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Developing the Emerging Development Pressure Index for Wisconsin

The EDPI is a measure of the likelihood of future residential and commercial development. Currently, the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) computes the EDPI for each STH segment and uses the values as an indicator of future traffic levels and as a measure for prioritizing STH corridors for DOT investment. The current EDPI is computed based on two rates: one is the population and employment growth rates projected for 2020 by city, village, and town (CVT), and the other is the land conversion rates from 1990-2000 by CVT. Based on these rates, each STH segment is ranked and assigned with an EDPI score. A high EDPI suggests a high likelihood of future growth around the highway segment and indicates the need for increased level of service or capacity on the highway segment. The current process for computing the EDPI has a couple of major limitations. First, future development is often reflected by factors in addition to population and employment projections and land conversion rates. Data generated by these additional factors is readily available and should be included in the EDPI formula. Second, the current EDPI is computed for highway segments with defined start and end nodes. The definitions of these segments are often too course and too inflexible to support the accurate identification of localities with emerging development. A computational method that is not bound by the STH segment definitions and that allows the EDPI to be computed at a higher spatial resolution is desired. The objective of this project is to develop a new Emerging Development Pressure Index (EDPI) for Wisconsin that is free of the limitations discussed below. Specifically, the project will examine a number of data sources available from various state agencies including DOT and incorporate them into the EDPI computation to the greatest extent possible. The project will develop a method for consolidating and collapsing the various data items into a new EDPI. The EDPI should be conceptually simple and the computational method should be capable of producing EDPI scores at a resolution finer than STH segments.