Date of Award

January 2015

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science in Civil Engineering (MSCE)

Department

Civil Engineering

First Advisor

Samuel Labi

Committee Member 1

Samuel Labi

Committee Member 2

Kumares C. Sinha

Committee Member 3

Jon D. Fricker

Abstract

Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) is a critical performance measure that is used extensively in highway transportation management for financial analysis, resource allocation, impact assessments, and reporting to oversight agencies. As highway revenue from fuel taxes continues to plummet and user-based taxes such as VMT fees become increasingly attractive, consistent and reliable VMT estimates have become critical for highway funding evaluation and administration. At the present time, there are several methods for VMT estimation that typically yield estimates that are inconsistent or inaccurate. This thesis presents alternative techniques for VMT estimation in the state of Indiana at the project, regional, and network levels for confirming or estimating the levels and distribution of vehicular travel at the present time as well as at any specified future time. The present research also developed a benchmark method (segment-level using traffic counts) for VMT estimation and shows how the estimates from the other different methods can be calibrated to mitigate the inconsistencies in statewide VMT estimation across the different methods. The early tasks of the research, which included a literature review and survey of VMT-data stakeholders, helped streamline the research effort, categorize the different techniques for VMT estimation and identify their limitations, and identified the preferred outputs of any platform for VMT estimation.

Download

Share

COinS