TxDOT Travel Survey Program Data: Exploring Avenues of Added Value
Corresponding Author: Lisa Green, Texas A&M Transportation Institute
Presented By: Lisa Green, Texas A&M Transportation Institute
Abstract
The Texas Department of Transportation Travel Survey Program (TxDOT TSP) has been in existence for well over a decade—with data being collected in over 20 study areas across Texas on a rotational basis. The data collected as part of this Program have traditionally been used in developing rates for transportation model inputs, and have supported improved transportation planning across the State. While the data undoubtedly serve a useful purpose in this capacity alone, this rich dataset has great potential in facilitating other avenues of research as well—showing added value to TxDOT’s investment in this Program.
A critical aspect of making these data usable for future research has been creating a structured, comprehensive dataset in the cloud via a Web Amazon Server. This process is on-going and requires data checks and cleaning. The result is a more accessible dataset that streamlines traditional analyses, facilitates further innovation, and enables data accessibility to multiple researchers. Lessons learned through this data cleaning and storage process will be discussed in the presentation.
Additionally, discussion highlighting avenues of added value that have been and/or are being explored will be provided. Special attention will be placed on household and workplace travel survey data in applications related to geospatial analysis, travel behavior assessment, and traffic safety. The volume of the data currently on the server is extensive, with data from 19 household study areas(containing data from over 40,200 households) and 16 workplace study areas(containing data from over 6,800 workplace establishments). The results should be of interest to not only TxDOT but other state DOTs and metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) who may be wondering how they can get more out of their existing travel survey data. Additionally, realizing that the data can be used for more than just traditional planning applications may help agencies justify the expense of future travel surveys.