Travel Demand Modeling
Travel demand modeling (TDM) is a very important tool that MCRPC uses for long range transportation planning. TDM forecasts travel behavior at varying geographies (metropolitan regions, states, etc.) under scenarios in where there are proposed changes to socio-economics, demographics, land use and/or the transportation network. This helps MCRPC make informed decsions regarding improvement and expansion of the transportation network in the metropolitan planning area (MPA) of Bloomington-Normal and McLean County.
The current McLean County Travel Demand Model was initally developed using a 2019 base year and was recently updated to a 2022 base year. MCRPC is a member of the Illinois Modeling Users Group (ILMUG), which is made up of other peer small- and medium-sized metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) throughout the state. ILMUG is led by the Champaign County Regional Planning Commission (CCRPC) with additional support from the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT). CCRPC staff provided assistance to MCRPC staff in developing the McLean County Travel Demand Model.
In addition to TDM, as part of CCRPC's modeling suite, MCRPC also is developing a greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions model using the U.S Environmental Protection Agency's Motor Vehicle Emissions Simulator, also known as MOVES. The GHG model will use outputs from TDM, meteorlogical data, and vehicle count data from the Illinois Secretary of State's office.
The CUUATS Modeling Suite, developed by the Champaign County Regional Planning Commission (CCRPC)