Corridor Metropolitan Planning Organization

Corridor MPO Participating in a National Household Travel Survey (NHTS)

The United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) will conduct a National Household Travel Survey (NHTS) in the Cedar Rapids metropolitan and surrounding area (including Marion, Robins, and Hiawatha) on daily trips taken in a 24-hour period. Corridor Metropolitan Planning Organization (Corridor MPO), formerly known as Linn County Regional Planning Commission, is the lead agency for managing this project in the Cedar Rapids metropolitan area. This survey will collect the information regarding,

Purpose of the trip (work, shopping, etc.)
Means of transportation used (car, bus, walk, taxi, etc.)
The length of trip / travel time
Time of day when the trip took place
Day of week when the trip took place
Vehicle occupancy
Driver characteristics (sex, age, work status, education level, etc.)
Vehicle characteristics (make, model, miles driven, etc.)

A contractor hired by the USDOT will conduct the phone interviews to collect information on individual household travel characteristics. The pretest for the survey will be conducted in late December and January and full data collection will begin on March 1st 2008. The survey process will include the following steps:

Prior to the phone interview, an advance letter will be mailed to the households, which includes a letter signed by the Secretary of Transportation and a brochure introducing the survey.
A week after the advance letter mailing, the first telephone call will be made to the households to speak with an adult member of the household. The first portion of the interview will include screening questions to determine survey eligibility. The eligible residential households will then have the survey administered using the prepared questionnaire.
Upon completion of the initial household interview, a diary package will be sent to households via Priority Mail. The diary package will include a letter from the USDOT, a brochure describing the survey, an envelope with a diary, a reminder card showing the assigned travel day, and an odometer mileage form listing the household’s vehicles.
The next step includes a personal interview for each household member, which will begin following the travel day (as mentioned in the diary package mailed to each household) and continue until all household members are interviewed or up to a maximum of six days.
The final portion of the NHTS survey will involve the collection of odometer readings twice for each household vehicle enumerated during the initial household interview.

The Corridor Metropolitan Planning Organization (CMPO) would like to assure you that any information collected will be kept confidential and thank you in advance for your participation. Please feel free to contact Sushil Nepal @ 319-286-5075 or any CMPO staff @ 319-286-5041.