IDENTIFYING PASSENGER CORRIDORS ON THE U.S. HIGHWAY SYSTEM USING ATS DATA

The 1995 American Travel Survey (ATS) represents the most comprehensive survey since 1977 on the long-distance travel of persons living in the U.S. Approximately 80,000 households were surveyed to collect information related to the characteristics of households and trips they made during 1995. The ATS data reveal that U.S. households took nearly 685 million long-distance trips in 1995. Personal-use vehicles (PUV), which include car, van, truck, motorcycle, and recreational vehicles, were the dominant mode of transportation used for long-distance trips. In addition to the comprehensive and accurate coverage of long-distance trip characteristics, the ATS data also include detailed geographic information. The objective of this study is to describe passenger long-distance travel patterns on the U.S. highway system. Based on the geographic travel patterns, major highway transportation corridors can be identified. These corridors are identified in terms of household trips (vehicle trips) and person-trips. The weighted average household trip (vehicle trip) length and the weighted average person-trip length also are provided. Information on three different types of vehicle trips are presented in this paper: (1) domestic PUV trips; (2) domestic bus trips; and (3) highway trips from the U.S. to Canada and Mexico (combined PUV and bus). The resulting vehicle traffic and person-trip flows are presented as flow maps to illustrate the intercity long-distance highway travel patterns within the U.S. For domestic trips by PUV, related information is further categorized by trip purpose and household income levels. Results tabulated for the top 45 intercity (i.e., intermetropolitan) corridors are presented in the appendix.