Traffic Data Collection Processes Study

The Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) collects traffic volume counts for cities and counties outside of the Twin Cities Metro Area. Volume “coverage” counts are performed on various roads including trunk highways, county roads, county state aid highways, and municipal state aid streets. The counts assist with planning, design, development, maintenance priorities and snow removal.

This research implementation project considered options for cities and counties to gather traffic data; the focus of this project was to shadow three data collection processes. The three collection processes include MnDOT collecting the data (current process), the respective county collecting the data with equipment and training provided by MnDOT, and a consultant collecting the data. Sibley County volunteered to administer the county data collection process. MnDOT data collection is generally collected by District field technicians. The Sibley County data collection was conducted by County staff including an engineering intern. After the data collection process, each organization was interviewed to determine the effectiveness of the data collection method. A quantitative analysis determined how long each organization spent per count site.