Back-to-School To-Do List: Schedule Traffic Counts Now for Your Development Projects

It’s that time of year! Back to School means getting back to the routine of commuting, getting kids to practices and school activities, helping with homework, and running errands. Naturally, traffic volumes change in the fall as everyone returns to their normal schedules. A major consideration for development projects is whether schools are in session. In many cases, data collection is only permitted during the school year under typical conditions.

In other words: it’s time to schedule your traffic counts now! Our traffic engineering team is currently scheduling counts for this fall.

For those developing or redeveloping projects, obtaining traffic counts while schools are in session is a crucial component of getting project approvals. Data from these counts are used to prepare studies that are crucial to getting project approvals across the finish line. In practice, these volumes are used to predict future conditions and improvements. And even if a traffic count has been completed, it may need to be updated if it’s located in a high-growth area. Thus, new traffic counts may be needed in different stages of project development.

Traffic data collection is important for a variety of reasons, including:

• Providing an accurate assessment of current conditions
• Planning for improvements to safety, circulation, and access
• Identifying ways to reduce congestion
• Proposing changes to traffic design and controls, pavement markings, signs, and signals
• Improving traffic flow

Reach out to members of our traffic engineering team to get quick answers about your next steps!

School Traffic Count Engineering Team

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