Nebraska Department of Transportation (NDOT) announced that the newly launched Traffic Count Dashboard would aid motorists in gaining greater insight amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The traffic count dashboard is a tool to help the DOT understand and communicate how COVID-19 is impacting travel in Nebraska,” said NDOT Director Kyle Schneweis. “While we are seeing freight traffic stay at near normal levels, a 35 percent decrease in statewide traffic volume poses potential impacts to how the NDOT does business. It is too early to estimate the extent of impact, but we’ll continue to analyze the data to understand scenarios.”
The agency has been reporting traffic data since March 1 to track the impact of COVID-19 on statewide traffic volumes, officials said, noting for the week of April 12 through April 18, statewide traffic volumes decreased 35 percent compared to the
2016-2018 average.
The data gathering process involves NDOT maintaining a system of 67 continuous traffic counters, often called automatic traffic recorders (ATRs), statewide.
The counters collect traffic volume and classification data 24 hours a day, seven days per week – with the data then relayed to NDOT twice per week.