What does the National Household Travel Survey tell us?

The 2009 National Household Travel Survey (NHTS) from the Federal Highway Administration is a dataset which inventories the daily travel choices of the nation while allowing website users to quantify, analyze, organize, and interpret the mode share data to fit their needs. This most recent update has an added focus on nonmotorized travel choices. The information obtained from the website allows researchers and others in a wide variety of fields to display relationships between transportation and other aspects of their lives.  Per 2009 NHTS California data, we now know 25% of Californians walk (23%) and or bike (2%) to school.

Nancy McGuckin, consultant and author of the Travel Behavior Analyst website, researches how sustainability, equity, and livable communities relate to current policy concerns and how policy measures and communication tools can encourage changes in daily travel. By analyzing NHTS datasets, she argues that transportation planning and policy measures can dramatically influence the choices Americans make when choosing how to travel to their destinations. She advocates for increasing the livability of our communities through removing barriers to walking, incorporating active transportation infrastructure to promote safe and convenient opportunities for physical activity, and ensuring that all people have convenient access to affordable and safe transportation options. These steps affect Americans travel decisions and can influence the connection they have to their neighborhoods.

• A PowerPoint from Nancy McGuckin detailing the recent NHTS findings can be found here
• An analysis of how the NHTS  data correlates with  Safe Routes to School can be found here

About these ads