The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) requested that the Transportation Research Board (TRB) undertake a 15-month study of the availability and quality of national transportation data to support DOT's continuing strategic decision-making requirements. This report is the result of that study. Chapter 1 examines the role of data in national policy making. The key elements of a data support system are identified in Chapter 2. Chapter 3 is focused on how these requirements can be met by improving existing data bases and supplying missing data; opportunities for public-private collaboration in data collection are considered, and applications of new technologies for reducing the cost and burden of data collection are explored. The institutional changes needed to develop a more effective and permanent data and analytic capability to support strategic decision making within the DOT are discussed in Chapter 4, and a new organization is recommended. The steps required to put such a capability in place are outlined in Chapter 5. (A)
Abstract