Improved AADT Estimation by Combining Information in Image- and Ground-Based Traffic Data
Publication: Journal of Transportation Engineering
Volume 132, Issue 7
Abstract
On most segments in a state highway system, annual average daily traffic (AADT) in the current year is estimated by applying an applicable growth factor to coverage count data obtained in an earlier year. The accuracy of AADT estimates could conceivably be improved by exploiting existing imagery of highway segments containing vehicles. When both earlier year coverage counts and a current year image containing traffic information are available, a weighted combination of both pieces of information is proposed for AADT estimation. The weights can be easily estimated from available information and data regularly collected by state departments of transportation. An empirical study was conducted using 122 highway segments to evaluate the improved accuracy in estimating AADT that would have resulted from using this weighted method with a single contemporary image for a 10-year period from 1994 and 2003. The accuracy was markedly improved and stable over a large range of important input values. The demonstrated improvements in accuracy and the ease of using this method with existing data are great enough that field testing should now be considered.
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Acknowledgments
The writers gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Dave Gardner, Tony Manch, and Diane Boso of the Ohio DOT, Dr. Harshad Desai of the FHwA (previously with the Florida DOT), and funding from the USDOT and the OSU College of Engineering’s Transportation Research Endowment Program to the National Consortium for Remote Sensing of Transportation Flows. They also thank the anonymous referees for their valuable comments.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Transportation Engineering
Volume 132 • Issue 7 • July 2006
Pages: 523 - 530
Copyright
© 2006 ASCE.
History
Received: Mar 15, 2005
Accepted: Sep 15, 2005
Published online: Jul 1, 2006
Published in print: Jul 2006
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