United States Department of Transportation
i
Accounting for Commercial Vehicles in Urban Transportation Models: Task 4 - Methods, Parameters, and Data Sources
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2004-02-01
[PDF-817.77 KB]
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Abstract:In October 2002, the Federal Highway Administration began a research project to evaluate the magnitude and distribution of commercial vehicles in urban transportation planning models. The research was designed to look at all travel that is not adequately represented by the current state-of-the-practice for urban transportation planning models, which are developed from household travel surveys. Household travel surveys are designed only to capture household-related personal travel. Trips made for commercial purposes or using commercial vehicles are not captured. Some household travel surveys may inadvertently capture commercial trips such as realtors or tradesman making door-to-door visits but this does not represent a comprehensive assessment of this type of commercial vehicle travel. To date, the literature and modeling for commercial vehicles has focused on urban freight distribution. The state-of-the-practice in the modeling of commercial vehicle travel in the urban transportation context has been geared toward developing a limited number of commercial vehicle trip generation factors, typically only disaggregated by truck type; for example, light, medium and heavy trucks. The traditional approach of relating these rates to land use activity has been found to be limited for application in travel demand modeling due to lack of data on differences in trip purpose, vehicle occupancy, and origin-destination (O-D) patterns. This study is the first to develop methods for forecasting all commercial vehicles, rather than just those involved in the distribution of urban freight. This project is the first phase of a two-phase project to develop methods for forecasting commercial vehicles in urban transportation planning models. The goal of the first phase is to research, evaluate and identify methods for forecasting commercial vehicles in urban transportation planning models. The goal of the second phase is to develop these methods and estimate parameters that can be used in urban transportation planning models across the country. The first phase has three primary work tasks: 1. Assess recent and current literature relevant to the treatment of different types of commercial vehicles in urban transportation models. As part of this work, a set of commercial vehicle categories was established. 2. Compile available data and information and estimate the magnitude and spatial/ temporal distribution of different types of commercial vehicles. As part of this work, the commercial vehicle categories were refined and prioritized. 3. Develop methods and data sources that can be used to forecast commercial vehicles in urban transportation planning models. The focus of this report is on the third work task to identify methods, parameters and data sources that can be used to estimate and forecast commercial vehicles in urban transportation planning models. The purpose of this phase of the project was not to estimate the parameters, but rather to identify the parameters that would be most appropriate. As part of the previous work efforts, we defined a commercial vehicle as one that is used primarily for commercial purposes. Some, but not all, commercial vehicles will be registered as commercial vehicles, since some vehicles registered as non-commercial may be used primarily for commercial purposes (we expect that these would be used for business and personal services). Commercial vehicles include autos, trucks and buses and are operated by both public and private sector agencies.
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