sometimes?

do they just count the number of cars that pass by?

1/23/2008 7:26:32 PM

yesh, to measure traffic.

1/23/2008 7:26:52 PM

yeah man they put em all over and they can tell how many people take what routes to work and back

1/23/2008 7:27:14 PM

they count ESAL's

Equivalent Single Axle Loads, basically how many axles cross the line

1/23/2008 7:27:27 PM

They ring a bell in some dry cleaner somewhere.

1/23/2008 7:29:04 PM

do they assume that

(total number axles/ 2)= 1 vehicle?

or are their calculations and measurements based on single axles?

1/23/2008 7:29:16 PM

formulas that use different factors that are basically weighted. For example, if one area has a lot of truck traffic, say 25%, and the rest is typical cars, then the factor will be weighted so that 25% of the hits are contributed to multi-axle vehicles, etc, etc, etc

1/23/2008 7:32:19 PM

hmm

i need to drive over these repeatedly so they up the speed limit

1/23/2008 7:33:15 PM

so do they send a scout or someone from the DOT to monitor the area and count the number trucks they see in a given time interval and use that ratio in their calculation?

a friend of mine worked for the DOT last year and got paid $13 to sit in a lawn chair at an intersection and count how many cars would stop at a stoplight, i figure this is along the same lines.

1/23/2008 7:34:35 PM

yeh they do on-site traffic counts. what a fun job, huh?

1/23/2008 7:35:23 PM

^^^ More cars=/reason to increase speed limit. They MIGHT change the light timings, but increasing the speed limit on a road that appears too crowded wouldn't make sense.

[Edited on January 23, 2008 at 7:35 PM. Reason : ]

1/23/2008 7:35:37 PM

dont do that bigman, they might deem the road unsafe until they go back and add 22 more feet of concrete underneath it. theres something like 3 or 4 feet under 540. someone who knows the exact amount help me out, its been a while since the DOT people told me the figure

1/23/2008 7:35:44 PM

^^there was maybe one tube within 10 miles of a light

[Edited on January 23, 2008 at 7:38 PM. Reason : this is 401 though harnett]

1/23/2008 7:37:32 PM

wdprice3,

transportation engineering?

1/23/2008 7:37:52 PM

^^ Ok, then there would be absolutely no reason to do what you said. They won't increase the speed limit because of increased traffic. In fact, they generally REDUCE speed limits on over-crowded roads for safety purposes. Think about it- if an empty road doesn't safely support a higher speed limit, how does cramming more cars on it make it any more able to handle higher speeds?

Anyways, they're probably doing it to survey useage and estimate wear for the purposes of prioritizing resurfacing or repair. You faking traffic might just mean they'll resurface it and have it under construction more often.

[Edited on January 23, 2008 at 7:41 PM. Reason : ]

1/23/2008 7:39:33 PM

water resources engineering

but I stayed in a Holiday Inn Express last night.

1/23/2008 7:39:35 PM

Quote :

"water resources engineering "

ahaha you fuckin need to do your job, this drought is all your fault.

1/23/2008 7:40:28 PM

sorry, i'm just a thirsty guy. I drank all of the water from falls lake. my bad

1/23/2008 7:42:30 PM

Quote :

"wdprice3, transportation engineering?"

We refer to it as Traffuck Engineering.

1/23/2008 7:46:14 PM

you know how they have army brats, well i was a DOT brat. ive heard tons of road factoids and seen all these crazy pictures. like a normal car beside the huge ass truck things from when they blasted i-26 up through mars hill. that shit was insane

1/23/2008 7:50:11 PM

I invented them shits

1/23/2008 7:50:25 PM

i heard what caused the drought is that a delivery truck full of ShamWOWs overturned and fell into the lake

1/23/2008 7:51:11 PM

hahaha we should go shamWOW all the water out of minnesota and bring it back here

1/23/2008 7:52:15 PM

Quote :

"i heard what caused the drought is that a delivery truck full of ShamWOWs overturned and fell into the lake"

aaahaahha ok this seriously made me lawl

1/23/2008 7:53:24 PM

Quote :

"They ring a bell in some dry cleaner somewhere."

thx you for giving me my lollerz of the day

1/23/2008 8:02:27 PM

billy mays epic pwn

1/23/2008 8:02:45 PM

how do they work though...is it a pressurized tube that pings a counter every time a pressure fluctuation occurs? is it an open tube with a steady airflow that counts every time it's interrupted? is it something electronic? HOW DOES IT WORK MAN

[Edited on January 23, 2008 at 8:11 PM. Reason : posed to you DOT DORKS]

1/23/2008 8:10:57 PM

shoots a poof of air into the counter

1/23/2008 8:14:14 PM

I kinda doubt the line is air-filled

1/23/2008 8:14:14 PM