Annual Daily Traffic Volume Research Articles

An integrated approach to monitoring and estimating COVID-19 risk exposure among leisure-time physical activity participants

BackgroundLeisure time physical activity (LTPA) provides both health benefits and risks, particularly during a pandemic. During the COVID-19 pandemic, significant increases in close-to-home LTPA raised concerns for public health and land managers alike. This project illustrates a novel, integrated monitoring approach to estimating COVID-19 risk exposure during trail-related LTPA, with implications for other public spaces. MethodsCOVID-19 risk exposure was conservatively calculated from the integration of in-person observations of LTPA trail groups and automated monitoring of trail traffic volumes in spring 2020. Trained observers tracked 1,477 groups. Traffic volume estimates and observed distance data were integrated, considering occlusion and total trail traffic volume. Results70% of groups had one or more encounters. Among individual users, 38.5% were 100% compliant across all events observed but 32.7% were not compliant. Considering trail traffic volumes and annual daily traffic volume, exposure to risk of COVID-19 was conservatively estimated at 61.5% among individual trail users. ConclusionsMonitoring opportunities and challenges of health risk exposure exist. Adjusted exposure measures based on volume counts can approximate numbers of unique individuals exposed, inform management actions, efficacy and policy decisions.

The precision of average annual daily traffic volume estimates from seasonal traffic counts: Alberta example

Investigated in this note is the precision of average annual daily traffic (AADT) volumes estimated from seasonal traffic counts (STC). A large number of road sites located on Alberta's rural highway system were studied. Three frequencies for seasonal traffic counts were considered. They were rotations where the automated traffic recording devices would be active for 2, 3, or 4 selected noncontinuous months of the year. The AADT volume error margins or precision at a 95% confidence level as found in this study are (i) ± 8.00% for 2 noncontinuous month counts during a year, (ii) ± 5.60% for 3 noncontinuous month counts during a year (1993 Alberta program), and (iii) ± 3.61% for 4 noncontinuous month counts during a year. The research can help traffic engineers in carrying out a cost-effectiveness analysis of STC programs, and the precision values such as presented in this research can play an important role in considering a trade-off between the cost and the accuracy of various counts. Key words: AADT, sampling errors, seasonal traffic counts, transportation, traffic volume studies.

海上交通量の観測日数と精度

海上交通量の観測日数と精度