Traffic Volume Counts
Traffic counts are collected for a number of
reasons. Here are three critical ones.
- Traffic counts are one important factor in assessing the overall "health" of a road. High levels of congestion and delays or numerous accidents may be caused by volumes that exceed the design limits for the road. Counts may then become part of an argument for road amelioration, including reconstruction.
- Computer models of traffic in a region require traffic counts as input in order to be correctly calibrated and in order to predict the region's future traffic with any degree of accuracy.
- Various laws and regulations
mandate the collection of traffic counts. The agencies and
reasons involved include, but are not limited to, those listed below.
- The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) must receive ADT figures for a broad sampling of the state's highways in order to disburse federal matching funds for road construction.
- The Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act Office (MEPA) may request traffic counts as part of an environmental impact report (EIR), the submission and approval of which may be necessary before certain large construction projects can proceed.
- Local-level planning boards and regulations may similarly require traffic counts in construction proposals.
These traffic count Web pages and data were
last updated in May 2006. The MPO does not warrant the accuracy of the
count data, which was collected by other agencies and is made
available on this Web site with their permission.
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