Office of Planning, Environment, & Realty (HEP)
The Travel Model Improvement Program (TMIP) has conducted research, provided technical assistance, and delivered training to local, regional and state transportation planning professionals since 1994. Much has changed over this period, with shifts in transport policy, advances in modeling theories, and progressions in practical lessons. Throughout, TMIP has worked to advance modeling capabilities and support transportation professionals as they respond to current and future challenges. Today, TMIP continues its mission of improving analysis practices to ensure that transportation professionals are well equipped to inform and support strategic transportation decisions.
TRB Special Report 288 finds that "... there is no single approach to travel forecasting or set of procedures that is "correct" for all applications or all MPOs. Travel forecasting tools developed and used by an MPO should be appropriate for the nature of the questions being posed by its constituent jurisdictions and the types of analysis being conducted." (METROPOLITAN TRAVEL FORECASTING: Current Practice and Future Direction, Transportation Research Board, 2007, Page 3)
The objective of the TMIP Travel Analysis Toolbox (the Toolbox) is to provide access to a range of travel analysis related tools and serve as a reference resource for the selection and application of analytical tools and quantitative methods to support transportation planning decision making. The goal of the Toolbox is not to identify or create a single - or even a set of - ideal tools, but rather to provide processes, information, and examples to encourage agencies to select the appropriate tools and methods based on their analytical needs.