BTS Updates Datasets to National Transportation Atlas Database, Fall 2024

Friday, October 25, 2024

The U.S. Department of Transportation's (USDOT) Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) today released its fall 2024 update to the National Transportation Atlas Database (NTAD), a set of nationwide geographic databases of transportation facilities, networks, and associated infrastructure.

This data release features the addition of two (2) new datasets, Link Tonnages and Weigh-in-Motion (WIM) Stations. The Link Tonnages layer from the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) provides tonnage data and statistics during calendar year 2022, summarized by commodity and direction along each link of the waterway network. The Weigh-in-Motion (WIM) layer shows WIM station locations provided by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), as WIM is a primary technology used for monitoring vehicle weights and axle loads on roadways.

The updated layers in this release include:

National Parks;
118th Congressional Districts – attributes updated weekly;
Alternative Fueling Stations – updated daily;
Inland Electronic Navigational Charts;
Dams – updated weekly;
Aviation Facilities – updated monthly;
Runways – updated monthly;
Nonattainment Areas;
Bikeshare scooter systems;
Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO);
Principal Ports with calendar year 2022 statistics;
National Transit Map Stops;
National Transit Map Routes;
National Transit Map Agencies;
Marine Highways;
Amtrak Stations;
Travel Time to Work;
Means of Transportation to Work;
Household Size by Vehicles Available;
North American Rail Network Lines;
North American Rail Network Nodes;
Railroad Grade Crossings;
Rail Yards;
Alternative Fuel Corridors;
National Census of Ferry Operators (NCFO) 2020 Routes;
National Census of Ferry Operators (NCFO) 2020 Terminals;

Below is a map which depicts waterway link and port tonnages in the Gulf of Alaska. The port of Valdez, AK handled 25 million short tons during the 2022 calendar year.¹ The majority of this traffic (97%) was domestic shipment of crude petroleum via tanker and tanker barge with the top two destinations, in order, being California and Washington State. ²

map which depicts waterway link and port tonnages in the Gulf of Alaska

About the National Transportation Atlas DatabaseNTAD data is available for download in the following formats: File Geodatabase, Shapefile, GeoJSON, comma-separated values (CSV), Keyhole Markup Language (KML), and more through the BTS Geospatial Data Catalog. Additionally, Web Feature Services (WFS) are available for NTAD datasets. Download our public catalog offering and locate the 'URL' column to find a dataset's web service URL. Vector Tile services are available for select NTAD datasets and are best used for cartographic and visualization purposes, and may be found in the NTAD Vector Tile Group.

BTS now uses a dynamic NTAD publication cycle, with updated data released throughout the year as they become available from their respective government agencies. Follow BTS on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram or subscribe to email updates for announcements of additional dataset releases throughout the year.

ContactsTechnical: Dominic Menegus: (202) 306-1587 or ntad@dot.gov.

¹U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Waterborne Commerce Statistics Center. (2022, updated yearly). [dataset]. 2022 - Valdez, AK (PORT) Cargo Report. Waterborne Commerce of the United States (WCUS) Ports and Waterways Web Tool. Accessed 2024-10-10 from https://ndc.ops.usace.army.mil/wcsc/webpub/#/

²United States Department of Transportation, Bureau of Transportation Statistics. (2024, 2024-09-23). Freight Analysis Framework, 5.6.1. [dataset]. https://www.bts.gov/faf