In their peer review application, the OKI Transportation Modeling Department identified the following a short-, medium-, and long-term plans for the OKI model's enhancement. The short term plan for the OKI model focuses on upgrades to the trip-based model. These upgrades will include removing as much TranPlan code as possible, reducing model data storage overhead, inclusion of the fifth edition of the Highway Capacity Manual (HCM2010) methods, a full recalibration of the model using the 2010 data that have been collected, and the implementation of a more detailed zone structure. In addition, certain parts of the model will be significantly overhauled, including Home-Based School trips, taxi trips (which may be removed due to the lack of data), and truck trips. Other parts may undergo minor changes, such as the trip generation model, which will gain additional trip purposes.
Short-Term Trip Generation Improvements:
Short-Term Trip Distribution and Mode Choice Improvements:
Short-Term Other Improvements:
The medium-term plan is to move to the CT-RAMP model. This move is supported by Ohio DOT, and will be in conjunction with an upgrade of CT-RAMP at the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission (MORPC) and a similar move to CT-RAMP at the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency (NOACA). This will put the three models on a common code base and enable the three MPOs to share work, such as model enhancements, reports, and post-processes, as well as to share work with other CT-RAMP users in other states.
Since the OKI trip-based and tour-based models will be calibrated to 2010 data and will use many of the same formats of files, the OKI staff will be able to compare runs from each. This would allow for an easier transition from the trip-based model to the tour-based model. It will also facilitate ensuring that the new model system works correctly and that any major issues may be investigated without impacts to scheduled project work.
Some of the more interesting features of the tour-based model include better representation of commercial vehicles throughout the region, as well as enhanced ability to answer questions about the model and what it forecasts, particularly where major improvements are concerned. The tour-based model will also be set up to use dynamic traffic assignment (DTA). Additionally, the tour-based model will have enhanced output visualization features.
The long-term plan is to build the capability to analyze problems using both macro and meso-level simulation, and to provide a pathway to micro-simulation. Over the long term, the OKI Transportation Modeling Department will focus efforts on better and more automated data collection in order to develop and/or enhance the non-motorized portions of the model.
Several years ago, OKI staff members investigated the potential of adding a land use model to the model stream. At that time, it was determined that no existing model is as good as the current non-model approach to forecasting socioeconomic data. However, with the increased data archiving by the Transportation, Transportation Modeling, and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) departments, OKI will revisit the potential of developing a land-use model that reflects the development patterns of the region.
