EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) – The Texas Department of Transportation wants to learn more about your driving habits to better plan for future travel needs in El Paso.
To that end, TxDOT and its research partner ETC Institute are seeking approximately 2,000 El Paso families to participate in a “household travel survey.”
You can help improve your community and get rewarded at the same time, said Nick Jones, director of data management at the ETC Institute.
Participating families will receive a gift card valued at $20 to $100, depending on the number of household members and the type of participation. There are about 50 different types of gift cards – Walmart, Amazon, Target and more – to choose from, Jones said.
“There’s a lot of shady or fraudulent stuff out there,” Jones said. “This is designed to improve your area. It will help your community and you’ll also be incentivized to get involved.”
About 500 households have already signed up for the survey, which begins now that school has started again. Another 2,000 households are needed, Jones said. The survey is expected to be completed in December.
“We want good representation of the region,” Jones said.
“We do this type of survey for TxDOT across the state,” Jones said. “We’ve been working with TxDOT for about 20 years now. We go into certain metropolitan areas and recruit residents there to participate in our household travel surveys.”
They ask households to tell them a little about themselves and to obtain information about their vehicles and driving habits.
“Then we get 24 hours of travel information from them,” Jones said. “That information goes back to TxDOT and the local planning organizations and really helps them understand how residents are traveling in the region so they can make more informed budget decisions and road improvements based on the real needs of the region.”
The ETC Institute sends postcards to potential households inviting them to participate.
“Keep an eye out for it,” he said.
Jones said it’s a fun way to help his community and get rewarded in the process.
If you are interested in participating, you can click here for more information.
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