Friday, April 12, 2013

Interactive Mapping of Traffic Counts, Speeds and Other Road Features

The NYS Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) offers an online interactive mapping viewer which allows you to see various features and traffic counts of most roadways across the State. The tool, called the Traffic Data Viewer, displays published traffic data geographically. On the interactive map individuals have control of displaying data for individual traffic stations , the type of data available, and the location of counters  used to collect the data.  Estimates of Annual Average Daily Traffic (AADT) are available graphically for segments of roadway that contain a traffic station.  Traffic Volume Reports containing hourly data are also available for most traffic stations.

When launching the Traffic Data Viewer, you get the opportunity to select a place and then the type of data you'd like to see. The data includes the Annual Average Daily Counts, the Continuous Counts, and the Short Counts, as well as location of bridges and at-grade crossings. Once you launch the map and select the features you'd like, simply right click on any of the activated features on the map and you can then see the various reports or data available for that item. Click on the sample below to see a screen shot of what it might look like.

CLICK TO ENLARGE SCREEN SHOT


There are databases (in Excel) that allow you to search for the ID codes for specific locations (say a specific bridge crossing Moyer Creek in the Town of German Flatts in Herkimer County for example), but admittedly the process is a bit confusing at times. They can be found on the Traffic Data Viewer homepage.