Lora Chajka-Cadin
Published: 2017
Total Pages: 92
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This evaluation of the NHTS Program addresses three key questions: 1) What is the breadth and depth of NHTS usage? 2) What impact does the NHTS Program have on policy, project, or regulatory decisionmaking? 3) How responsive is the NHTS Programto its user community? Although it is difficult to trace the specific impacts of the NHTS data, the evaluation found many examples demonstrating that NHTS data inform a range of policy and legislative decisions, both within transportation and in other fields (e.g., health, energy). In some cases, NHTS provides context and understanding for how, when, and why Americans travel, as well as trends in travel. This context helps make the case for particular policy or legislative initiatives. In other cases, NHTS is an important data input to a model or statistical analysis, which is used, in turn, to influence policy or legislation. At the State and local levels, NHTS has its greatest impact in developing, calibrating, or validating travel demand models that are used to inform transportation planning and project selection. The report also identifies challenges and lessons learned regarding survey planning, survey administration,and outreach and offers a set of recommendations to improve program effectiveness.