Estimating a Cycling AADT

Remit text

The purpose of this remit is to inform the profession about a procedure for estimating a cycling AADT (average annual daily traffic).

Funding applications to Transfund for cycling projects need to contain an estimate for a cycling AADT. Christchurch City Council in conjunction with Beca have now developed a procedure for scaling up count data. Individual counts are scaled up to daily estimates and are then adjusted for the weekday and the season. The seasonal adjustment factors are based on the secondary school timetable. Different daily adjustment factors are provided for sites used mainly by commuter cyclists, or by both commuters and school children.

The procedure will be published in the upcoming LTSA Cycle Network and Route Planning Guide.

The data used for developing the procedure have been collected using SCATS loop detections. As the data are all from Christchurch, the author would appreciate if other road controlling authorities could start collecting SCATS data, too, so that the procedure can be further refined.

The presentation is available online on our website.