National Institute for Transportation and Communities

Small towns and cities near national parks, public lands, and other natural amenities throughout the west are experiencing rapid growth and increased visitation. These “gateway communities” comprise a significant portion of the rural west, constituting about 31% of all communities in the U.S. Mountain West and more than 60% of those under 25,000 people. Our prior NITC-funded research shows that growth and increased tourism create a range of “big city challenges” for gateway communities, parti... Read More

Counts provide the foundation for measuring nonmotorized travel along a link or a network and are also useful for monitoring trends, planning new infrastructure, and for conducting safety, health, and economic analyses. For safety analysis, they are critical in assessing the exposure to risk. Over the last decade, several automated technologies have been developed to count bicyclists and pedestrians. Despite advances in counting technology, cost and other considerations will continue to limit... Read More