<b>CHRONEX-US: City-level historical road network expansion dataset for the conterminous United States</b>

<p dir="ltr">Geospatial datasets on the long-term evolution of road networks are scarce, hampering our quantitative understanding of how the contemporary road network has evolved over the course of the 20<sup>th</sup> century. However, such information is crucial to bette...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Johannes H. Uhl (9706325) (author)
Other Authors: Keith A. Burghardt (17916527) (author), Stefan Leyk (9706404) (author)
Published: 2025
Subjects:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1852019185187553280
author Johannes H. Uhl (9706325)
author2 Keith A. Burghardt (17916527)
Stefan Leyk (9706404)
author2_role author
author
author_facet Johannes H. Uhl (9706325)
Keith A. Burghardt (17916527)
Stefan Leyk (9706404)
author_role author
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Johannes H. Uhl (9706325)
Keith A. Burghardt (17916527)
Stefan Leyk (9706404)
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2025-06-19T21:18:04Z
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv 10.6084/m9.figshare.28644674.v1
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv https://figshare.com/articles/dataset/_b_CHRONEX-US_City-level_historical_road_network_expansion_dataset_for_the_conterminous_United_States_b_/28644674
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv CC BY 4.0
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv History and theory of the built environment (excl. architecture)
Land use and environmental planning
Regional analysis and development
Transport planning
Urban analysis and development
Computational modelling and simulation in earth sciences
Geoinformatics not elsewhere classified
Digital history
Transport geography
Urban geography
Road network patterns
street networks and other built environments
built environment
urbanization
urban sprawl
suburbanization
road network evolution
National Transportation Dataset
NTD
US Metropolitan statistical areas
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv <b>CHRONEX-US: City-level historical road network expansion dataset for the conterminous United States</b>
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv Dataset
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
dataset
description <p dir="ltr">Geospatial datasets on the long-term evolution of road networks are scarce, hampering our quantitative understanding of how the contemporary road network has evolved over the course of the 20<sup>th</sup> century. However, such information is crucial to better understand the dynamics of road network growth and expansion, and to shed light on the consequences of (sub-) urbanization processes, such as increasing mobility, traffic congestion, land take and transportation inequality.</p><p dir="ltr"><a href="https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2506.16625" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">CHRONEX-US</a> (“<b>C</b>ity-level <b>H</b>istorical <b>R</b><b>O</b>ad <b>N</b>etwork <b>EX</b>pansion dataset for the conterminous <b>U</b>nited <b>S</b>tates”), is a geospatial vector dataset reporting estimates of the construction year for each road segment in densely and semi-densely built-up spaces within 693 core-based statistical areas (i.e., Metropolitan and Micropolitan statistical areas) in the conterminous US. CHRONEX-US is based on the USGS National Transportation Dataset (NTD), integrated with the historical settlement compilation for the US (HISDAC-US). CHRONEX-US reports model-based construction epoch estimates for urban and peri-urban local / residential road network segments, using three different model-based scenarios. The vector data inherit topological integrity from the NTD data allowing for routing and other connectivity-based analyses within temporal strata of urban road networks. CHRONEX-US vector geometries are attributed with the US Census Bureau’s MAF/TIGER Feature Class Code (MTFCC), enabling stratification of the data by road category. The CHRONEX-US data descriptor (preprint) is available <a href="https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2506.16625" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">here</a>.