The Pima Association of Governments is working to better understand travel demands for motorists in the region.

The taxpayer-funded organization overseeing regional planning hopes use of the new model will help β€œpredict how, when and where people travel in the greater Tucson region,” PAG said. It will lead to better plans for long-term transportation in the growing region of more than 1 million residents.

A major focus of the new model is collecting household activity data to ensure it correlates with the data officials are observing. Household surveys will be a key part in gathering this information.

A trio of B-52β€²s completed the first non-stop, round-the-world flight by jet planes, landing at March Air Force Base in California after more than 45 hours aloft, and more events that happened on this day in history.

This modeling, unlike past methods, could show how an entire household moves throughout a given region during a day.

β€œThe activity-based model can represent 24-hour, daily activities of a family or household in ways that previous modeling methods cannot,” PAG said.

β€œConsider a family of four household members. The model can create activities and travel where, for example, one parent drops off and picks up two kids at schools on the way to work and coming back home, and the other parent leaves home for shopping and recreation activity at specific time and location. Then both come back home and then the family goes out to eat together.”

The organization will examine geographical data to help assess traffic congestion not only about the local jurisdictions, but also on Interstates 10 and 19.

β€œInformation on how roadways are configured, such as the roadway network having 80% of arterial roads, is input to help assess traffic congestion,” PAG said.

Another goal is to use the model to better represent residents’ changing travel options and behaviors to ensure better regional transportation planning efforts.

The activity-based model can better forecast new mobility impacts, such as autonomous vehicles, ride-sharing and home delivery services, which have grown through online shopping. Some of these providers are companies such as TuSimple, Lyft, Uber or Amazon, PAG said.

β€œAutonomous vehicles might be a major transportation mode in 2045. The behavior of a family with autonomous vehicles would be different from another family without autonomous vehicles,” PAG said.

β€œA family could change the ownership of vehicles from two normal cars to one autonomous vehicle. This change would impact the daily activities of the family. This will affect the transportation demand on the network.”

An influx of these vehicles could be addressed by examining not only the daily activity changes but an impact to other transportation modes in the region.

The activity-based model will also be used to expand out of the region, said Paul Casertano, PAG’s transportation planning director in a statement.

The model β€œwill support alignment with the greater Phoenix region and activity-based modeling done by Maricopa Association of Governments,” said Casertano. β€œThis will allow us to improve how we prepare for and manage future growth and expanding transportation needs through the Sun Corridor mega region.”

Down the Road

Pima County road work extension: Shoulder repair work on North Hacienda del Sol Road between East River Road and East Sunrise Drive has been extended until Thursday, Jan. 21.

Crews will work between 6 a.m. and 4 p.m. each day.

Motorists should use caution and adhere to the reduced speeds and temporary closures as crews place materials starting at the south end of the project and work north to Sunrise Drive.


A look back at Tucson-area streets:


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Contact Star reporter Shaq Davis at 573-4218 or sdavis@tucson.com

On Twitter: @ShaqDavis1