ODOT conducting citywide traffic count

Drivers who’ve noticed the cables laid across several streets in Clinton lately, and wondered why they’re there, won’t have to put up with them for very long, said ODOT Field Division 5 Engineer Brent Almquist. 
“Those cables are called traffic counters, and it’s something ODOT has done for many, many years,” he said. “It’s actually done by ODOT’s traffic division out of Oklahoma City. They do it every few years all over the state, to measure the traffic on city streets, county roads, state highways and interstates.”
He said the data collected by the traffic counters tells ODOT how many drivers use a particular road. The information gathered is important not only to ODOT but to many others as well. 
“Traffic counters measure what we call ‘Average Daily Traffic (ADT),’ and we get many calls from people who need the data they collect. It’s used by city planners and law enforcement, and county commissioners certainly want to know that data,” said Almquist.
“It’s also used for economic development. We get a lot of calls from city managers who need it for a potential business that may be thinking of moving into a town. Because if you’re a business, of course you want to be on a corner with a high ADT where you’re going to be seen.”
Almquist said the data is used by schools when planning bus routes, and by post offices for planning postal routes. ODOT uses the data to help prioritize works projects, too. 
“It’s kind of like taking your blood pressure,” he said. “It’s a way to find out what the general health is of the roads.”
Madison Schein, a public information officer with ODOT in Oklahoma City, said the traffic counters are laid by crews who travel all over the state to towns and cities with populations above 5,000. Each counter collects data over a 24-hour period.
“They were left down in Clinton on Wednesday and Thursday this week, and they’ll do it a second time on Wednesday and Thursday next week,” she said. “They always do it a second time the following week just to make sure the data is accurate.”
Schein said the number of traffic counters placed depend on a town’s size, and over the two 24-hour periods here ODOT crews will have placed 70 of them on Clinton streets. 
Almquist said the information collected by traffic counters is available to anyone, and most of it is available on ODOT’s website. 
“Definitely the state highways and interstate traffic data is online, but I’m not sure if city and local county roads are. 
“But if people can’t find what they’re looking for, they can always call us and we’ll either direct them where to go on the website or we can just print off a map for them.”