diff --git a/icu4c/source/test/intltest/intltest.cpp b/icu4c/source/test/intltest/intltest.cpp
index da6c0ea599..65fde3d888 100644
--- a/icu4c/source/test/intltest/intltest.cpp
+++ b/icu4c/source/test/intltest/intltest.cpp
@@ -1116,12 +1116,27 @@ const char* IntlTest::loadTestData(UErrorCode& err){
             strcat(tdpath, tdrelativepath);
             strcat(tdpath,"testdata");
             err =U_ZERO_ERROR;
-            test=ures_open(tdpath, "ja_data", &err);
-            /* Fall back did not succeed either so return */
+            test=ures_open(tdpath, "testtypes", &err);
+            /* we could not find the data in tdpath 
+             * try one more tdpathFallback
+             */
             if(U_FAILURE(err)){
-                err = U_FILE_ACCESS_ERROR;
-                errln("construction of NULL did not succeed  :  %s \n", u_errorName(err));
-                return "";
+                strcpy(tdpath,directory);
+                strcat(tdpath,".."U_FILE_SEP_STRING);
+                strcat(tdpath,".."U_FILE_SEP_STRING);
+                strcat(tdpath, tdrelativepath);
+                strcat(tdpath,"testdata");
+                err =U_ZERO_ERROR;
+                test=ures_open(tdpath, "testtypes", &err);
+                /* Fall back did not succeed either so return */
+                if(U_FAILURE(err)){
+                    err = U_FILE_ACCESS_ERROR;
+                    errln("construction of NULL did not succeed  :  %s \n", u_errorName(err));
+                    return "";
+                }
+                ures_close(test);
+                _testDataPath = tdpath;
+                return _testDataPath;
             }
             ures_close(test);
             _testDataPath = tdpath;
diff --git a/icu4c/source/test/intltest/normconf.cpp b/icu4c/source/test/intltest/normconf.cpp
index 11f784733a..8725e7d85b 100644
--- a/icu4c/source/test/intltest/normconf.cpp
+++ b/icu4c/source/test/intltest/normconf.cpp
@@ -64,6 +64,7 @@ void NormalizerConformanceTest::TestConformance(void) {
     char backupPath[256];
     FileStream *input = NULL;
     UChar32 c;
+    UErrorCode   err = U_ZERO_ERROR;
 
     /* Look inside ICU_DATA first */
     strcpy(newPath, u_getDataDirectory());
@@ -75,8 +76,8 @@ void NormalizerConformanceTest::TestConformance(void) {
     #if defined (U_TOPSRCDIR)
         strcpy(backupPath, U_TOPSRCDIR  U_FILE_SEP_STRING "data");
     #else
-        strcpy(backupPath, u_getDataDirectory());
-        strcat(backupPath, ".." U_FILE_SEP_STRING ".." U_FILE_SEP_STRING "data");
+        strcpy(backupPath, loadTestData(err));
+        strcat(backupPath, U_FILE_SEP_STRING ".." U_FILE_SEP_STRING ".." U_FILE_SEP_STRING ".." U_FILE_SEP_STRING ".." U_FILE_SEP_STRING "data");
     #endif
     strcat(backupPath, U_FILE_SEP_STRING "unidata" U_FILE_SEP_STRING TEST_SUITE_FILE);
 
diff --git a/icu4c/source/test/intltest/ucdtest.cpp b/icu4c/source/test/intltest/ucdtest.cpp
index 04bac225ed..ada5412b96 100644
--- a/icu4c/source/test/intltest/ucdtest.cpp
+++ b/icu4c/source/test/intltest/ucdtest.cpp
@@ -462,8 +462,8 @@ void UnicodeTest::TestUnicodeData()
 #   if defined (U_TOPSRCDIR)
         strcpy(backupPath, U_TOPSRCDIR  U_FILE_SEP_STRING "data");
 #   else
-        strcpy(backupPath, u_getDataDirectory());
-        strcat(backupPath, ".." U_FILE_SEP_STRING ".." U_FILE_SEP_STRING "data");
+        strcpy(backupPath, loadTestData(errorCode));
+        strcat(backupPath, U_FILE_SEP_STRING ".." U_FILE_SEP_STRING ".." U_FILE_SEP_STRING ".." U_FILE_SEP_STRING ".." U_FILE_SEP_STRING "data");
 #   endif
     strcat(backupPath, U_FILE_SEP_STRING);
     strcat(backupPath, "unidata" U_FILE_SEP_STRING "UnicodeData.txt");