GIS-Based Assessment of Highway Network, Crash, and Traffic Volume Data in the Laredo-Nuevo Laredo Area

The Texas-Mexico Border Region is undergoing extremely fast, radical changes, and it is critical for planners, engineers, and decision makers to develop a clear understanding of the various processes that drive, and are affected by, such growth. A number of government agencies are responsible for collecting and processing transportation-related data in the border region. Unfortunately, the available data tend to be scattered among various organizations and rarely include substantial amounts of information from the Mexican side of the border. There is a need to provide an integrated approach to the issue of transportation data collection and analysis for the Texas-Mexico Border Region. This report describes a prototype geographic information system (GIS)-based framework for transportation data with a goal to better understand the characteristics of the transportation system along the border areas. The report focuses on highway network data, crash data, and sources at various jurisdictional levels and evaluates the degree to which the data can be integrated. The report also summarizes an assessment of transportation data on the Mexican side of the border that resulted from a collaborative efort with the Instituto Mexicano del Transporte (IMT).