Traffic Counts and Data Collection

Traffic volume data and its accuracy are essential in ensuring the successful completion of technically sound traffic impact or transportation planning studies, which in turn determine the ultimate transportation infrastructure improvement needs to mitigate development impacts or alleviate existing traffic congestion within a particular geographic area. Traffic data collection provides the basis for identifying problems, confirming earlier hypotheses, quantifying the impacts of proposed developments or land use changes as well as determining the nature or magnitude of needed improvements.

LSL Engineering Consultants Inc. understands that traffic count procedures for individual projects must be clearly defined in a data collection plan prior to starting the field work, including the types of information required, acceptable collection time frames and any special conditions by each of the specific projects. Our firm has a dedicated team of field staff who are professionally trained to perform different types of traffic data collection tasks including but not limited to:

• Intersection Classified Turning Movement Count (TMC): This type of traffic count is manually collected utilizing hand-held electronic or mechanic counters. The data collected include turning movement volumes and vehicle classifications typically distributed in 15-minute intervals for a two hour period during both the morning and the afternoon commute peak hours on normal weekdays excluding holidays and weekends.
• Queue Length Data: LSL Engineering Consultants Inc. provides service on collecting vehicle queue data and performing queue analyses at signalized and un-signalized intersection as well as at the facilities such as restaurant drive through lanes to determine the maximum existing queues and to estimate future queuing needs for lane storage design.
• Travel Time and Delay Data: These studies are usually performed to determine potential benefits of corridor improvements in reducing travel delays and shortening travel times that would result from signal timing synchronization or other traffic improvement measures. The before and after run data are collected to compare the performance improvements along a study corridor. The floating vehicle method is typically used in these types of studies.