Bicycle Counting Program

About the Program

Category: Planning (Best in Category)

Year: 2015

Boulder County has developed a Bicycle Counting Program that enables staff to accurately count bicyclists and motor vehicles at the same time, with the same equipment. This eliminates the challenges of either recruiting volunteers to just track bicycle use, or investing in expensive technology which serves a single purpose. This program is innovative in that it is unique to Boulder County and uses off-the-shelf technology in ways that it has not been previously used in other communities. This first-of-its-kind research was accepted for publication in the ITE Journal (Institute of Transportation Engineers, February 2014). The purpose of this work was to develop an efficient program for collecting bicycle volume data in a way that is low-cost and has minimal impact to staff work-loads. Through the development of this program staff conducted research, developed new methods of using existing technology and modified software to meet the program’s needs. The outcome is an extremely efficient program that allows for the collection of large quantities of valuable data. The information gathered through this program has and will continue to help inform policy discussions and planning decisions.