Functional Classification & Urban Area Boundary Data
2000 FHWA Federal Aid Urbanized Area Boundaries
The FHWA Urban Area Boundary (UAB) typically represents an adjustment or revision to the Census Urban Area Boundary and is fixed by responsible State and local officials in coordination with each other. The reason Census Urban Area Boundaries are revised is to smooth out geographic irregularities, maintain administrative continuity, and encompass fringe area having residential, commercial, industrial, and/or national defense significance. The FHWA UAB is fixed also to determine capital program funding and eligibility. It is also used for statistical reporting purposes (HPMS) and for control of outdoor advertising. The FHWA UAB must be approved by USDOT. The table below depicts the approved 2000 FHWA UABs for both large and small urbanized areas in the State of Indiana.
The lead agency in the designation of FHWA UABs in large urban areas is the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO). Federal regulation requires that states designate MPOs in urban areas with populations of 50,000 or more. MPOs are responsible for ensuring that federal-aid transportation projects in the metropolitan area result from a continuing, comprehensive and cooperative transportation planning process. Indiana has sixteen urbanized areas served by fourteen MPOs. MPO membership includes local elected officials, representatives of transit operators and State DOTs and, in some cases, representatives from other state agencies or organizations involved in transportation policy or programming. The lead agency in the designation of FHWA UABs in small urban areas is the Division of Program Development within the Indiana Department of Transportation. Small urban areas are defined by Indiana as those areas with population between 5,000 and 49,999.
Functional Classification
Functional classification is the process by which streets and highways are grouped into classes, or systems, according to the character of service they are intended to provide. Basic to this process is the recognition that individual roads and streets do not serve travel independently in any major way. Rather, most travel involves movement through a network of roads. It becomes necessary then to determine how this travel can be channelized within the network in a logical and efficient manner. Functional classification defines the nature of this channelization process by defining the part that any particular road or street should play in serving the flow of trips through a highway network. (FHWA Functional Classification Guidelines)
Additional information regarding functional classification can be found on the Federal Highway Administration website.
For questions or information, please contact Eric Rader.
Accessing the Data
Please note: The Urban Area Search Tool & Viewer has been replaced by the following application. It provides the same capabilities for viewing UAB data with additional tools for viewing Functional Class data and documents.Click the link below to use the Planning Data Search Tool & Viewer. This application provides search tools for locating planning data using criteria such as City, County, INDOT District, Governing body, MET, Population Size and more. A selected area may be viewed in the map along with other base layer data, such as State Routes and various Boundaries. A more detailed version of the UAB and Functional Class documents may be viewed or downloaded as pdf file(s). More instructions and information can be found by using the “Help” link in the Introduction panel or in the upper right corner of the application.
Planning Data Search Tool & Viewer
Click the link below for a listing of functional classification pdf documents. These are the same documents available through the Planning Data Search Tool & Viewer.
Functional Classification Maps
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