Traffic Monitoring Guide - Updated October 2016

Federal Highway Administration2016PDFTech ReportUnited States. Federal Highway AdministrationUnited States. Federal Highway AdministrationUnited StatesTraffic surveillanceData collectionTraffic dataGuidelinesFHWA-PL-17-003This edition of the Traffic Monitoring Guide (TMG) is intended to provide the most up to date guidance to State highway agencies about the policies, standards, procedures, and equipment typically used in a traffic monitoring program. The TMG presents recommendations to help improve and advance current programs with a view toward the future of traffic monitoring and with consideration for recent transportation legislation resulting from the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21). Improvements in traffic data collection technology since the publication of the TMG in 2001 have allowed States to improve their data collection processes and to streamline quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC) procedures, thereby replacing manual procedures with automated ones. New technology also now enables States to collect data on nonmotorized travel, including bicycle and pedestrian traffic. This new capability is addressed in more detail in Chapter 4. The use of nonmotorized travel data and information supports analysis regarding the impacts to the transportation network (on volumes and safety) resulting from the use of bicycles as an alternative travel method. The new technologies and procedures for traffic monitoring presented in this Guide are supplemented (in the appendices) with practical examples from State experiences with improving traffic monitoring programs. This edition of the TMG also includes new data formats as an option for reporting traffic data. These new formats are known as the Per Vehicle Formats for reporting volume, speed, vehicle classification, and vehicle weight data. Data formats are also provided for reporting nonmotorized data for those States with capabilities to collect this type of data. This edition of the TMG has been developed with considerable input from State traffic data program managers and the vendors who design and build traffic data collection equipment. This approach has resulted in a guidance document that the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) anticipates will continue to be beneficial to States in improving their business processes, technology, and equipment used to successfully manage their traffic monitoring programs.95