One item that has become of increasing concern is truck movements in urban ares. Traditionally, origin-destination studies have been done using cordon line of external station, short, on-site interviews. While this technique may be useful for long haul truck trips where stations are set away from high volume dense traffic locations, this technique will not work in a dense urban area, like a downtown core. Alternatively, some studies have used trip logs, similar to those used in household travel surveys. However, these diaries are burdensome, resulting in very high non-response rates, and poor data quality.

We would Re to test a new component to the GPS project to improve truck travel information. This new project would extend the research conducted in FY 96 on using PDAs and GPS for personal travel surveys. Thus, new software screens for user interface would need to be developed, and possibly, GPS PCMCIA cards, not currently on the market, but anticipated for delivery in the next 12 months could be tested.

It is Rely that the PDAs acquired for the personal travel study could be used for this study as well. It may be possible to conduct this project in coordination with a new project being conducted by the California Air Resources Board, "Heavy Duty Truck Activity Database."

The work will start in FY 1997-16 months total

1. Select Hardware                            &nbspMonth 2
2. Design user interface software       Month 3
3. Select field test location                  Month 4
4. Conduct field test                           Months 6-12
5. Deliver final report                         Month 16

Not available.

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HIGHWAYTECHNET   VIRTUAL EXPO   TRAFFIC INDEX

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U.S. Department of Transportation
Federal Highway Administration