Transportation Analysis Zones Changing Boundaries For Our Future

Purpose of the Zone Determines the granularity of the supported network Used to aggregate useful land use and census data for modeling Constrained by physical features (natural and manmade) and census subdivisions Single source of data for base and future year modeling May nest within other modeled areas or provide the basis for sub-area analysis

Zone Modifications Changing census block definitions New freeways or other barriers Land use changes or special generators Need for increased or decreased network granularity Nesting for other agency modeling efforts (e.g. Collar Counties, Statewide)

Getting New Data What data do you require now? Use super- TAZs to avoid suppression? What data might you require in the future if your modeling practices change? If you have TAZ boundaries that nest with another agency’s TAZ boundaries, which agency defines the TAZs for both agencies? What information technology will you use? (TIGER/TAZ-up software, GIS, tables, …)

St. Cloud Area Sherburne County (one collar county)

Will there be more nesting or overlapping jurisdiction issues? Metropolitan Areas Expand, Even Across State Lines

Perhaps You Can Help Identify potential future planning area overlap Share names of key contacts - Wisconsin DOT, Minnesota DOT, State Demographer, MPOs, … Determine what data are needed & where Decide who does what and at what scale Coordinate our efforts with state and federal agencies in order to obtain data Other actions?

What worked well last time? What should we watch out for this time? If we make corrections or adjustments to the data we need to share that with our ‘nesting partner’. It’s still early. There are new challenges out there. What about our external stations? ?