U.S. Department of Transportation
Federal Highway Administration
1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
Washington, DC 20590
202-366-4000
The State Departments of Transportation (DOTs), Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) and local transportation agencies have been conducting traffic monitoring activities in conjunction with the Federal Highway Administration’s (FHWA) Traffic Monitoring Guide for over 30 years. Highway travel monitoring program personnel are continually challenged to maintain or expand their programs as well as implement advanced traffic monitoring technologies such as highway traffic monitoring data collection hardware and traffic statistics data management software. Over the years, numerous changes have occurred in the technologies available, improvement in quality of the traffic counting methods, the need for more efficient traffic counting programs and expanded scope of traffic data collection. Changes in how these traffic counting functions are performed have led some agencies to considering or moving toward contracting out various parts of their counting program (outsourcing) while others have continued to perform their activities using their own internal staff insourcing). This report presents the findings of the assessment of state DOTs, MPOs, and local transportation agencies’ resourcing practices for all aspects associated with traffic data collection activities under three categories: 1) equipment installation, 2) permanent and portable counts, and 3) other/non-traditional contracting practices.
