Design and Feasibility Study: Connecticut Transportation Planning Data

Transportation decision-making requires many types of data and ultimately the quality of a policy decision is dependant on the quality of that data. The specific objective of this research was to prioritize the household travel data needs of Connecticut transportation planners and to evaluate the available data collection options. These options included; transferability of national travel surveys, internet based travel surveys and Connecticut based phone surveys. A pilot web-based survey was conducted. The process was evaluated and results were compared to data transferred from national surveys. These preliminary results indicate that the web survey bias was limited for the rate data most critical for Connecticut planners. Recommendations regarding a plan to routinely collect, maintain and distribute the transportation planning data are made. A final decision on data collection needs and methodology is ultimately within the domain of the Connecticut Department of Transportation (ConnDOT).