By Mike Spack, PE, PTOE Stop signs are the cheapest traffic control devices for controlling traffic at an intersection. This post provides background, benefits, limitations, design guidelines, and further resources for designing stop sign installations. Background The Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (jargon: MUTCD) governs the use of all traffic control devices in the […]
By Mike Spack, PE, PTOE About a decade ago I helped my kids’ parochial grade school develop a pick-up/drop-off procedure. The principal has moved on and sent me the following email on August 24th: “we are in need of some help with our traffic flow at both the beginning and the end of the school […]
By Mike Spack, PE, PTOE Access management is the practice of limiting driveway or street intersections to reduce crash rates and congestion. This post provides background, benefits, limitations, guidelines, and further resources for using access management. Background of Access Management Access management began in the United States in 1906 when the Supreme Court ruled in […]
By Mike Spack, PE, PTOE A unique aspect of CountingCars.com compared to our competitors is that we are traffic engineers and data collectors. Not only do we listen to our customers as any good company should, but we are our best customer preparing hundreds of engineering studies and collecting tens of thousands of hours of […]
By Bryant Ficek, PE, PTOE The 10th edition of the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) Trip Generation Manual is expected to be released in September. Based on information from the ITE Annual Meeting we attended in Toronto along with our separate discussions with ITE, here the top seven highlights of the new manual: Now Electronic. […]
By Jonah Finkelstein, EIT According to the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials’ (aka AASHTO) A Policy on Geometric Design of Highways and Streets (aka the Green Book), “The designer (of a roadway) should provide sight distance of sufficient length that drivers can control the operation of their vehicles to avoid striking an unexpected object […]
By Jacob Rojer, EIT AutoTURN 10 by Transoft Solutions is a software program used to simulate vehicle drive paths on roadways, parking lots, etc. It is a quick and easy way to determine a vehicle sweep path and can help aid in the overall site design as well as catch potential site circulation issues early […]
By Bryant Ficek, PE, PTOE At the ITE Annual meeting in Toronto, Ontario, Jeff Paniati, the Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer, opened the meeting with a discussion on the state of ITE. Jeff emphasized the groundwork from 2016 of the ‘new’ ITE which includes the following four cornerstones: Recognized – ITE is recognized as […]
By Mike Spack, PE, PTOE Most schools have a well-developed safety plan for dealing with emergencies. They even have regular fire, tornado/hurricane, and lockdown drills so staff and students are well prepared. Even though being killed in a car crash is the leading cause of death for school age children in the United States, most schools don’t […]
By Jonah Finkelstein, EIT Roundabouts have readily been adopted in most European countries, but are still relatively new to North American drivers. The benefits of roundabouts are numerous, but sometimes the biggest road block to implementing them is addressing the concerns of agencies and the public. During this year’s Joint ITE/CITE 2017 Annual Meeting and […]
