Travel Behavior

Anonymous Vehicle Tracking for Real-Time Freeway and Arterial Street Performance Measurement

Ritchie, Stephen G.
Park, Seri
Oh, Cheol
Jeng, Shin-Ting (Cindy)
Tok, Andre
2005

This research involved an important extension of existing field-implemented and tested PATH research by the authors on individual vehicle reidentification, to develop methods for assessing freeway and arterial (and transit) system performance for the Caltrans PeMS (Performance Measurement System). PeMS has been adopted by Caltrans as the standard tool for assessing freeway system performance, but lacks capabilities for assessing arterial and transit system performance, and strategies that combine freeways, arterials and/or transit and commercial vehicle fleets. It was shown that the...

Assessing Automated Speed Enforcement in California

Chan, Ching-Yao
Li, Kang
Lee, Joon-Ho
2010

Speeding is known to be related to a significant portion of highway collisions. As part of the efforts to seek safety improvements of the California highway network, the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) is exploring the implementation issues of automated speed enforcement (ASE). This report provides an overview of Task Order 6212 undertaken by California PATH to assess various issues associated with ASE systems.An ASE system designed for use in work zones was acquired and tested in several field experimental sites, along with several other commercially-off-the-shelf...

Tradeoffs in Incremental Changes Towards Pedestrian-Friendly Environments: Physical Activity and Pollution Exposure

Nazelle, A De
Rodriguez, DA
2009

A microsimulation of individuals’ activities is used in the context of a risk analysis framework to assess the impacts of hypothesized changes to the built environment on personal energy expenditure and on inhalation of air pollutants. Uncertainty is assessed using Monte Carlo simulations and sensitivity analyzes. We find both simulated individuals that augment and others that reduce their energy expenditure and inhalation dose of pollutants, with median increases displaying larger magnitudes than the decreases. Up to 75% of the population has significant increases in energy...

Land Use, Residential Density, and Walking: The Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis

Rodriguez, DA
Evenson, KR
Roux, AV Diez
Brines, SJ
2009
The neighborhood environment may play a role in encouraging sedentary patterns, especially for middle-aged and older adults. The aim of this study was to examine the associations between walking and neighborhood population density, retail availability, and land-use distribution using data from a cohort of adults aged 45 to 84 years. Data from a multi-ethnic sample of 5529 adult residents of Baltimore MD, Chicago IL, Forsyth County NC, Los Angeles CA, New York NY, and St. Paul MN enrolled in the Multi-Ethnic Study of...

Are Perceptions about Worksite Neighborhoods and Policies Associated with Walking?

Schwartz, MA
Aytur, SA
Evenson, KR
Rodriguez, DA
2009
To examine associations of the built environment surrounding worksites and of work policies with walking behaviors. Cross-sectional convenience sample survey. Workplace. Employed adults residing in Montgomery County, Maryland. Four different step measures taken at or near work as recorded using an accelerometer and a fifth measure indicated self-reported walking from work. Participants reported on eight built environment characteristics surrounding the worksite...

Advanced Modeling System for Forecasting Regional Development, Travel Behavior, and Spatial Pattern of Emissions

Rodriguez, DA
Song, Y
Morton, B
Rouphail, N
Frey, C
Khattak, A
2010

Can regional development patterns, over 50 years, influence quantity and spatial pattern of emissions from transportation in the Charlotte (NC) area?

Travel Behavior, Residential Preference, and Urban Design: A Multi-Disciplinary National Analysis

Greene, J
Larco, N
Yang, Y
Schlossberg, M
Rodriguez, D
McDonald, N
2011

This report summarizes the findings of a national project to examine the travel behavior, social capital, health, and lifestyle preferences of residents of neotraditional developments (NTD) compared to more standard suburban developments. We compare survey results from residents of matched pairs of neighborhoods in seventeen U.S. cities and towns, with each pair comprised of one NTD and one typical suburban neighborhood of similar size, age, and socio-demographic composition. The study addresses salient themes in the transportation, planning and health literatures: a national study,...

Can Information Promote Transportation-Friendly Location Decisions? A Simulation Experiment

Rodriguez, DA
Levine, J
Agrawal, AW
Song, J
2011
Where people live, work, shop, and recreate fundamentally determines their local travel options. Yet, information problems such as the cost of conducting comprehensive searches and cognitive load have been shown to limit decision-making. In the context of residential decision-making, information problems are likely to influence which locations get chosen. This study examines whether providing people seeking a rental home with map-based information about the transit and...

Household Excess Travel and Neighbourhood Characteristics: Associations and Trade-offs

Fan, Y
Khattak, A
Rodriguez, D
2010

This study proposes an alternative approach to estimate excess travel using activity diaries, extending it to non-work travel and capturing interhousehold variation. Central to this approach is a residential relocation exercise that helps to decompose the amount of travel by a household into two types of travel: required and excess travel. An empirical demonstration of the approach in North Carolina shows that on average 30 per cent of households’ travel in the study area is in excess. Furthermore, lower levels of required and excess travel are found among households living in...

Exploring Walking Differences by Socioeconomic Status Using a Spatial Agent-Based Model

Yang, Y
Roux, AV Diez
Auchincloss, AH
Rodriguez, DA
Brown, DG
2012

We use an exploratory agent-based model of adults' walking behavior within a city to examine the possible impact of interventions on socioeconomic differences in walking. Simulated results show that for persons of low socioeconomic status, increases in walking resulting from increases in their positive attitude towards walking may diminish over time if other features of the environment are not conducive to walking. Similarly, improving the safety level for the lower SES neighborhoods may be effective in increasing walking, however, the magnitude of its effectiveness varies by levels...