stations



Overview

This data layer contains the locations of traffic counts in Massachusetts conducted by the Massachusetts Highway Department either as part of the federally-mandated Highway Performance Monitoring System or as part of its special counts program.

Production

Each year the MPO obtains thousands of ASCII text files containing the collected traffic count information from MHD's automatic traffic recorders. These files are converted into comma-separated files and imported into a database. Then the narrative descriptions of the locations, part of the original data, are used to place points in a semi-automated process. Points are placed for logical, rather than strict locational, accuracy. That is, if the description of a traffic count states that it measured traffic on such and such a street, north of the intersection with some other street, then placement of the point was considered accurate if it occurred on the named street within one hundred feet of the named intersection and with no other intervening intersections. The Massachusetts Highway Department roads data layer (based upon 1:25,000 scale USGS digital line graphs) was used as the base road network. Now that MHD has moved to a data layer based upon 1:5000 orthophotography-derived centerlines, the position of the traffic count points will be gradually modified to remain over the associated roads.

Attributes

stations

Item Name Data Type Width Dec. Width Output Description
FID OID 4

Internal feature number.
Shape Geometry 0

Feature geometry.
TOWN String 25

Official Commonwealth of Massachusetts town name
ROUTE String 4

Primary route number (priority order runs interstate, federal, state) of associated road
ALT_ROUTES String 20

Additional route numbers shared by the stretch of associated road
STREETNAME String 40

Official streetname of the associated road
STAT_STR String 40

Streetname from the narrative description of the traffic count location
FAC_TYPE String 1

Type of associated road (See table of enumerated values below.)
MHD_DIST Number 2

Massachusetts Highway Department district (See table of enumerated values below.)
STATIONNUM Number 6

Unique number identifying traffic count location (assigned by MHD for HPMS counts and by the MPO for special counts)
CSN String 8

Combined county code and road serial number of associated road
TOWN_ID Number 3

MassGIS town code number
RIN Number 4

Road inventory number of associated road
CLASS Number 2

Functional classification of associated road (See table of enumerated values below.)
STAT_DESC String 60

Additional positioning information from narrative description of traffic count location
STATUS String 1

Active or inactive
LOCATION String 60

Location information from MHD's published book of traffic volumes
TOT_LANES Number 2

Number of total lanes of associated road
Y1962 Number 6

Average daily traffic (ADT) for 1962
Y1963 Number 6

ADT for 1963
Y1964 Number 6


Y1965 Number 6


Y1966 Number 6


Y1967 Number 6


Y1968 Number 6


Y1969 Number 6


Y1970 Number 6


Y1971 Number 6


Y1972 Number 6


Y1973 Number 6


Y1974 Number 6


Y1975 Number 6


Y1976 Number 6


Y1977 Number 6


Y1978 Number 6


Y1979 Number 6


Y1980 Number 6


Y1981 Number 6


Y1982 Number 6


Y1983 Number 6


Y1984 Number 6


Y1985 Number 6


Y1986 Number 6


Y1987 Number 6


Y1988 Number 6


Y1989 Number 6


Y1990 Number 6


Y1991 Number 6


Y1992 Number 6


Y1993 Number 6


Y1994 Number 6


Y1995 Number 6


Y1996 Number 6


Y1997 Number 6


Y1998 Number 6


Y1999 Number 6


Y2000 Number 6


Y2001 Number 6

Y2002 Number 6

Y2003 Number 6

Y2004 Number 6

Y2005 Number 6

Y2006 Number 6

ADT for 2006

Enumerated values for FAC_TYPE

Value Meaning
0 Mainline roadway
1 Simple Ramp
2 Uni-directional compound ramp
3 Simple Ramp - carries NB or EB route
4 Simple Ramp - carries SB or WB route
5 Bi-directional compound ramp
6 Terminal Ramp - end of NB or EB route
7 Terminal Ramp - end of SB or WB route
8 Rotary
9 Collector-Distributor
I Interstate Highway
U US Route
S State Route
L Local Road
R Any Ramp

Enumerated values for MHD_DIST

Value Meaning
1 Berkshire region
2 Hampden-Hampshire-Franklin region
3 Worcester region
4 Northeastern region
5 Southeastern region

Enumerated values for CLASS

Value Meaning
0 Local
1 Interstate
2 Rural principal arterial and Urban extensions
3 Rural minor arterial and Urban extensions
4 Other Urban principal arterial
5 Urban minor arterial or Rural major collector
6 Urban collector or Rural minor collector

Maintenance

Data Manager: Marc Desmarais Manager, Data Resources
Central Transportation Planning Staff
10 Park Plaza, Suite 2150
Boston, MA 02116
United States
Tel. (617) 973-7077
marc.desmarais@ctps.org
Status:

Special count locations still being geocoded for years prior to 1997

Update frequency:

Yearly in spring

Additional information:

In some cases there may be a backlog of received electronic tabular data files that have not yet been geocoded. These files are available for public use as well.

History

Contributing source:

ASCII text files and Excel spreadsheets from MHD

Type--Electronic (CD-ROM and Internet download)

Process step:

Spatial Characteristics

Feature Classes

Feature Class Name Type No. of Features Spatial Index? Topology?
stations Point 10464 TRUE FALSE

Coordinate System

Grid Coordinate System:State Plane Coordinate System, FIPS Zone 2001

Horizontal Datum Name:North American Datum of 1983

Ellipsoid Name:Geodetic Reference System 80