00605705

Component

http://onlinepubs.trb.org...trr/1990/1271/1271-015.pdf

https://scholar.google.co...eder&publication_year=1990

A primary difficulty in evaluating most new traffic control and traffic operations systems that are developed, tested, and installed is to determine the impacts those systems have on traffic behavior. To collect the data necessary to evaluate the systems, researchers have traditionally used floating car surveys and other data collection techniques. However, it is costly to perform the number of floating car surveys required to accurately measure the reasonably small changes in travel times that individual vehicles accrue as a result of traffic control system improvements. A more cost-effective and potentially more accurate alternative to the floating car survey for collecting that travel time information is described. Observers with lap-top computers collect license plate information. A series of simple computer programs performs the required license plate matching and produces summaries describing the travel characteristics of the traffic stream. This method of data collection costs less than floating car surveys, provides a larger number of travel time runs for a given level of personnel involvement within a given period, and can provide additional information on the traffic stream being monitored-for example, origin-destination information--at no additional cost.

This paper appears in Transportation Research Record No. 1271, Transportation Data and Information Systems: Current Applications and Needs 1990. Distribution, posting, or copying of this PDF is strictly prohibited without written permission of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences. Unless otherwise indicated, all materials in this PDF are copyrighted by the National Academy of Sciences. Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved

01410873

p. 79-88

1990

Transportation Research Record

Meeting, Committee on Transportation Data Information Systems, 1989, Washington, DC, USA

0309050537

Figures (8) ; References (4) ; Tables (1)

Accuracy; Cost effectiveness; Data collection; Laptop computers; Microcomputers; Origin and destination; Travel time

Administration and Management; Highways; Planning and Forecasting; Public Transportation; I10: Economics and Administration; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning

TRIS, TRB, ATRI

Mar 31 1991 12:00AM

• CURRENT NATIONAL HIGHWAY DATA REQUIREMENTS
• DESIGN, DEVELOPMENT, AND IMPLEMENTATION OF A STATEWIDE TRAFFIC MONITORING SYSTEM
• FACTORS AFFECTING ADOPTION OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS IN STATE DEPARTMENTS OF TRANSPORTATION
• HIGHWAY PERFORMANCE MONITORING SYSTEM: KENTUCKY'S APPROACH
• INFORMATION FOR TRANSPORTATION DECISION MAKING: INSTITUTIONAL CHALLENGES
• INTEGRATING GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEM TECHNOLOGY AND TRANSPORTATION MODELS
• NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION DATA NEEDS FOR THE 1990S: TRANSIT STRATEGIC PLANNING
• RECOMMENDATIONS FOR NATIONAL DATA. WORKSHOP REPORT. MID-YEAR MEETING OF THE COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION DATA AND INFORMATION SYSTEMS, WASHINGTON, D.C., OCTOBER 24-25, 1989
• REVISION OF STATEWIDE TRAFFIC DATA STANDARDS INDICATED DURING IMPLEMENTATION OF A TRAFFIC MONITORING SYSTEM
• STATEWIDE WORKSHOP REPORT. MID-YEAR MEETING OF THE COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION DATA AND INFORMATION SYSTEMS, WASHINGTON, D.C., OCTOBER 24-25, 1989
• SURVEY OF TRAVEL SURVEYS II
• TRANSPORTATION DATA USED CURRENTLY FOR NATIONAL PLANNING ACTIVITIES
• TRANSPORTATION DATA--GETTING MORE, BUT AVOIDING INFORMATION GRIDLOCK
• URBAN WORKSHOP REPORT. MID-YEAR MEETING OF THE COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION DATA AND INFORMATION SYSTEMS, WASHINGTON, D.C., OCTOBER 24-25, 1989