Transportation Modeling & Planning
Transportation models attempt to develop reliable mathematical relationships between socioeconomic data (such as number of households, household size and income, number of automobiles owned or available, school enrollment, number of people employed and the type of their employment) and the trips individuals make. By manipulating these relationships and comparing predicted trips with known or estimated trip patterns, an accurate method of predicting future travel demand can be developed.
The ability to forecast future levels of travel on Huntsville’s streets is critical to the transportation planning process. The Planning Division utilizes modeling software, which is endorsed by the State of Alabama, for transportation modeling and forecasting. Transportation modeling enables the Planning Division staff to assess what future improvements need to be made to current streets, and substantiates the need to build additional roads if required to support higher traffic volumes.
For more information concerning transportation modeling and forecasting, contact the Planning Division.
