The Secret of Traffic Counting on a Budget
Announcing the New $899 COUNTcam MINI I’m excited to announce our new COUNTcam MINI! – the industry’s smallest, traffic counting video system. Record multiple days – up to 50 hours of video Easy...
View ArticleTop 10 Ways Video Data Collection is Improving My Engineering – Part 1
Part 1 of a 2 Part Series This week I presented at the ITE Western District Conference. My presentation was well received by attendees so, I’ve decided to share it on MikeOnTraffic. The presentation...
View ArticleTop 10 Ways Video Data Collection is Improving My Engineering
Part 2 of a 2 Part Series Last week I shared the first part of the presentation I gave at the ITE Western District Conference earlier this month. I released the first half of my presentation last and...
View ArticleTraffic Impact Study Improvements: Part 2 – Would Multiple Results Help Us?
Guest Post by Bryant Ficek, PE, PTOE, Vice-President at Spack Consulting Earlier this year, I detailed how our standard process for a Traffic Impact Study has several points of assumptions at best or...
View ArticleTraffic Impact Study Improvements: Part 3 – All Trips Are Equal, But Some...
Using Local Trip Generation Data in Traffic Analysis Guest Post by Bryant Ficek, PE, PTOE, Vice-President at Spack Consulting Earlier this year, I detailed how our standard process for a Traffic Impact...
View ArticleHow to Collect Accurate Occupancy Data on High Speed, Multi-Lane Freeways
Using the Carousel Method to Collect Average Vehicle Occupancy Data About ten years ago, we sat on the side of Hiawatha Avenue in Minneapolis after the Light Rail Transit line was opened adjacent to it...
View ArticleAtari’s Pong is More Up-To-Date than Traffic Signal Warrant Research
It is Time the MUTCD to Update their Warrant Research Data Guest Post by Bryant Ficek, PE, PTOE, Vice-President at Spack Consulting Recently we announced the release of a new traffic signal and stop...
View ArticleTraffic Impact Study Improvements: Part 4 – To the Ends of the Earth
8 Considerations When Generating Trip Distribution Patterns Guest Post by Bryant Ficek, PE, PTOE, Vice President at Spack Consulting Earlier this year, I detailed how our standard process for a Traffic...
View ArticleTop 10 Common Mistakes to Avoid When Using Pneumatic Tube Counters
I fondly remember being “stuck” at a fraternity party during the Halloween Blizzard of 1991 when Minneapolis was hit with 28 inches of snow on October 31st. Now that I’m in the business of traffic...
View ArticleNew Trip Generation Data – Marijuana Dispensaries Drive 10 Times More Traffic...
Per square foot (KSF), Marijuana Dispensaries are proving to be one of the biggest retail traffic generators in the United States. The tables below show the traffic rates at marijuana dispensaries as...
View ArticleExciting Updates to PTV’s Vissim and Vistro Software
I was lucky enough to be invited to speak at the 2015 PTV America User’s Group Meeting about our experiences with using Vistro for doing traffic impact studies. The opening session of the meeting...
View ArticleTraffic Impact Study Improvements: Part 6 – Should Safety Review be Included...
Guest Post by Bryant Ficek, PE, PTOE, Vice President at Spack Consulting Earlier this year, I detailed how our standard process for a Traffic Impact Study has several points of assumptions at best or...
View ArticleQueue Data for the Top 5 Drive Through Uses
A key item for traffic engineers to review on a commercial site is whether or not vehicles waiting in a drive through lane will block circulation in the parking lot. Very little actual data exists on...
View ArticleTraffic Impact Study Improvements – Round-Up
Guest Post by Bryant Ficek, PE, PTOE, Vice President at Spack Consulting. We have completed and/or reviewed thousands of Traffic Impact Studies (TIS) over the 15-year history of Spack Consulting. And...
View ArticlePedestrian and Bike Counts with Video Technology
A data collection case study of how video technology saves time and reduces cost for pedestrian counts. As traffic engineers, much of our work is focused on vehicle volumes and patterns. But pedestrian...
View ArticleCounting Snowmobile Trail Crossings
While much of a traffic engineer’s focus is on counting vehicle traffic, pedestrians and cyclists. But on occasion, we have the opportunity to do some truly interesting counts. This is a case study on...
View ArticleGetting Accurate Data Collection in Bad Traffic Conditions
Guest Post by Max Moreland, PE, Director of Operations at Traffic Data Inc. What happens if you are attempting to do a turning movement count at an intersection and one of the roads is suddenly shut...
View ArticleCase Study: Using Video to Collect TMCs, Queuing and Gap Study Data
Guest Post by Max Moreland, PE, Director of Operations at Traffic Data Inc. At Traffic Data Inc., we are frequently called on to do turning movement counts for local cities and developers. But...
View ArticleWhat the ITE Trip Generation Manual Isn’t Telling You
The Institute of Transportation Engineers’ (ITE) Trip Generation Manual suggests that “the user may wish to modify trip generation rates presented in this document to reflect. . .special...
View ArticleWhen Do You Need A Traffic Study?
The short answer – when a government agency tells you. The longer answer – traffic studies are typically required when: There is an expectation of traffic congestion anticipated with new development...
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