Current travel demand forecasting models focus primarily on trips made by households. However, a significant number of trips in a metropolitan area are made by commercial vehicles, including package and freight deliveries, tradesmen, taxis, rental cars, school buses, emergency services, etc., which are not fully addressed by household-based travel models. This is a basic research study to identify and classify commercial vehicle travel, to determine the magnitude that commercial vehicles have on traffic congestion, emissions and other transportation impacts, and to develop efficient methods for measuring commercial vehicle impacts in travel demand forecasts.
This project represents Phase 1 of a possible two Phase Study. This Phase will identify and classify commercial vehicle trips, measure the relative contribution of each classification to overall transportation impacts, and identify candidate methods for measuring and forecasting these impacts in travel demand models. Depending on the significance of the impacts identified in Phase 1, a follow-on study will evaluate alternative measurement tools in one or more case study applications, and develop technical guidance for incorporating these tools in travel demand forecasts.
Task 2: A literature review of past research on commercial vehicles was completed in January 2003, and a final report was posted on the TMIP website.
Task 3 investigates the magnitude and distribution of various commercial vehicle categories (e.g., package delivery, taxis, public saferty, etc.) as a percentage of total regional highway traffic. The report was finalized in November 2003, and is being posted to the TMIP website.
Task 4 identifes data sources and methods for measuring and forecasting each of the commercial vehicles categories. The report was finalized in November 2003 and is being posted to the TMIP website.
To develop approaches for measuring and forecasting travel by non-household based commercial vehicles in a metropolitan area.
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