Guidelines for Developing Travel Demand Models: Medium Communities and Metropolitan Planning Organizations

This report is the second of two reports that develop guidelines to simplify and standardize travel demand modeling in terms of a community size, needs and issues. The first report (Phase I) documented simplified methods and guidelines for estimating travel in small communities with populations up to 10,000 people. The focus of this report (Phase II) is on medium size communities with populations of 10,000 to 50,000 people, and on MPOs and cities with 50,000 or more people. Instead of using the typical data intensive, survey based methods for all communities regardless of size, the guidelines recommend appropriately scaled approaches and short cut methods to reduce time and cost, yet provide adequate estimates of traffic volumes and impacts. Methods for medium size communities include synthetic estimation of through trips and external trips and quick response travel models. Of particular interest are simplified submodels for trip generation, trip distribution, and mode choice. Also, proposed are innovative submodels for pedestrian, bicycle and transit trip generation that depend on land use characteristics. Case studies demonstrate the methods.

  • Corporate Authors:

    North Carolina State University, Raleigh

    Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering
    2501 Stinson Drive, Campus Box 7908
    Raleigh, NC  United States  27695-7908

    North Carolina State University, Raleigh

    Institute for Transportation Research and Education, Centennial Campus, 909 Capability Drive
    Raleigh, NC  United States  27695

    University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

    Department of City and Regional Planning
    CB 3140, New East Hall
    Chapel Hill, NC  United States  27599-3140

    North Carolina Department of Transportation

    Transportation Planning Branch, 1 South Wilmington Street
    Raleigh, NC  United States  27699-1554

    Federal Highway Administration

    1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
    Washington, DC  United States  20590
  • Authors:
    • Stone, John R
    • Han, Yang
    • Khattak, Asad J
    • Fan, Yingling
    • Huntsinger, Leta F
    • Mei, Bing
  • Publication Date: 2007-9

Language

  • English

Media Info

  • Media Type: CD-ROM
  • Edition: Phase II Final Report
  • Features: Appendices; Figures; References; Tables;
  • Pagination: 187p

Subject/Index Terms

Filing Info

  • Accession Number: 01155450
  • Record Type: Publication
  • Report/Paper Numbers: FHWA/NC/2006-58 Phase II
  • Files: TRIS, USDOT, STATEDOT
  • Created Date: Apr 26 2010 7:14AM