01590298

Component

Many of the most critical transportation policy debates, including those over climate change mitigation strategies, land use and zoning policies, and transportation finance alternatives, hinge on estimates and predictions of Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT). Yet reliable and geographically-specific estimates of VMT are challenging to develop, and are usually the product of complex modeling exercises calibrated with limited amounts of empirical data. However, in Massachusetts and many other states that have vehicle emission and/or safety inspection requirements, state agencies already have all the information they need to produce highly detailed estimates of VMT and make versions of that information available to policymakers, researchers, and the general public. This paper details the production of the Massachusetts Vehicle Census, a longitudinal dataset built from millions of vehicle registration and inspection records that includes estimates of vehicle ownership, VMT per vehicle and per household, fuel efficiency, and average vehicle age for all Massachusetts municipalities, census tracts, block groups, and 250-meter grid cells on a quarterly basis. It details the algorithms and methodology used to produce these estimates and updating the dataset, the steps taken to preserve anonymity of the data, and the process for developing data use agreements and levels of access for various data products. It also compares the Massachusetts Vehicle Census counts of vehicle registrations at the block group level to 2008-2012 American Community Survey data on aggregate vehicle availability.

This paper was sponsored by TRB committee ABJ20 Standing Committee on Statewide Transportation Data and Information Systems.

01584066

16-0634

English

13p

2016

Transportation Research Board 95th Annual Meeting

Digital/other

Figures; References; Tables

Automobile ownership; Inspection; Motor vehicles; Vehicle miles of travel

Open data

Massachusetts

Data and Information Technology; Highways; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning

Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 2016 Paper #16-0634

TRIS, TRB, ATRI

Jan 12 2016 4:26PM