Method To Enhance Performance of Synthetic Origin-Destination Trip-Table Estimation Models

Abstract

The conventional methods of determining origin-destination (O-D) trip tables involve elaborate surveys, such as home interviews, that require considerable time, staff, and funds. To overcome this drawback, a number of theoretical models that synthesize O-D trip tables from link volume data have been developed. Two of these models—The Highway Emulator (THE) and the Linear Programming (LP) model—are considered. These models use target/seed tables for guiding the development of output trip tables. In research conducted by the Virginia Techical Center for Transportation Research for the Virginia Transportation Research Council, it was determined that use of a superior target/seed table potentially could enhance the performance of these models. Readily available socioeconomic data and link-volume information were used to develop a methodology for obtaining an enhanced target/seed table through application of the trip-generation and trip-distribution steps of the four-step planning process. The enhanced table then was used as the target/seed to the LP and THE models, and their performance was evaluated. The closeness of the output tables to surveyed tables and their capability to replicate observed volumes were studied. Also analyzed were the output tables’ improvements when a structural table was used as target. Tests showed that the use of the enhanced target/seed table significantly improved the performance of the LP model. However, mixed trends were obtained for the THE model.

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