A Study of Interstate Motor Carrier Vehicle Miles of Travel

Conference · Sun Jul 01 00:00:00 EDT 1990 · Transportation Research, Part A: General

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/0191-2607(91)90022-i· OSTI ID:6342967

Hu, Patricia S. ^[1]; Wright, Tommy ^[1]; Miaou, Shaw-Pin ^[2]; Gorman, Robert ^[3]; Davis, Stacy C. ^[2]

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1. Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
2. Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States)
3. U.S. Department of Transportation, Washington, DC (United States). Federal Highway Administration (FHWA)

This paper summarizes the evaluation results of six data sources in terms of their ability to estimate the number of commercial trucks operating in interstate commerce and their vehicle miles of travel (VMT) by carrier type and by state, and presents two cost-effective methodologies in estimating these parameters based on the evaluation results. The six data sources were: (1) Truck Inventory and Use Survey (TIUS) from the Bureau of the Census; (2) Nationwide Truck Activity and Commodity Survey (NTACS) from the Bureau of the Census; (3) National Truck Trip Information Survey (NTTIS) from the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI); (4) Highway Performance Monitoring System (HPMS) from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), Department of Transportation; (5) International Registration Plan (IRP) of the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators (AAMVA); and (6) State fuel tax reports from each individual state and the International Fuel Tax Agreement (IFTA). Evaluation results concluded that none of the data sources by themselves were capable of providing reliable estimates at the state level. Although several attempts were made to combine the strengths of different data sources so that reliable estimates could be generated, none of them were successful. Data inconsistency and incompatibility contributed primarily to the failures. Although several of the six data sources by themselves could provide estimates at the national level, each had limitations. As a result of these findings, two methodologies were proposed to estimate the number of commercial trucks operating in interstate commerce and their VMT by carrier type. Neither method required collecting additional data.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-84OR21400
• OSTI ID: 6342967
• Report Number(s): CONF-910126--1; ON: DE90016022
• Journal Information: Transportation Research, Part A: General, Journal Name: Transportation Research, Part A: General Journal Issue: 6 Vol. 25; ISSN 0191-2607
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
320203* -- Energy Conservation
Consumption
& Utilization-- Transportation-- Land & Roadway
97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING
99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS
990200 -- Mathematics & Computers
COMMERCIAL SECTOR
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
DATA ACQUISITION
DATA ANALYSIS
DATA COVARIANCES
DISTANCE
EFFICIENCY
ENERGY CONSUMPTION
ENERGY EFFICIENCY
ERRORS
FEASIBILITY STUDIES
FUEL CONSUMPTION
MATHEMATICS
OPERATION
PERFORMANCE TESTING
PROBABILISTIC ESTIMATION
REGIONAL ANALYSIS
REGULATIONS
STATISTICS
SURVEYS
TESTING
TRANSPORTATION SECTOR
TRAVEL
TRUCKS
VALIDATION
VEHICLES
WEIGHT