</p><p dir="ltr">CHRONEX-US is available as a ZIP file containing 693 GeoPackage (.GPKG) geospatial vector polyline data files, named ”chronex_us_.gpkg”, with being the 5-digit identifier (GEOID) of the CBSA as defined by the US Census Bureau. Each GPKG contains the NTD road network vector data (polyline) clipped to the GBUA 2015 extents, split at the GBUA boundaries of previous years. The spatial reference system is the local UTM projection for each CBSA, facilitating distance- and orientation-based analyses. The attributes are:</p><ul><li>MTFCC_CODE: The US Census Bureau’s MAF/TIGER Feature Class Code (<a href="https://www2.census.gov/geo/pdfs/reference/mtfccs2019.pdf" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">MTFCC; see https://www2.census.gov/geo/pdfs/reference/mtfccs2019.pdf</a>).</li><li>yr_lower_M1: Earliest year of the estimated construction epoch according to model 1</li><li>yr_upper_M1: Latest year of the estimated construction epoch according to model 1</li><li>yr_lower_M2: Earliest year of the estimated construction epoch according to model 2</li><li>yr_upper_M2: Latest year of the estimated construction epoch according to model 2</li><li>yr_lower_M3: Earliest year of the estimated construction epoch according to model 3</li><li>yr_upper_M3: Latest year of the estimated construction epoch according to model 3</li><li>yr_< lower,upper >_< min,max,mean,std,range >: Statistics summarizing the estimates of the three models. The standard deviation (std) and the range can be used to measure agreement of the three models.</li></ul><p dir="ltr">NoData values of the year estimates indicate that the road network segment was not included in the specific model (i.e., not overlapping with any GBUA polygon after buffering. A lower year of “0” indicates an estimated road construction year <1900.</p><p dir="ltr">CHRONEX-US data descriptor (preprint): Uhl, J.H., Burghardt, K.,and Leyk, S. (2025). CHRONEX-US: City-level historical road network expansion dataset for the conterminous United States. arXiv preprint. <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.16625" target="_blank">arXiv:2506.16625</a> [physics.soc-ph], <a href="https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2506.16625" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2506.16625</a>.</p><p dir="ltr">Related work based on CHRONEX-US:</p><p dir="ltr"><a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compenvurbsys.2022.101803" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">Burghardt, K., Uhl, J. H., Lerman, K., & Leyk, S. (2022). Road network evolution in the urban and rural United States since 1900. <i>Computers, Environment and Urban Systems</i>, <i>95</i>, 101803.</a></p><p dir="ltr"><a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/23998083241240099" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">Burghardt, K., Uhl, J. H., Lerman, K., & Leyk, S. (2024). Analyzing urban scaling laws in the United States over 115 years. <i>Environment and Planning B: Urban Analytics and City Science</i>, <i>51</i>(9), 2249-2263.</a></p><p dir="ltr"><a href="https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2412.13181" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">Burghardt, K., Uhl, J. H., Lerman, K., & Leyk, S. (2024). Universal Patterns in the Long-term Growth of Urban Infrastructure in US Cities from 1900 to 2015. <i>arXiv preprint arXiv:2412.13181</i>.</a></p><p dir="ltr"><a href="https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.19584088" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">Burghardt, Keith; Uhl, Johannes H. (2022). Historical road network statistics for core-based statistical areas in the U.S. (1900 - 2010). figshare. Dataset.</a></p><p dir="ltr">CHRONEX-US is based on the <a href="https://data.usgs.gov/datacatalog/data/USGS:ad3d631d-f51f-4b6a-91a3-e617d6a58b4e" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">National Transportation Dataset</a> and the <a href="https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.19593409" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">Historical, generalized built-up areas in U.S. core-based statistical areas 1900 - 2015 dataset (Uhl and Burghardt 2022)</a>. CHRONEX-US is part of the <a href="https://figshare.com/projects/USRoadNetworkEvolution/137044" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">USRoadNetworkEvolution</a> project.</p><p><br></p><p><br></p>
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
id Manara_6dcdeeed6caafa359a61ed2b72f02f21
identifier_str_mv 10.6084/m9.figshare.28644674.v1
network_acronym_str Manara
network_name_str ManaraRepo
oai_identifier_str oai:figshare.com:article/28644674
publishDate 2025
repository.mail.fl_str_mv
repository.name.fl_str_mv
repository_id_str
rights_invalid_str_mv CC BY 4.0
