The results of a 2-phase effort are presented here. In Phase I, policy issues facing transportation planning agencies were identified by onsite visits to agencies at the state, regional and county levels. Questionnaire responses from urban areas, planning documents and literature were reviewed. Policy issues were compiled and classified and the demands placed on travel estimating procedures were determined. Available estimation procedures were compiled, catalogued, described and evaluated. Phase I recommended that a set of capabilities be developed that include: simplified computerized methods for the 4-step (trip generation, distribution, mode split and traffic assignment) procedure that is efficient and will provide quick response at the regional and sub-area level; an efficient, policy-sensitive procedure that would evaluate transportation service and cost changes in terms of economics and social and environmental impacts on a macro basis; manual methods useful for short-range application at the corridor and project level. A Users Guide was developed in Phase II to describe transferable parameters, factors, manual techniques, and the like to enable the user to carry out a simplified analysis without the need for reference to other sources. The Guide covers the following planning elements: transportation planning; trip generation; trip distribution; mode choice; auto occupancy; time of day distribution; traffic assignment; capacity analysis; and development density/highway spacing relationships. The guide also illustrates how models may be changed or modified and applied to provide a quicker and less expensive planning tool. (Author/publisher)
Abstract