What is the process of estimating the number of vehicles that will use a transportation facility in the future?

The process of estimating the number of vehicles that will use a transportation facility in the future is referred to as transportation forecasting. This practice is crucial for understanding future travel demand and for making informed decisions about infrastructure development, maintenance, and expansion. Transportation forecasting utilizes historical data, current trends, demographic information, and other relevant factors to predict future traffic volumes.

By analyzing various components such as land use changes, economic conditions, and transportation system improvements, transportation forecasting allows planners and engineers to provide a quantitative basis for decisions regarding investments in transportation infrastructure. It helps ensure that facilities can accommodate expected traffic levels, thereby enhancing safety and efficiency within the transportation network.

Traffic monitoring, traffic volume analysis, and capacity planning, while related aspects of managing transportation systems, do not focus specifically on future estimates. Monitoring involves observing and recording current traffic patterns, volume analysis is concerned with understanding existing traffic conditions, and capacity planning relates to assessing the adequacy of a facility to handle current and projected traffic. Each of these plays a role in the overall management of transportation networks but is not directly about predicting future usage like transportation forecasting.