As one of the fastest growing areas of Washington (located about 60 miles south of Seattle), the Thurston region has experienced significant growth. In order to provide data to update, refine, and enhance the travel assumptions in the Thurston Regional Planning Council’s travel demand model, RSG is conducting a Household Travel Survey (HTS) for the Thurston Regional Planning Council that includes both a household travel diary and a long-distance travel diary for 2,500 households in Thurston and Pierce counties.

Geographies defining the sampling plan were designed to align with the region's primary mixed-use urban transit corridor planning activities, distinguishing them from the more auto-dependent surrounding areas. RSG, in partnership with area transit agencies, conducted a targeted sampling of vanpool riders and park-and-ride users. A separate special generator travel diary survey will be administered to capture the travel behavior for the population of over 50,000 military and civilian workers located at Joint Base Lewis-McChord. The separate, direct recruitment of the JBLM population is intended to cost-effectively capture accurate data for a mission-driven military population dependent upon I-5, and typically underrepresented in household travel diary studies. Lastly, the project also includes a stakeholder review committee comprised of representatives from agencies such as Intercity Transit, Washington DOT, and Puget Sound Regional Council.