Estimation of traffic volumes on rural local roads in Tennessee

The research goals to develop a method for estimating traffic volumes on rural local roads in Tennessee utilizing available data. Tennessee Department of Transportation's (TDOT) current traffic count program on bridges across the state served as the source for this research. TDOT wanted to minimize the need for additional data collection. These traffic counts at bridge locations were compared with similar counts at non-bridge locations in eight counties within Tennessee. Through statistical analysis, including a unique technique called bootstrapping ,it was determined that there existed enough variability between bridge and non-bridge counts to prevent direct correlation. The data were then aggregated for each county and using multiple regression, model equations were developed that predict a countywide estimate of rural local road volume at non-bridge locations. This Information was combined with the existing bridge counts to develop a countywide average daily traffic volume and vehicle miles of travel for rural local roads. A Microsoft Excel spreadsheet with programming was developed to automate the calculation process.