OPERATIONAL REVIEW OF TRAFFIC DATA COLLECTION SYSTEMS

Traffic and transportation engineers continually deal with large amounts of traffic data generated in a variety of ways and for numerous purposes. With many states experiencing financial problems, data collection activities are being reviewed from several perspectives: are the data really needed, what accuracy is required, what are the best ways to collect them. Institution of the national maximum speed limit (NMSL, i.e. , 55 mph) and the requirement that states verify their compliance with it as well as the attention brought by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) to developing the Highway Performance Monitoring System (HPMS) have focused additional attention on data collection techniques.