Seeking Guidance: Building a Master Road Network in Esri Roads and Highways for Use in TransCAD

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3 weeks ago
SandeepBist
New Contributor

Hello RHUG Community,

I am currently working on a project to develop a Master Road Network using Esri Roads and Highways. The goal is to use this network as the master road network for a statewide travel demand model in TransCAD.

I have several questions and would greatly appreciate guidance or insights from those who might have experience with similar workflows:

1. Building the Master Road Network:

  1. What are the best practices for configuring the LRS (Linear Referencing System) schema to ensure it can handle a wide variety of attributes (e.g., AADT, lane configurations, speed limits, etc.)?
  2. How should I manage data integration when the source data comes from different databases?
  3. In my roadway data for divided roads like freeways, both directions are represented using a single polyline feature. Is it necessary (or recommended) to have two separate polylines/centerlines to represent each direction? If so, how should this be implemented in Esri Roads and Highways?


2. Integration with TransCAD:

  1. Is it feasible to export or transform the road network built in Esri Roads and Highways into a format compatible with TransCAD for travel demand modeling?
  2. Are there any known workflows, tools, or scripts that simplify this integration process?

Could you please tell me if you are aware of any DOTs, consultants, or agencies that have successfully used Esri Roads and Highways to build a road network and later integrated it into TransCAD for travel demand modeling? The project is in its early stages, and any advice, resources, or examples of related efforts would be immensely helpful.

Thank you in advance for your time and expertise!

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2 Replies
KyleGonterwitz
MVP Alum

I have utilized data from a state DOT Roads and Highways database and integrated it into TransCAD, that isnt very hard to do.  It took a lot of effort for the DOT to implement that roads and highways system, many difficult decisions have to be made to answer your questions in a way that works uniquely for that state's data to be implemented in Roads and Highways.

Once the data is implemented in Roads and Highways you can process the roadway data you want to use to a format that can be imported into TransCAD.  I do not think it would be worth the effort to implement roads and highways just to utilize the network in TransCAD unless you have other significant business cases to use roads and highways.  I think any cases of DOTs using their Roads and Highways data in TransCAD are because the Roads and Highways system exists as the DOT system of record. Those DOTs expend significant resources to implement and maintain those Roads and Highways systems. The data maintained by any US DOT should contain resources that can be leveraged by TransCAD simply by exporting a dynamic segmentation of event data into a shapefile for TransCAD use.

SandeepBist
New Contributor

Thank you for your insights! I appreciate you sharing your experience and perspective. This helps me better understand the process and its challenges.

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