Ames, Iowa — The Iowa Department of Transportation is working in northwest Iowa this spring and summer to determine how many cars, trucks, and other vehicles are using the state, county, and city roadways.
This year’s efforts are concentrated in northwest Iowa, but occasionally crews will work elsewhere in the state. They will be working in the entire northwest quadrant of the state, from Larchwood to south of Sioux City and from the western border rivers to I-35. The DOT says many employees will spend peak hours between 7 AM and 6 PM at one location counting the morning, noon, and evening traffic. They count and classify vehicles, record vehicle turning movements, and gather other data necessary to plan the future of Iowa’s roadway system.
Other employees will be placing and checking portable traffic recorders in the same general areas, according to DOT officials. When the recorders are set, they say they usually record data for one or two days and are checked periodically. Employees responsible for the recorders work various shifts, including hours outside of a traditional business day.
The DOT also reports that they will also be capturing images of state highways. This program covers half of the state yearly and utilizes a van with two mounted cameras that collect 200 images per mile. At the same time, precise location information is collected through a global positioning system. That data is stored along with the images on the van’s onboard computer system. This van may be seen operating on state highways in the northern half of Iowa this year.
Other statewide work scheduled for this summer includes the installation, upgrading, and maintenance of permanent, automatic traffic recorders and weigh-in-motion equipment.
They want to let people know that they can expect to see Iowa DOT employees and vehicles in their communities all hours of the day both on and off the clock.
The Iowa DOT says they use the data for planning to help travelers and products get through the state safely, efficiently, and conveniently and give Iowans the most benefit for each dollar spent on transportation.
