Transportation systems in the United States continue to serve increasing population and even faster increase in vehicle travel. Both personal trips and goods movements are more diverse in origin and destination, time of day, and purpose. More areas have become urbanized and some of the fastest growing areas are in smaller urban areas. At the same time, other urban areas change in shape, size and composition even when there are not significant changes in overall population or the transportation system. Researchers are questioning how these known trends impact the assumptions transportation professionals use when assessing future travel behavior. Researchers also are questioning how to understand, anticipate or better react to unforeseen trends in societal behavior, technology, work and settlement patterns that could have great influences on the need for transportation facilities and services. Busy practitioners, however, are trying to understand and respond to greater and more complex transportation needs with the same tools and in many cases fewer and less experienced staff.

The immediate objective of this research is to identify and evaluate completed and current research on future scenarios and factors that influence travel behavior to determine their ability to be placed into planning practice. This information will better guide transportation planners in developing reasonable planning assumptions, which will allow planners to better model future transportation needs at the State, metropolitan and local level.

This work is comprised of four tasks: (1) Support for virtual peer panels that will take place throughout the project; (2) development of research synthesis on themes that affect planning assumptions and influence travel behavior; (3) Support for an interactive, remote networking by the panel on the themes; and (4) culmination in presentations of research findings and dissemination of findings. ***See attached document for detailed statement of work.

Each partner is asked to commit $20K toward the project. ***100% SP&R Waiver was not requested; therefore, the 20 percent nonfederal match will have to be provided by check to the FHWA lockbox: Federal Highway Administration P. O. Box 100147 Atlanta, Georgia 30384-0147 Please include the Pooled Fund Study number on the check and accompanying paperwork.