Freight Sub-Model Development

The Houston-Galveston Area Council (H-GAC) is seeking a qualified contractor to develop a regional, behavior-based Freight and Commercial Vehicle Model. The model will leverage the 2025 TxDOT Establishment / Commercial Vehicle Survey as its primary local data source and will be integrated with the region's existing disaggregate four-step travel demand modeling framework. The objectives of the project are to develop a behavior-based freight model, represent both goods movement and service-related commercial vehicle activity, and integrate freight truck and non-freight commercial vehicle demand into the regional Travel Demand Model. The scope of work includes six tasks: • Project Management and Work Plan: Manage and coordinate all activities required to develop the freight and commercial vehicle model. • Data Review and Preparation: Review and prepare all data required for development of the freight and commercial vehicle model. • Establishment-Based Generation and Tour-Based Commercial Vehicle Modeling: Develop establishment-based, behavior-driven models to estimate freight and commercial vehicle activity. • Integration with the Regional Travel Demand Model (TDM): Integrate the freight and commercial vehicle model with the regional TDM. • Model Calibration, Validation, and Sensitivity Analysis: Calibrate and validate the commercial vehicle model to ensure reasonable replication of observed conditions. • Documentation, User Manual, and Training: Provide documentation and training to support in-house application, maintenance, and future enhancement of the freight and commercial vehicle model. Some key deliverables include a project management plan, data review and reasonableness assessment memorandum, technical memoranda, and a freight and commercial vehicle model user manual.