Michigan agencies collecting travel data from households

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) - Two Michigan agencies are teaming up in an effort to project future travel needs and establish transportation priorities for the next two decades.

The state Department of Transportation and the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments are collecting demographic information through travel surveys sent to random households. Most of the participants will be asked to record household activities for 24 hours in a travel diary. But some of them will use global positioning systems over a three-day period to collect specific route information.

The council's executive director says the survey results will help the agencies understand why people travel and how they plan daily activities.

The data collection began this week and will continue through the end of the year.

The agencies collected similar information in 2004.