Minnesota Transportation Research Collaboration Website

The Office of Transportation Data and Analysis (TDA) at the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) has been providing continuous traffic data for MnDOT’s offices, and submitting data to the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). In addition, legislative decisions such as budget allocation, selection of state highway routes, and the determination of speed enforcement require continuous traffic data. Continuous traffic data includes traffic volume, speed, vehicle classification, and vehicle axle weights. Products generated from this data are monthly Automatic Traffic Recorder (ATR) Reports, annual ATR reports, monthly Weigh in Motion (WIM) reports, adjustment factors for adjusting short duration vehicle classification and volume. As of today, TDA manages, operates, and maintains 100 ATRs throughout the state. The ATRs include loop detectors, continuous classifiers, weigh in motion systems and SmartSensors. The need for traffic data has increased. However, TDA lacks the strategies to determine how many and what type of permanent traffic recorders are needed to meet the demand. The placement of ATRs or the site selection to upgrade ATRs has been largely subjective in nature. Very little science has been brought to bear on the problem of new site selection.