CDOT and MPOs complete first statewide household travel survey; dataset includes weekend and mountain data

CDOT and its MPO partners presented results of Colorado’s first statewide household travel diary survey on June 4, saying the dataset fills longstanding gaps in mountain, Western Slope and weekend travel behavior.

Eric Sabine told the stack the survey planning began in 2019 and full data collection occurred in 2024 (with supplemental work through March 2025); about 21,000 households completed the instrument, totaling nearly 50,000 people. The survey included weekend travel and long‑distance trip modules as well as targeted surveys at park‑and‑ride lots and long‑distance transit services.

Sabine said the household counts align well with an independent big‑data source (Locus) and that initial checks of trips per person per day and mode share produced reasonable outcomes. ‘‘Saturday travel looks similar to weekday totals and Sunday is a bit smaller,’’ he said, noting the new data enable weekend modeling and improved planning for tourist and recreation corridors such as I‑70.

Why this matters: MPOs and CDOT now have statewide commuter and recreational travel inputs to improve corridor modeling, investment decisions and regional planning. Sabine said each of the five MPOs already has access to the data for local use; CDOT’s first major derivative will be a weekend model to support I‑70 and other corridors heavily affected by weekend travel.

Next steps: MPOs are beginning internal analysis; CDOT will develop a weekend travel model and make additional microdata products available to partner agencies. Sabine noted some data cleaning remains (for example, a small number of apparently long ‘walk’ trips that require follow‑up) and that further quality checks will be shared with members.