Approach for Collecting Internal Truck Travel Data: Lessons Learned from Maricopa Association of Government’s Internal Truck Travel Study

Collecting truck travel data internal to a region is integral to updating regional truck travel models. However, internal truck travel surveys are too few and far in between and little is known as to what works and what does not when designing surveys and collecting data. That is, there is a lack of significant research into what increases the effectiveness of truck data collection. This paper provides an innovative approach for collecting data using a combination of methods and sampling techniques. Cambridge Systematics (CS) is leading the Maricopa Association of Governments' (MAG) truck model update that involves collecting internal truck travel data. Truck trip diaries, led by NuStats, are used for sectors that generate multi-stop tours that are short-haul in nature. These surveys are designed to collect truck travel information that include origin and destination information, stop locations and land use types at stops, trip lengths and number of trips by truck type and sector, and time-of-day distributions of truck trips. Operator surveys or establishment surveys, led by Northwest Research Group (NWRG), are used for sectors that generate truck traffic that are long haul in nature. These surveys were conducted by phone and were designed to collect information on the number of inbound and outbound truck trips at each facility or establishment, and the distribution of truck trips by trip distance and time of day. This paper also provides analyses of the survey data along with key findings and lessons learned during the survey tasks.