115973 | Enhance and Maintain Travel Forecasting Tools

DVRPC continually strives to keep its travel simulation models up to date to ensure the accuracy of travel forecasts and to respond to the requirements associated with the FHWA conformity demonstrations, NEPA requirements, FTA New Starts program, and other environmental regulations. This project is for the updating and enhancing travel simulation models is especially important in the era of changing travel behaviors (post-COVID) and emerging travel technologies (e.g. autonomous vehicles). Major activities in the Enhance and Maintain Travel Forecasting Tools project include updating the highway and transit networks to reflect base conditions; enhancing the demand modeling methods to better present real-world travel behaviors and emerging travel technologies; calibrating and re-validating the models with current data; integrating emerging computer and software technology and new data sources to enhance the efficiency and credibility of the models; and supporting model applications to evaluate the impacts and benefits of various transportation investment and planning scenarios.
The goal of this project is to support the economic vitality of the region, improve accessibility and mobility for people, goods and services, protect the environment, enhance connectivity between modes, and promote the efficient management and operation of the existing transportation system by updating DVRPC’s travel simulation models to state-of-theart standards and updating the data used in the model.