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Traffic Monitoring in Recreational Areas
A Successful Practitioner's Handbook

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FHWA-WFL/TD-10-003
August 2010
Federal Highway Administration
U.S. Department of Transportation

Front Materials

• Cover
  • Technical Report Documentation Page
    • SI* (Modern Metric) Conversion Factors
  • Table of Contents
  • List of Acronyms

Technical Report Documentation Page

1. Report No. FHWA-WFL/TD-10-003	2. Government Accession No.			3. Recipient's Catalog No.
4. Title and Subtitle Traffic Monitoring In Recreational Areas				5. Report Date August 2010
				6. Performing Organization Code
7. Author(s) Shawn Turner, P.E., Texas Transportation Institute; Jodi Carson, Ph.D., P.E., Texas Transportation Institute; Carol A. Zimmerman, Battelle; L.J. Wilkinson, Chaparral Systems, Inc.; Kathy Travis, Chaparral Systems, Inc.				8. Performing Organization Report No.
9. Performing Organization Name and Address Battelle Memorial Institute 505 King Avenue Columbus, OH 43201 Texas Transportation Institute 3135 TAMU College Station, TX 77843				10. Work Unit No. (TRAIS)
				11. Contract or Grant No.
12. Sponsoring Agency Name and Address Federal Highway Administration Western Federal Lands Highway Division 610 East 5th St. Vancouver, WA 98661				13. Type of Report and Period Covered Final Report 2009
				14. Sponsoring Agency Code HFL-17
15. Supplementary Notes COTR: Amit Armstrong, Ph.D., P.E. This technology deployment was funded under the FHWA Federal Lands Highway Coordinated Technology Implementation Program (CTIP).
16. Abstract Traffic monitoring in recreational areas is often challenged by distinct traffic and roadway characteristics and the multitude of agencies responsible for the management of Federal lands and/or the collection of supporting traffic data. These challenges are exacerbated by a lack of consistent procedural guidance; existing national traffic monitoring guidelines lack sufficient direction and detail for recreational travel. In an effort to improve/lend consistency to traffic monitoring in recreational areas, the Coordinated Technology Implementation Program tasked the Office of Federal Lands Highway-Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) with conducting an assessment of the nationwide practices for recreational traffic data collection. A review of pertinent literature related to recreational traffic data collection was conducted. A targeted survey of various State and local agencies responsible for traffic monitoring was administered. A workshop focused on traffic monitoring in recreational areas was also conducted. Key findings from these activities are briefly described herein.
17. Key Words traffic monitoring, recreation, traffic counting			18. Distribution Statement No restriction. This document is available to the public from the sponsoring agency at the website http://www.wfl.fhwa.dot.gov/programs/td/publications
19. Security Classif. (of this report) Unclassified		20. Security Classif. (of this page) Unclassified			21. No. of Pages 44	22. Price $0.00

Form DOT F 1700.7 (8-72)
Reproduction of completed page authorized

Technology Deployment Program
Western Federal Lands Highway Division
Federal Highway Administration
610 East 5th St.
Vancouver, WA 98661

SI* (Modern Metric) Conversion Factors

APPROXIMATE CONVERSIONS TO SI UNITS

Symbol	When You Know	Multiply By	To Find	Symbol
LENGTH
in	inches	25.4	millimeters	mm
ft	feet	0.305	meters	m
yd	yards	0.914	meters	m
mi	miles	1.61	kilometers	km
AREA
in2	square inches	645.2	square millimeters	mm2
ft2	square feet	0.093	square meters	m2
yd2	square yard	0.836	square meters	m2
ac	acres	0.405	hectares	ha
mi2	square miles	2.59	square kilometers	km2
VOLUME
fl oz	fluid ounces	29.57	milliliters	mL
gal	gallons	3.785	liters	L
ft3	cubic feet	0.028	cubic meters	m3
yd3	cubic yards	0.765	cubic meters NOTE: volumes greater than 1000 L shall be shown in m3	m3
MASS
oz	ounces	28.35	grams	g
lb	pounds	0.454	kilograms	kg
T	short tons (2000 lb)	0.907	megagrams (or "metric ton")	Mg (or "t")
TEMPERATURE (exact degrees)
°F	Fahrenheit	5 (F-32)/9 or (F-32)/1.8	Celsius	°C
ILLUMINATION
fc	foot-candles	10.76	lux	lx
fl	foot-Lamberts	3.426	candela/m2	cd/m2
FORCE and PRESSURE or STRESS
lbf	poundforce	4.45	newtons	N
lbf/in2	poundforce per square inch	6.89	kilopascals	kPa
APPROXIMATE CONVERSIONS FROM SI UNITS
Symbol	When You Know	Multiply By	To Find	Symbol
LENGTH
mm	millimeters	0.039	inches	in
m	meters	3.28	feet	ft
m	meters	1.09	yards	yd
km	kilometers	0.621	miles	mi
AREA
mm2	square millimeters	0.0016	square inches	in2
m2	square meters	10.764	square feet	ft2
m2	square meters	1.195	square yards	yd2
ha	hectares	2.47	acres	ac
km2	square kilometers	0.386	square miles	mi2
VOLUME
mL	milliliters	0.034	fluid ounces	fl oz
L	liters	0.264	gallons	gal
m3	cubic meters	35.314	cubic feet	ft3
m3	cubic meters	1.307	cubic yards	yd3
MASS
g	grams	0.035	ounces	oz
kg	kilograms	2.202	pounds	lb
Mg (or "t")	megagrams (or "metric ton")	1.103	short tons (2000 lb)	T
TEMPERATURE (exact degrees)
°C	Celsius	1.8C+32	Fahrenheit	°F
			ILLUMINATION
lx	lux	0.0929	foot-candles	fc
cd/m2	candela/m2	0.2919	foot-Lamberts	fl
			FORCE and PRESSURE or STRESS
N	newtons	0.225	poundforce	lbf
kPa	kilopascals	0.145	poundforce per square inch	lbf/in2

