This month, the 12th Edition of the ITE Trip Generation Manual was released. The Manual is the authoritative resource that traffic engineers use to estimate the number of vehicle and person trips generated by various land uses, including retail, residential, commercial, and other uses.
Published by the Institute of Transportation Engineers, the Trip Generation Manual is based on real-world data collected from across North America. Our own Michael Workosky served on the advisory group that reviewed and prepared the materials for the new 12th edition.
What’s New in the 12th Edition
One key thing to note is that the new edition contains both pre- and post-pandemic traffic data that is continuously updated and refined for each edition. This information is submitted by agencies and practitioners across urban, suburban, and rural settings that has been incorporated into the updated manual. It has uncovered emerging trends for many of the standard land uses that may influence their trip generation characteristics.
In addition to data for motor vehicles, the Manual also features updated multimodal trip generation data relating to pedestrians, bicyclists, and transit users. This information is increasingly important as multimodal real estate development increases.
Land uses themselves have also been fine-tuned and new land uses have been added – nine new land use codes, in fact. The reclassification and expansion of land uses include new and sub-category land use codes such as multifamily developments (both within and outside proximity to transit), and shopping plazas with and without supermarkets. We can expect such refinements to continue in the future, based on user feedback and evolving development trends.
The manual also features a dedicated chapter on emerging trends affecting travel patterns in the post-pandemic era. Another feature is what has been excluded: all pre-1990 data has been removed for improved relevance and accuracy.
It is anticipated that governmental agencies will move quickly to adopt the new 12th Edition Manual.