Traffic Counts

The Traffic Counting Program is an integral part of the Transportation System Surveillance. BHJ along with Ohio Department of Transportation and West Virginia Department of Transportation oversee traffic counting as the foundation of a performance measurement-based planning program consistent with FAST Act planning requirements. This program provides a sound and factual basis to support ongoing transportation planning work. Annually, between May and October, BHJ collects traffic count information from approximately 500 individual traffic counters throughout the region. Traffic counting is valuable for Travel Demand Model development, highway performance monitoring including pavement condition ratings, identification of probable economic growth patterns, safety-engineering studies, and other miscellaneous transportation planning activities.

Almost half of all traffic counts BHJ collects are for Short-Range Planning activities, typically highway performance monitoring on local roads and streets where neither ODOT nor WVDOT has administrative responsibility. In continuing, more than 40% of the remaining traffic data is collected for Long-Range Planning efforts for the Travel Demand Modeling program at either a screen or a cordon line location, while the Surveillance Program accounts for the rest of the counting program.

Traffic counts are collected in three-year cycles. Each Cycle Year concentrates on various geographic areas throughout study area.

• Year 1: Traffic counts are inside the Steubenville, OH Central Business District, selected rural sites in Jefferson County, OH, and locations in Hancock County, WV north of Weirton, WV.
• Year 2: Traffic counts are in locations in southern Jefferson County and Toronto, OH, and north of Weirton, as well as screen line counts in Follansbee and Wellsburg in Brooke County, WV.
• Year 3: Traffic counts are taken in locations in northern Jefferson County, rural incorporated areas of the county, and Weirton, WV as well as locations throughout Brooke County, WV. 

Point and select a traffic count line segment to review the traffic data.  When a count location is selected, a data box pops up to show the data collected from that location.  Each station represents a directional flow of traffic that is east (EB), west (WB), south (SB), or north (NB). When data is broken down into multiple lanes, an arrow box is displayed in the right hand side upper or lower corner to select through the different directions of travel.  Add up each count from each direction to get the total count for that location.  The table below explains the data that is shown:

Field Name	Description
BHJ Station	Reference name given to each count that refers to information given on the website map, www.bhjmppc.org.
Count	Total number of vehicles counted in 24 hours.  This is the unadjusted count total, or average daily traffic (ADT).  When multiple lanes are counted, all lanes must be added together for the total count for that location.
Location	Brief description of where the traffic counter was placed along the desired roadway.
Road Name	Street name of the roadway that the traffic count was collected on.
From	Street name that the traffic count segment begins from that is represented by the lines on the map.
To	Street name that the traffic count segment ends at that is represented by the lines on the map.
Percentage of Truck	This is the percentage of the traffic that was classified as heavy truck traffic.
85% Speed	This is the speed at or below which 85% of all vehicles are observed to travel under free flowing conditions past a monitored point.
AADT Factor	Factor by which the raw count (ADT) is multiplied by to give a yearly average of traffic in that area (AADT).
AADT	Average Annual Daily Traffic.  This equals the ADT times the AADT factor.  This is the average traffic that passed by that count location for the year. When multiple lanes are counted, all lanes must be added together for the total AADT count for that location.
Lane Direction	General direction traffic travels through the segment.
Functional Class	Functional classification of the roadway where the count was obtained.
Begin Date	The date the counter was placed on the roadway.
End Date	The date the counter was removed from the roadway.
Collection Day	Day of the week that the data was used, always a 24 hour period from 12am to 12pm.
Source	Where data was collected from and what type of count that it was.  Examples: BHJ=BHJ manual counter for annual locations, State=ODOT or WVDOT manual counter, Special Request=manual counter in location that was requested for BHJ to perform count, Traffic Signals=counts taken from traffic signal cameras, Streetlight Data=counts taken from the Streetlight Data Source that used GPS location pings from mobile devices to generate counts

If traffic data of any specific road of our Bi State jurisdiction area is not available in our database, but has a State or US roadway classification, please try the following two links from ODOT and WVDOT.

ODOT Traffic Monitoring Website- http://www.dot.state.oh.us/Divisions/Planning/TechServ/traffic/Pages/default.aspx

WVDOT Traffic Monitoring Website – http://data-wvdot.opendata.arcgis.com/

A detailed report for each year is available at the links listed below.

Further detailed information is available upon request by contacting Cody Cresap, BHJ Transportation Engineer at 740-282-3685 x210 or email ccresap@bhjmpc.org When requesting information for individual traffic count stations, please include the Count  ID.

Production of this Document paid for by funds from the U.S. Federal Highway Administration, Federal Transit Administration, Ohio Department of Transportation, West Virginia Department of Transportation and dues from BHJ member governments.