*SI is the symbol for the International System of Units. Appropriate rounding should be made to comply with Section 4 of ASTM E380.
(Revised March 2003)

Table of Contents

• List of Acronyms
• Executive Summary
  • National Guidance for Traffic Monitoring in Recreational Areas
  • Vehicle Classification
  • Recreational Traffic Monitoring as Described in the Literature
  • Recreational Traffic Monitoring as Observed in Practice
    • Targeted Survey of State and Local Agencies
    • Recreational Traffic Monitoring Workshop
    • Broader Traffic Monitoring Challenges
  • Next Steps
• Introduction
  • Investigation Purpose and Methodology
    • Literature Review
    • Targeted Survey of Traffic Monitoring in Recreational Areas
    • Recreational Traffic Monitoring Workshop
• Background
  • Recreational Traffic and Roadway Characteristics
  • Agencies Responsible for Recreational Traffic Monitoring
    • Bureau of Land Management
    • Fish and Wildlife Service
    • Forest Service
    • National Park Service
    • State Departments of Transportation
    • Federal Lands Highway Program
  • National Guidance for Traffic Monitoring in Recreational Areas
    • Traffic Monitoring Guide
    • Guidelines for Traffic Data Programs
    • HPMS Field Manual for the Continuing Analytical and Statistical Database
  • Vehicle Classification
  • Recreational Traffic Monitoring as Described in the Literature
    • Recreational and/or Seasonal Factor Groups
    • Methods to Support Determination of Recreational and/or Seasonal Factor Groups
    • Errors Associated with Factoring Short-term Traffic Counts
    • Other Related Literature
• Interpretation of Data Requirements for Federal Lands Management Agencies
  • Summary of Federal Data Requirements
    • 23 CFR 500: Management and Monitoring Systems
    • 23 CFR 970: National Park Service Management Systems
    • 23 CFR 924: Highway Safety Improvement Program
    • 23 USC 204: Federal Lands Highways Program
  • Interpretation of Requirements
    • 23 CFR 500: Management and Monitoring Systems
    • 23 CFR 970: National Park Service Management Systems
    • 23 CFR 660: Special Programs (Direct Federal), Subpart A - Forest Highways
    • SAFETEA-LU Public Law 109-59, August 10, 2005
• Recreational Traffic Monitoring as Observed in Practice
  • Targeted Survey of State and Local Agencies
    • State Departments of Transportation
    • Metropolitan Planning Organizations
  • Recreational Traffic Monitoring Workshop
    • Traffic Data Collection Technologies
    • Vehicle Classification
    • Short-Duration Counts
    • Recreational or Seasonal Factor Groups
    • Traffic Data Use, Quality, Reporting, and Sharing
    • Broader Traffic Monitoring Challenges
• Next Steps
• Appendix A: 23 CFR 500: Management and Monitoring System
  • Subpart B - Traffic Monitoring System
• List of Tables
  • Table 1. Standard Sample Volume Groups and Precision Levels for Rural Areas (FHWA, 2005 p. c-1)
  • Table 2. Length-Based Vehicle Classification in British Columbia
  • Table 3. Seasonal Factor Group Analysis in Delaware
  • Table 4. Recreational Factor Groups in Selected State Traffic Monitoring Programs
• List of Figures
  • Figure 1. Example of Existing NPS Vehicle Classifacation Scheme

List of Acronyms

AASHTO - American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials AADT Annual Average Daily Traffic

ADT - Average Daily Traffic

ATR - Automatic Traffic Recorder

AVC - Automatic Vehicle Classifier

AWDT - Average Weekday Traffic

BLM - Bureau of Land Management

BMS - Bridge Management System

CMS - Congestion Management System

CV - Coefficient of Variation

DOT - Department of Transportation

FARS - Fatal Accident Reporting System

FDOT - Florida Department of Transportation

FHWA - Federal Highway Administration

FLH - Office of Federal Lands Highway

FLHP - Federal Lands Highway Program

FLMA - Federal Land Management Agency

GIS - Geographic Information System

HPMS - Highway Performance Monitoring System

LTPP - Long-Term Pavement Performance

MPO - Metropolitan Planning Organization

MTC - Metropolitan Transportation Commission

NATMEC - North American Travel Monitoring Exhibition and Conference NPS National Park Service

PMS - Pavement Management System

PRPTIP - Park Road Program, Transportation Improvement Program RIP Road Inventory Program

RV - Recreational Vehicle

SMCOG - Southwest Missouri Council of Governments SMS Safety Management System

TMG - Traffic Monitoring Guide

TMS - Traffic Management System

TRIS - Transportation Research Information System

TTI - Texas Transportation Institute

U.S. DOT - U.S. Department of Transportation

USDA-FS - U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service USFWS Fish and Wildlife Service

VMT - Vehicle-Miles Traveled

WIM - Weigh-in-Motion

 

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