Urban Areas Highways

The U.S. Census Bureau releases urban area polygons with each decennial census. The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) recommends every state adjusts and expands these boundaries to better support transportation and planning functions and needs. In coordination with the Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs), the West Virginia Department of Transportation (WVDOT) adjusted the Census urban boundaries to produce this urban areas layer for highways use. Note: The "Urban Cluster" category was dropped from the 2020 Census data. The Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) were given the first opportunity to adjust the boundaries. Second, the West Virginia Department of Transportation (WVDOT) Linear Referencing Systems (LRS) Unit made additional minor adjustments to ensure routes that closely follow urban boundaries remained entirely within or entirely outside of the urban area to reduce slivers and excessive segmentation. These changes were sent to the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and approved on September 25, 2024. Several data items, such as federal functional classification, in the LRS network reference this dataset for attribution. For more details on the adjustment process, visit https://transportation.org/ctpp/wp-content/uploads/sites/81/2024/05/FHWA-Adjusted-Urban-Area-Boundaries-AUAB.pdf