North Sound Household Travel Survey
The North Sound Household Travel Survey will document the demographic and travel behavior characteristics of regional households to create a dataset that will be used for regional model updates.
As part of the survey, travel information will be collected from 1,500 households randomly selected from the 150,000 households in Whatcom, Skagit, and Island counties of Washington State. Each household member (age 16 and older) will be asked to record all trips taken within a 24-hour period in a travel log. For each location, information recorded will include the name and address of the location, trip purpose, how each participant got to this location, and the arrival and departure times.
Households will be recruited from an address-based sample that minimizes coverage bias and captures cell-only households.
The information will be used to depict a realistic picture of where and why people travel, as well as how they make their decisions and plan their daily travel activities. In this way, future travel needs can be anticipated and facilities designed to meet these needs, with the long-term goal of boosting the quality of life, while maintaining the economic health and vitality of the region.
Benefits of this effort include:
- Help guide future transportation planning as the region continues to grow
- Assist local governments in figuring out which transportation improvements will benefit their citizens the most
- Provide travel data specific to Whatcom, Skagit, and Island counties that may be different from state and national averages
- Allows for the development of travel forecasts, highway and transit feasibility studies, and planning for bicycle and pedestrian facilities.
Project surveying will begin in September and continues through November. Project completion is estimated for March, 2009.
Project Partners
The household survey project partners include the Whatcom Council of Governments, Skagit Council of Governments, and the U.S. Federal Highway Administration. The project is managed by the Whatcom Council of Governments.
For More Information
Visit the household survey website
Or call Andres Gomez, Senior Transportation Planner, Whatcom Council of Governments, at (360) 676-6974.