This project is led by the Transportation Research and Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University (PSU), in collaboration with the Institute for Tribal Government (ITG) at PSU, Toole Design Group, the Highway Safety Research Center at University of North Carolina (UNC-HSRC), Sheri Bozic (EarthAlive Consulting), Dr. Nick Ferenchak (University of New Mexico), and Elizabeth Stolz (The Traffic Data Consultant). It is funded by the National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP).

State DOTs and tribal agencies use data to inform decision-making processes from statewide, tribal, and regional planning, to project-level planning and development, to the evaluation of completed projects. However, data sources are not always available for a variety of reasons: agencies have not set up systems or prioritized data collection for these modes to the same level that they have for driving, existing data that are mainly utilized for other purposes have not yet been identified as usable for active transportation purposes, agencies have not prioritized collecting and stewarding their data, or agencies have not gone in search of sources to supplement what they could be doing themselves. Data could be a powerful tool for agencies when determining which bicycle and pedestrian corridors/projects are most critical and, once built, clearly quantifying their effects and potential maintenance requirements to allow sustainable usage.

The primary objective of this project is to develop a playbook for state DOTs and tribes on the use of active transportation data. An additional objective is to draft data standardization formats that will improve data quality and facilitate data sharing nationally.