DOT’s Foxx To Deliver Keynote At ‘Data Palooza’ June 3
Managing large sets of freight data effectively improves officials’ ability to make roadways safer, improving the distribution of goods around the country, Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx will tell data experts when they meet for an annual conference in Arlington, Virginia, on June 3.
Foxx is the keynote speaker at the Geospatial Transportation Mapping Association’s annual “Data Palooza,” which the group’s president and CEO Robert Dingess says is a way for experts to come together and evaluate “key metrics that allow for evaluation and comparison.”
An aspect of DOT’s expansive data gathering entails roadside inspections of large trucks and buses, including violations, which are provided to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration by various state police agencies. The National Transportation Safety Board, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Federal Highway Administration also collect and analyze freight data crucial in assisting governments and businesses to make informed decisions about which transportation mode to use for shipping and when to start construction projects.
“Given the cost of data collection and storage, it is important that we fully explore the range of possibilities to more effectively use data to make decisions that will ultimately improve transportation performance and accountability,” said Peter Stephanos, director of pavement technology at the FHWA.
Integrating transportation data was a key provision in the 2012 highway law MAP-21. That law expires in September and congressional transportation leaders have indicated they plan to advance more performance-based accountability approaches to surface transportation programs when they update the law.
The event will be held June 2-4 at the Hilton Crystal City at Washington Reagan National Airport. Registration information is found on the event’s website: www.gtma2014.com/
