Traffic Volumes - Midblock Vehicle Speed, Volume and Classification Counts

The City of Toronto's Transportation Services Division collects short-term traffic count data across the City on an ad-hoc basis to support a variety of safety initiatives and projects.

The data available in this repository are a full collection of Speed, Volume and Classification Counts conducted across the City since 1993.

The two most common types of short-term traffic counts are Turning Movement Counts and Speed / Volume / Classification Counts.

*[Turning Movement Count data, comprised of motor vehicle, bicycle and pedestrian movements through intersections, can be found here](https://open.toronto.ca/dataset/traffic-volumes-at-intersections-for-all-modes/).*

Speed / Volume / Classification Counts are collected using pneumatic rubber tubes installed across the roadway.

This dataset is a critical input into transportation safety initiatives, infrastructure design and program design such as speed limit changes, signal coordination studies, traffic calming and complete street designs.

Each Speed / Volume / Classification Count is comprised of motor vehicle count data collected over a continuous 24-hour to 168-hour period (1-7 days), at a single location. A handful of non-standard 2-week counts are also included. Some key notes about these counts include:

- Not all counts have complete speed and classification data. These data are provided for locations and dates only where they exist.
- Raw data are recorded in 15-minute intervals.
- Raw data are recorded separately for each direction of traffic movement. Some data are only available for one direction, even if the street is two-way.
- Within each 15 minute interval, speed data are aggregated into approximately 5 km/h increments.
- Within each 15 minute interval, classification data are aggregated into vehicle type bins by the number of axles, according to the FHWA classification system attached below.

The following files showing different views of the data are available:

- **Data Dictionary (*svc\_data\_dictionary.xlsx*)**: Provides a detailed definition of every data field in all files.
- **Summary Data (*svc\_summary\_data*)**: Provides metadata about every Speed / Volume / Classification Count available, including information about the count location and count date, as well as summary data about each count (total vehicle volumes, average daily volumes, a.m. and p.m. peak hour volumes, average / 85 percentile / 95 percentile speeds, where available, and heavy vehicle percentage, where available).
- **Most Recent Count Data (*svc\_most\_recent\_summary\_data*):** Provides metadata about the most recent Speed / Volume / Classification Count data available at each location for which a count exists, including information about the count location and count date, as well as the summary data provided in the “Summary Data” file (see above).
-   **Raw Data:** Raw data is available in 15-minute intervals, and is distributed into one of three different file types based on the count type: volume-only, speed and volume, or classification and volume.
    
    -   If you’re looking for 15-minute data for a specific count, identify the count type and count date, then download the raw data file associated with the count type and period.
        
    -   If you’re looking for volume data for all count types, you will need to download and aggregate all three file types for a given period.
        
    -   **Volume Raw Data (**_**svc\_raw\_data\_volume\_yyyy\_yyyy**_**):** These files—grouped by 5-10 year interval—provide volume data in 15-minute intervals, for each direction separately. You will find the raw data for volume-only counts (ATR_VOLUME) here.
        
    -   **Speed and Volume Raw Data (**_**svc\_raw\_data\_speed\_yyyy\_yyyy**_**):** These files—grouped by 5-10 year interval—provide volume data aggregated into speed bins in approximately 5 km/h increments. Speed data are not available for all counts. You will find the raw data for speed and volume counts (ATR\_SPEED\_VOLUME) here.
        
    -   **Classification and Volume Raw Data (**_**svc\_raw\_data\_classification\_yyyy\_yyyy**_**):** These files—grouped by 5-10 year interval—provide volume data aggregated into vehicle type bins by the number of axles, according to the FHWA classification system. Classification data are not available for all counts. You will find the raw data for classification and volume counts (VEHICLE_CLASS) here.


- **FHWA Classification Reference (*fhwa\_classification.png*):** Provides a reference for the FHWA classification system.

This dataset references the [City of Toronto's Street Centreline](https://open.toronto.ca/dataset/toronto-centreline-tcl/) dataset, [Intersection File dataset](https://open.toronto.ca/dataset/intersection-file-city-of-toronto/) and [Street Traffic Signal dataset](https://open.toronto.ca/dataset/traffic-signals-tabular/).

Tags: atr, traffic-speed, traffic-volume, truck-volume, vehicle-classification
Organization: City of Toronto