Once-a-decade study, starting soon, will ask Oregonians where, when and how they travel

SALEM, Ore. (KTVZ) -- Later this month, thousands of Oregon households will be invited to participate in the first wave of the most important statewide transportation study in a decade.

The Oregon Travel Study, led by a partnership between the Oregon Department of Transportation and the eight Oregon Metropolitan Planning Organizations, seeks to understand where, when and how people in Oregon travel in their daily lives.

Between September 2023 and June 2024, about half of Oregon’s 1.6 million households will receive invitations by mail to participate in the study. It’s conducted every 10 years and provides critical data for transportation policy decisions and investments at local, state and federal levels.

“Many of the decisions we make rely on data from this study,” said Becky Knudson, ODOT senior transportation economist. “The more Oregon transportation agencies understand about how and why people use their local systems, the better we can make informed investment decisions to meet their needs.”

Households were randomly selected using U.S. Postal Service data. Selected households can participate in the survey via a smartphone app, online, or over the phone. The goal is to collect travel information from at least 21,000 households, which will allow analysts to draw accurate insights from the data across the entire state.

Households who participate in the study will be compensated for their time via prepaid debit cards.

Transportation planners and policymakers will use the collected data over the next 10 years to create a safer, more sustainable and equitable transportation system for all users throughout the state. We expect to publish study results in early 2025.

Equity in data collection

Ensuring collected data represents all people in Oregon, and all the different ways they travel, is a top priority. Here’s how we’re casting a wide net:

• There are three ways to report travel: smartphone app, via a website, or over the phone.
• The survey is available in multiple languages across the smartphone app, website and phone line, including English, Spanish, Russian, Vietnamese, and simplified and traditional Chinese.
• Study researchers are partnering with community-based organizations to reach disadvantaged communities in ways that work best for those communities.
• Some communities and mode users will be “oversampled,” meaning more invitations will be sent to those folks to ensure we achieve the needed response rate.

Learn more about the study at oregontravelstudy.com, including a detailed FAQ about how it works.