spelling <b>CHRONEX-US: City-level historical road network expansion dataset for the conterminous United States</b>Johannes H. Uhl (9706325)Keith A. Burghardt (17916527)Stefan Leyk (9706404)History and theory of the built environment (excl. architecture)Land use and environmental planningRegional analysis and developmentTransport planningUrban analysis and developmentComputational modelling and simulation in earth sciencesGeoinformatics not elsewhere classifiedDigital historyTransport geographyUrban geographyRoad network patternsstreet networks and other built environmentsbuilt environmenturbanizationurban sprawlsuburbanizationroad network evolutionNational Transportation DatasetNTDUS Metropolitan statistical areas<p dir="ltr">Geospatial datasets on the long-term evolution of road networks are scarce, hampering our quantitative understanding of how the contemporary road network has evolved over the course of the 20<sup>th</sup> century. However, such information is crucial to better understand the dynamics of road network growth and expansion, and to shed light on the consequences of (sub-) urbanization processes, such as increasing mobility, traffic congestion, land take and transportation inequality.</p><p dir="ltr"><a href="https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2506.16625" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">CHRONEX-US</a> (“<b>C</b>ity-level <b>H</b>istorical <b>R</b><b>O</b>ad <b>N</b>etwork <b>EX</b>pansion dataset for the conterminous <b>U</b>nited <b>S</b>tates”), is a geospatial vector dataset reporting estimates of the construction year for each road segment in densely and semi-densely built-up spaces within 693 core-based statistical areas (i.e., Metropolitan and Micropolitan statistical areas) in the conterminous US. CHRONEX-US is based on the USGS National Transportation Dataset (NTD), integrated with the historical settlement compilation for the US (HISDAC-US). CHRONEX-US reports model-based construction epoch estimates for urban and peri-urban local / residential road network segments, using three different model-based scenarios. The vector data inherit topological integrity from the NTD data allowing for routing and other connectivity-based analyses within temporal strata of urban road networks. CHRONEX-US vector geometries are attributed with the US Census Bureau’s MAF/TIGER Feature Class Code (MTFCC), enabling stratification of the data by road category. The CHRONEX-US data descriptor (preprint) is available <a href="https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2506.16625" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">here</a>.</p><p dir="ltr">CHRONEX-US is available as a ZIP file containing 693 GeoPackage (.GPKG) geospatial vector polyline data files, named ”chronex_us_.gpkg”, with being the 5-digit identifier (GEOID) of the CBSA as defined by the US Census Bureau. Each GPKG contains the NTD road network vector data (polyline) clipped to the GBUA 2015 extents, split at the GBUA boundaries of previous years. The spatial reference system is the local UTM projection for each CBSA, facilitating distance- and orientation-based analyses. The attributes are:</p><ul><li>MTFCC_CODE: The US Census Bureau’s MAF/TIGER Feature Class Code (<a href="https://www2.census.gov/geo/pdfs/reference/mtfccs2019.pdf" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">MTFCC; see https://www2.census.gov/geo/pdfs/reference/mtfccs2019.pdf</a>).</li><li>yr_lower_M1: Earliest year of the estimated construction epoch according to model 1</li><li>yr_upper_M1: Latest year of the estimated construction epoch according to model 1</li><li>yr_lower_M2: Earliest year of the estimated construction epoch according to model 2</li><li>yr_upper_M2: Latest year of the estimated construction epoch according to model 2</li><li>yr_lower_M3: Earliest year of the estimated construction epoch according to model 3</li><li>yr_upper_M3: Latest year of the estimated construction epoch according to model 3</li><li>yr_< lower,upper >_< min,max,mean,std,range >: Statistics summarizing the estimates of the three models. The standard deviation (std) and the range can be used to measure agreement of the three models.</li></ul><p dir="ltr">NoData values of the year estimates indicate that the road network segment was not included in the specific model (i.e., not overlapping with any GBUA polygon after buffering. A lower year of “0” indicates an estimated road construction year <1900.</p><p dir="ltr">CHRONEX-US data descriptor (preprint): Uhl, J.H., Burghardt, K.,and Leyk, S. (2025). CHRONEX-US: City-level historical road network expansion dataset for the conterminous United States. arXiv preprint. <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.16625" target="_blank">arXiv:2506.16625</a> [physics.soc-ph], <a href="https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2506.16625" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2506.16625</a>.