Abstract:
Several of the Virginia suburban jurisdictions in the Washington, DC region have developed their own travel forecasting models. We now have 4 sub-area models for this region. One was developed for Prince William County, one for Loudoun County, one for Fairfax County and one for the Town of Leesburg. Each one was developed by a different consultant hired by the local jurisdiction and each is structured a little differently. The regional model developed by the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (MWCOG) has always been available for its member jurisdictions to use, but these jurisdictions took it upon themselves to develop their own models with consultant help. Some of the reasons for this proliferation of travel forecasting models are: (1) locals want more detail with smaller zones and more highway links than the regional model provides; (2) locals want to be in control of the models for quick turn-around when asked. MWCOG staff is not always available when a quick turnaround is needed; and (3) locals want a simpler model than the regional model so they can understand the outputs to explain to their elected officials. The characteristics of each of these 4 sub-area models will be described in this paper for each of the 4 steps in the standard 4-step modeling process, along with a discussion of how they differ from the parent model – the one developed by MWCOG.
