Add-on program for national household travel survey

Abstract

The National Household Travel Survey (NHTS) is conducted by FHWA every 5 to 7 years to determine the travel characteristics of the American public. In 1990, FHWA began offering the add-on program, which allowed state departments of transportation (DOTs) and metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) to purchase additional sample data for their local areas. In the 2009 NHTS, the Tennessee DOT purchased add-on sample data for use by the state DOT and MPOs. To derive the most benefit from the data, the Tennessee DOT sponsored a study to determine how previous add-on program participants had used the samples and what lessons the participants had learned in those applications, as well as to identify the best practices to maximize program benefits. A literature review and Internet and phone surveys were used to ascertain this information. The major findings of the study included (a) the add-on participants' opinion that the program was a cost-effective way of obtaining data that are consistent at the local, state, and national levels; (b) the use of the data in a wide variety of transportation planning applications; (c) the handling of the encountered challenges through greater communication between the add-on participants and FHWA, particularly during the survey-planning phase; and (d) the compilation of a set of best practices to improve the add-on experience.

Publication Title

Transportation Research Record

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