Arlington collecting bicycle and pedestrian traffic data

Arlington County’s Department of Environmental Services is going to be collecting bicycle and pedestrian traffic data this coming week. Volunteers will be counting bicycles and pedestrians at 20 sites around the county on shared-use trails such as the Four Mile Run trail, urban sidewalks like those near Metro stations, and on-road bicycle lanes (cyclists only). In addition to counting the number of people traveling, Arlington’s volunteers may count the number of cyclists wearing helmets or other demographic data. They will count locations during mid-day, morning rush hour and evening rush hour on three separate days. In the interest of not polluting the data, I will refrain from giving the specific dates and times.

This survey is part of a national effort. Arlington will compare its results with data from other cities. While David Patton, the Bicycle and Pedestrian Planner for the Department, expects to have enough volunteers for the upcoming February data gathering, having additional volunteers for the May and/or July data collection might be helpful. He expects a lot of engineering students to help out during February, but during May and July, school is out and there might be fewer student volunteers available. According to his email, “one of the toughest aspects of improving options for non-motorized transportation is documenting who is being served. Good, specific data is hard to come by.”

If you’d be interested in helping with future studies, email arlington.bikeped.volunteers@gmail.com. I’ll aggregate the volunteers into a list and forward it on to Patton.