Transportation and Infrastructure Planning Flashcards

What is the correct order of the traditional four-step travel demand model?

Answer: Trip generation, trip distribution, mode choice, trip assignment

The model first estimates how many trips occur, then where they go, which mode they use, and which route they take.

In the gravity model of trip distribution, trips between two zones are:

Answer: Proportional to attractions and inversely related to travel impedance

The gravity model assigns trips by destination attractiveness scaled by friction factors that fall as impedance rises.

Which model type is most commonly used for the mode choice step?

Answer: Multinomial logit

Logit models estimate mode shares from the relative utilities of competing modes.

Federal law requires a Metropolitan Planning Organization for urbanized areas with a population greater than:

Answer: 50,000

23 U.S.C. 134 requires an MPO for each urbanized area with more than 50,000 people.

What is the minimum planning horizon for a Metropolitan Transportation Plan?

Answer: 20 years

Federal rules require the MTP to cover at least a 20-year horizon, while the TIP covers at least 4 years.

Wardrop's first principle (user equilibrium) states that:

Answer: No traveler can reduce their travel time by switching routes on their own

At user equilibrium, every used route between an O-D pair has equal travel time, and no unused route is faster.

Under NEPA, if an Environmental Assessment finds no significant impacts, the federal agency issues a:

Answer: Finding of No Significant Impact

An EA that finds no significant impact ends with a FONSI instead of an EIS.