How We Travel
Nombre de pages: 168 pages
ISBN: 0309167221, 9780309167222
Edition: Transportation Research Board
Date de publication: Transportation Research Board
Description: "The U.S. transportation system moves some 5.5 trillion passenger-miles of traffic each year, mainly on the nation's highways, and approximately 4.6 trillion ton-miles of freight (BTS 2010). Transportation is a major industry in its own right, but its primary purpose is to provide mobility and access to millions of travelers and to move goods rapidly and reliably in support of economic activity. Policy and decision makers in both the public and private sectors need to know how well the system is performing; what changes in travel patterns can be expected with changes in demographics and logistics; how travelers and shippers respond to changes in the system and external factors; and what impact travel patterns have on safety, congestion, energy use, and the environment. Unfortunately, many of the policy and investment decisions facing transportation decision makers in such crucial areas as improving travel safety, alleviating congestion, increasing the energy efficiency of travel, and reducing transportation-related air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions often are made on the basis of travel data that are lacking in modal coverage, timeliness, and geographic detail. Moreover, the most comprehensive passenger and freight travel data are collected in periodic federal surveys that are highly contingent upon shifting political and funding priorities and not infrequently in danger of cancellation. The purpose of this study is to assess the state of passenger and freight travel data at the federal, state, and local levels and to make recommendations for an achievable and sustainable system for estimating personal and freight travel to support public and private transportation planning and decision making.