This exploratory research focuses on time sensitive data and field research related to devastating impacts of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center (WTC) in New York City, NY on September 11, 2001. These devastating events offer a unique opportunity to understand the impacts of extreme events on passenger travel choice as well as some of the relationships between travel, job, and residence choice. Since some of these behavioral effects may be of a transient nature, the data are effectively perishable and requires rapid investigation. The research aims to investigate and model how this event and subsequent actions of firms and transportation providers impact travel decisions. The objectives of the proposed research are to assess the behavioral changes with respect to transportation that have taken place since the attacks and to begin to lay the foundation for studying the impacts of extreme events on travel behavior.
The methodology entails modeling travel behavior using information gleaned from interviewing people in the areas affected by the WTC attack. The post-attack sample will be drawn from two different sources: (a) a subset of the Household Interview Surveys (HIS), which is a transportation survey conducted prior to the attack; and (b) volunteers from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and the New York Metropolitan Transportation Council (NYMTC), i.e., survivors at the WTC. These agencies were housed in the WTC. A control data set will be drawn from the population that was not directly affected by the WTC attack. The HIS administered prior to the attack will be used to estimate pre-attack behavioral models. The NYMTC is supplying backup copies of these data since the originals were destroyed in the attack. These data will be analyzed to provide information on the behavioral changes in transportation, job and residence choices. This research can enable transportation agencies, specifically transit agencies, to devise policies aimed at restoring the perception of safety. In this regard, the research will help to answer questions about the future of lower Manhattan. It would help planners better understand the impact of extreme events on travel choices.