</p><p dir="ltr">Related work based on CHRONEX-US:</p><p dir="ltr"><a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compenvurbsys.2022.101803" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">Burghardt, K., Uhl, J. H., Lerman, K., & Leyk, S. (2022). Road network evolution in the urban and rural United States since 1900. <i>Computers, Environment and Urban Systems</i>, <i>95</i>, 101803.</a></p><p dir="ltr"><a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/23998083241240099" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">Burghardt, K., Uhl, J. H., Lerman, K., & Leyk, S. (2024). Analyzing urban scaling laws in the United States over 115 years. <i>Environment and Planning B: Urban Analytics and City Science</i>, <i>51</i>(9), 2249-2263.</a></p><p dir="ltr"><a href="https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2412.13181" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">Burghardt, K., Uhl, J. H., Lerman, K., & Leyk, S. (2024). Universal Patterns in the Long-term Growth of Urban Infrastructure in US Cities from 1900 to 2015. <i>arXiv preprint arXiv:2412.13181</i>.</a></p><p dir="ltr"><a href="https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.19584088" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">Burghardt, Keith; Uhl, Johannes H. (2022). Historical road network statistics for core-based statistical areas in the U.S. (1900 - 2010). figshare. Dataset.</a></p><p dir="ltr">CHRONEX-US is based on the <a href="https://data.usgs.gov/datacatalog/data/USGS:ad3d631d-f51f-4b6a-91a3-e617d6a58b4e" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">National Transportation Dataset</a> and the <a href="https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.19593409" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">Historical, generalized built-up areas in U.S. core-based statistical areas 1900 - 2015 dataset (Uhl and Burghardt 2022)</a>. CHRONEX-US is part of the <a href="https://figshare.com/projects/USRoadNetworkEvolution/137044" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">USRoadNetworkEvolution</a> project.</p><p><br></p><p><br></p>2025-06-19T21:18:04ZDatasetinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersiondataset10.6084/m9.figshare.28644674.v1https://figshare.com/articles/dataset/_b_CHRONEX-US_City-level_historical_road_network_expansion_dataset_for_the_conterminous_United_States_b_/28644674CC BY 4.0info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:figshare.com:article/286446742025-06-19T21:18:04Z
spellingShingle <b>CHRONEX-US: City-level historical road network expansion dataset for the conterminous United States</b>
Johannes H. Uhl (9706325)
History and theory of the built environment (excl. architecture)
Land use and environmental planning
Regional analysis and development
Transport planning
Urban analysis and development
Computational modelling and simulation in earth sciences
Geoinformatics not elsewhere classified
Digital history
Transport geography
Urban geography
Road network patterns
street networks and other built environments
built environment
urbanization
urban sprawl
suburbanization
road network evolution
National Transportation Dataset
NTD
US Metropolitan statistical areas
status_str publishedVersion
title <b>CHRONEX-US: City-level historical road network expansion dataset for the conterminous United States</b>
title_full <b>CHRONEX-US: City-level historical road network expansion dataset for the conterminous United States</b>
title_fullStr <b>CHRONEX-US: City-level historical road network expansion dataset for the conterminous United States</b>
title_full_unstemmed <b>CHRONEX-US: City-level historical road network expansion dataset for the conterminous United States</b>
title_short <b>CHRONEX-US: City-level historical road network expansion dataset for the conterminous United States</b>
title_sort <b>CHRONEX-US: City-level historical road network expansion dataset for the conterminous United States</b>
topic History and theory of the built environment (excl. architecture)
Land use and environmental planning
Regional analysis and development
Transport planning
Urban analysis and development
Computational modelling and simulation in earth sciences
Geoinformatics not elsewhere classified
Digital history
Transport geography
Urban geography
Road network patterns
street networks and other built environments
built environment
urbanization
urban sprawl
suburbanization
road network evolution
National Transportation Dataset
NTD
US Metropolitan statistical areas