. Bureau of Transportation StatisticsOak Ridge National LaboratoryDatabase management systemsLand use planningHighwaysInformation processingRemote sensingData collectionGraphsTables (Data)Data base managementInformation systemsLand useRoadsTransportation systemsORNL/TM-2000/160DE-AC05-00OR22725Information about land use by and adjacent to transportation systems is essential to understanding the environmental impacts of transportation systems. Nevertheless, such data are presently sparse and incomplete, especially at the national scale. To address the need for land use data, the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) undertook the development of land use data for major U.S. highways. This report describes data sources, methodology and preliminary results of this research. To develop the land use database, data from three major sources were utilized: (1) National Highway Planning Network (NHPN), (2) Highway Performance Monitoring System (HPMS), and (3) the 1:250,000- and 1:100,000-Scale Land Use and Land Cover (LULC) Data from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). The NHPN is used to establish the geographic location of highway networks and provide attribute data (e.g., highway name, functional type, state and county flags, etc.) to support data analysis. Overlays of LULC data and the NHPN generate mileage of different land use types along highways. Interpolation and extrapolation using HPMS sample data results in estimates of widths of pavement, median and right of way for each highway link on the NHPN. Based upon mileage of land use types and highway widths, land use statistics, such as mileage of different types of land use along highways, and land areas occupied by highway infrastructure are generated. It is estimated that the total land area or right of way given to highways that are represented in the NHPN for the continental United States is 7,634,872 acres, among which pavement accounted for 2,173,052 acres, medians for 612,966 acres, and the rest of the right of way for 4,848,854 acres. Highway land use data are also established by the miles and areas, by land use types and by highway functional classes, and can be aggregated or broken down intodifferent geographic regions or administrative areas (e.g., counties or states). It must be pointed out that the numbers provided in this report should be considered preliminary and current estimation of transportation-related land use has some known problems. Primarily, the use of the simple overlay of the NHPN and USGS maps results in significant errors in over-counting of urban land. Because many highway links represented in the NHPN fall inside the highway polygons of the LULC maps, the simple overlay procedure cannot resolve land use types along these highway links directly. Consequently, land use types along these highways are not correctly reported. The lack of currency of LULC maps is another major concern. Many LULC maps were created with data collected about 20 years ago. Significant changes on land use have taken place since then, which adds additional errors to the current statistics. The report identifies some of the strategies to overcome these problems and recommends additional steps to be taken for improvement of both methods and data. The possibility of using remote sensing data and more detailed transportation networks to extend the scope of the current work to include compete roadways and other mode of transportation systems is discussed.123