Survey in progress to gauge Galway City’s traffic

Thousands of road users across Galway City are taking part in a survey over the course of November that many of them are completely unaware of.

Special data-recording cameras have been strategically placed on roads and at junctions dotted across the city providing information that will shape the future of urban transport plans.

Road engineers and consultants in Ireland have designated November as ‘the best neutral month’ to assemble data on traffic movements, cycle and pedestrian patterns and public transport usage.

Galway City Council Chief Executive, Brendan McGrath, told the Galway City Tribune that the data provided by such surveys was an invaluable source of information in relation to future strategic planning.

“It gives us an accurate picture of overall traffic volumes as well as identifying junctions that are either at, or over, their capacity levels.

“A huge amount of data in relation to traffic flows and volumes in the urban area is gathered in surveys like this that feeds into our future transport strategy,” said Mr McGrath.

He said that the data gathered from the traffic surveys was also useful from the point of view of ascertaining cyclist and pedestrian numbers and in establishing the use that was being made of public transport.

“This information will be coming on stream to the City Council and TII [Transport Infrastructure Ireland] from early next year.

“It will also provide us with a year-by-year comparison of traffic volumes in the city and at the key junctions where the biggest number of vehicles pass through.”

In the past, human counters and wire sensors spread across the road surface, have been used in traffic surveys but over recent years smart cameras are now considered the most efficient and accurate method of data collection.

The cameras – currently located in a series of locations across the city – can classify all categories of vehicles passing by, as well as cyclists and pedestrians, over various time periods. They are regarded as providing data accuracy levels of over 95%.