University of California, Irvine,  Institute of Transportation Studies proposes to provide support to Caltrans to enhance the value of the 2010-12 California Household Travel Survey (CHTS). The 2010-12 CHTS, which resulted from a statewide, collaborative effort, enabled the collection of travel information from 42,560 Californian households. This rich dataset has helped update regional and statewide travel models, but it could also inform Caltrans planning efforts. As such it should be of interest not only to various state and transportation planning agencies across California, but also to staff from the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans). However, the potential value of the CHTS is not always well understood by Caltrans staff. Moreover, some Caltrans staff from the Office of Travel Forecasting and Analysis may benefit from updating their knowledge of statistical modeling to comfortably query CHTS data and to estimate some common transportation econometrics models.
In this context, we are proposing to: 1) perform a systematic diagnostic review of the 2010-12 CHTS database for unlikely observations; 2) interview headquarters and district Caltrans staff in three (3) selected Caltrans Districts to better understand how they could benefit from using 2010-12 CHTS data and to help promote the use in their work of CHTS data; 3) provide hands-on statistical training and consulting to selected Caltrans staff in the Office of Travel Forecasting and Analysis in Sacramento and possibly to some district Caltrans staff (for a maximum of twelve (12) staff); 4) provide on-call statistical support to Caltrans staff from the Office of Travel Forecasting and Analysis; and 5) create a reference book of useful statistical commands based on actual case studies to make it easier to put the 2010-12 CHTS to work for Caltrans staff.
The work we are proposing will start during 2014 with visits of three (3) district offices to explore how CHTS data could be promoted to planning and modeling staff in Caltrans districts.  Once there is a clear understanding of District and HQ staff needs, training material will be developed to deliver training modules to staff in the Office of Travel Forecasting and Analysis.  The content of the training modules will be determined according to the findings from Headquarters (HQ) and District office visits.  Training will be delivered at UC Irvine and in Sacramento.  Finally, over the course of this project, a reference book of statistical techniques with Caltrans-based examples will be compiled