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During the first part of 2001 the Volusia County Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) began to investigate the assumptions used in its travel demand model. The reason for this investigation is that the MPO's travel demand model is a key planning tool used in helping the MPO Board set its long range transportation priorities for the next 20 years. As, such the assumptions used in the MPO's travel demand model have important consequences for future transportation improvement projects. In an effort to rely less on statewide assumptions, the MPO undertook an extensive household travel survey. One of the major purposes of the Volusia County Travel Survey project was to collect information that will allow for a better understanding of the travel habits and patterns of residents within Volusia County. To understand the travel behavior characteristics of these trips a data collection program that consisted of gathering household travel data was implemented. The project was jointly funded by the Florida Department of Transportation, Volusia County and the Volusia County MPO. Due to its size and location within the Central Florida area, Volusia County is unique in that it is a tourist destination as well as being attractive to the retiree population and seasonal residents. Volusia County is composed of two distinct geographical areas that present very different demographical characteristics. First is the coastal area, a region that attracts large amounts of recreational traffic because of its beaches and special events such as the races at the Daytona International Speedway. The coastal area experiences tremendous variations in seasonal traffic and has a high turnover of visitors throughout the year. The second area is the mainland, or West Volusia County, an area that houses the County Government offices, Stetson University and the District office of the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT), which has characteristics of a typical urban area. These differences in trip making patterns within the distinct areas of the County present a challenge to the Florida Standard Urban Transportation Model Structure (FSUTMS) transportation model and their users in forecasting travel for Volusia County. The current transportation model does an adequate job of replicating travel within the urban areas of the County, but due to limitations of the standard model it has been artificially adjusted to replicate travel between these communities. The data from the household surveys collected under this study will allow transportation professionals to better lli1derstand the travel behaviors of trip makers and the travel patterns in Volusia County, and should help resolve any issues or deficiencies in the transportation model. The household survey was designed to produce data to estimate parameters for the Volusia County model's trip generation, distribution and mode split modules. Based on the findings resulting from the data collection effort, the Volusia County model structure should be completely revamped to accommodate the variables that are responsible for these unique travel patterns.