Counting on technology to help to keep roads safe
One hundred and ninety traffic counts are being conducted in Cape Breton by the Nova Scotia government between May and December through the use of portable pneumatic road tubes.
“We count all sections of numbered highways across the province once every three years,” said Brian Taylor, media relations adviser for the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal.
“The counts are placed at the same or a similar location to capture volume and axle data trends.
This data is used for many purposes including highway planning, maintenance and design.”
Taylor said the data collected would go to their engineering and design team to be utilized in developing their five-year plan for any major programming of capital upgrades or for increased growth.
“This data is collected to help in the engineering decisions.”
Data collected is also used in studying traffic trends.
“If they were finding there was an area where speed was exceeding the engineering of the road — well, that’s a something that would trigger them to look at upgrades, ways to calm the traffic down there.”
Counters are left in each location for about seven days and then collected and processed to calculate an average daily traffic figure over a 24hour period and also adjusted to represent an annual figure.
As well as the road tubes the department also utilizes a permanent inductive loop — a wire Installed into the surface of a road which uses signal detection to collect data on vehicles that pass over it.
“This permanent infrastructure allows us to capture data on higher volume roads where manually placing road tubes would be unfeasible.”
The permanent sites provincewide collect data all 365 days of the year including traffic volume, axle length, and speed data. The four permanent sites in Cape Breton include Hay Cove (Trunk 4), Middle River (Trunk 30), Skir Dhu (Trunk 30), and South Haven (Highway 105).
Taylor said the permanent sites can last upwards of 20 years or more with regular maintenance. The loop sensors, just under the surface of the road, produce an electrical signal when a tire/axle passes over them. That signal is then relayed to a digital counter mounted roadside in an electrical box. The counter is connected to a phone modem and the data can be accessed from the department’s head office.
Taylor said the department also conducts what is referred to as “special counts” outside the normal count program, often requested by department staff but also outside sources such as municipalities, consultants and businesses.
In 2018, the department will be conducting the counts in the western district of the province and in 2019 in the northern region. In 2020 the department will return to eastern region, which includes Cape Breton.