MAG Large-Scale Regional Travel Surveys and Bottleneck Survey (October 18, 2017)

Recording: https://connectdot.connectsolutions.com/p7qatvnvavw/

Date: October 18, 2017

Description: Maricopa Association of Governments (MAG) recently completed a number of regional traffic and travel data collections. These projects capitalized on innovative data collection techniques and visualization methods. The first presentation will describe large-scale regional travel surveys completed by MAG. The synchronized travel surveys included 100% GPS-based Prompted Recall Household Travel Survey and Establishment and Commercial Vehicle Survey. The presentation will describe the methodologies and results while also providing insight into the challenges and lessons learned throughout the survey process. 

MAG Regional Bottleneck Study was another recently completed project. The study identified, ranked and analyzed regionally significant traffic bottlenecks. MAG periodically conducts regional bottleneck studies. The recent effort employed innovative Time-Lapse Aerial Photography (TLAP) data collection, new data visualizations and a micro-simulation application. The second presentation will cover methodologies and results of the project, including bottleneck identification and measurement, the TLAP data collection, data visualization and application of the collected vehicle traces and origin-destination travel patterns for the purposes of traffic micro-simulation model development.

Presenters:  Vladimir Livshits - Maricopa Association of Governments
Vladimir has more than 30 years of experience in the fields of transportation planning, travel demand modeling and transportation economics. He has Ph.D. in Transportation Planning and Economics and M.Sc. in computer science from Moscow State Technical University. He works as a program manager for the Maricopa Association of Governments.

Edward Brown - Maricopa Association of Governments
Edward "Ted" Brown is a Transportation Planner III with the Maricopa Association of Governments (MAG.) He has nearly a decade of experience in transportation modeling and surveying and has played an integral role in managing airport and special events surveys. He is currently the deputy project manager for both the MAG Household Travel Survey and the Establishment and Commercial Vehicle Survey. He holds a Master of Public Administration and a B.S. in Urban Planning from Arizona State University.

Rachel Copperman - Cambridge Systematics Inc.
Rachel B. Copperman, a Senior Associate with Cambridge Systematics, has experience in Passenger and Freight Travel Demand Modeling and Forecasting, Travel Survey Methods, Discrete Choice Modeling, and Activity and Tour-Based Modeling. Dr. Copperman is currently the deputy project manager of a team implementing a 100% GPS with prompted recall household travel survey for the Maricopa Association of Governments. She is also currently helping to manage the effort to develop an innovative statewide model to support the evaluation of high-speed rail alternatives in the State of California. Dr. Copperman is currently involved in a variety of other model development and model application projects including updating the NYMTC activity-based model, applying FTA STOPS to the San Antonio region, and updating the San Antonio MPO's trip-based model. Dr. Copperman received a Doctorate and Master's degree in Transportation Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin, and a Bachelor of Science degree in Systems Engineering from the University of Virginia.

Kathryn DeBoer - Westgroup Research
With more than 30 years of experience in Marketing Research, Kathy DeBoer is well known for her expertise in public policy and has helped guide countless decisions affecting the quality of life in Arizona. Kathy also works with many private-sector clients, including advertising agencies, public relations firms, and WestGroup's global clients. She is currently on the board of About Care, a non-profit organization that provides support services to homebound residents in the cities of Chandler and Gilbert, AZ. She is on the Central Region Board for Arizona Forward, as well as on its Communications Committee. In addition, she is a member of the Arizona State University Psychology Leadership Council and a member and past president of the Arizona Chapter of the American Marketing Association. Ms. DeBoer is a part owner of WestGroup, serves on the company's Board of Directors, and holds the critical job of serving as the Quality Control Officer for the firm. Kathy holds a BA from Calvin College, Grand Rapids, Michigan and an MA in Human Factors Psychology from Arizona State University.

Aaron Hekele - ETC Institute
Mr. Hekele is currently serving as Director of Field Operations for ETC Institute. Mr. Hekele currently manages the data collection efforts for all very large transportation studies. Under his management, ETC Institute has successfully completed more than 60,000 transportation surveys in 2016 alone. Such surveys include; onboard OD surveys, onboard on-to-off surveys, onboard customer satisfaction surveys, household travel surveys, workplace/establishment surveys, traffic counts, and external station origin and destination surveys.

Anurag Komanduri - Cambridge Systematics Inc.
Anurag Komanduri is a Los Angeles based-consultant with Cambridge Systematics. He leads CS' Southern California data analytics and modeling practice. He currently oversees the administration of the California Vehicle Inventory and Use Survey, which is the single largest commercial vehicle survey conducted by a US state. He is an avid proponent of open data and thoroughly enjoys making sense of the volumes of data being generated in the technology era.

Wang Zhang - Maricopa Association of Governments
Wang Zhang received his Ph.D. from Dept. of Civil Engineering at Virginia Tech. He is now a Transportation Engineer IV at Maricopa Association of Governments. He manages traffic data collection and mobility analysis projects, and also has expertise in transportation modeling.