Research Projects

Research Component I: Understanding Travel Dimensions and Reliability

This research focuses on improving our understanding of travel within urban transportation systems. Key questions include whether or not congestion is predictable, and what might be done to make travel time more consistent and reliable. More >>

Projects:

• Refining Methods for Calculating Non-Auto Travel Times
• Estimation of Arterial Travel Times
• Generation of Travel Time Data for the Metropolitan Freeway Network
• How Close is Close Enough? Estimating Accurate Distance Decay Functions for Different Purposes and Multiple Modes
• Arterial Data Acquisition and Network-Wide Travel Time Estimation
• Streamlining the Arterial Data Acquisition and the Estimation of Network-wide Travel Link Times

Research Component II: Measuring Accessibility

This research uses detailed data on land use, travel behavior, and population demographics, in combination with the research findings from Component I of the study, to develop methods for describing how our accessibility is changing. More >>

Projects:

• Development of Accessibility Measures
• Monitoring Land-Use Activity Changes in the Twin Cities Metro Region
• Parcel-Level Land Use Data Acquisition and Analysis for Measuring Non-Auto Accessibility
• Application of Accessibility Measures for Non-Auto Travel Modes
• Measuring Accessibility by Automobile

Research Component III: Exploring Implications of Alternative Transportation and Land Use Systems

This research uses the accessibility measures and alternative approaches developed in Components I and II to evaluate a variety of transportation and land use policies for the future. Particular emphasis is placed on moving beyond exclusively congestion-focused and automobile-centric policies to develop a more comprehensive set of policy perspectives. More >>

Projects:

• Twin Cities Metro-Wide Traffic Micro-Simulation: Feasibility Investigation