(Undated)– Northwest Iowa motorists can expect to see some Department of Transportation vehicles and workers along some highways this spring and summer doing traffic counts and gathering other data.
D.O.T officials say about 40 temporary summer employees and several permanent staff members will be doing the work which takes place annually in one quarter of the state. This year, that’s northwest Iowa.
They say the bulk of the work will take place between 7:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. Workers will count and classify vehicles, record vehicle turning movements, tally helmet usage by motorcyclists and gather other data.
Portable traffic recorders will also be used as part of the program.
In addition, a van with two mounted cameras that collect 200 images per mile will be used to capture images of state highways. Precise location information will also be collected using a global positioning system.
D.O.T officials say the data that’s gathered will be critical to future planning.
