Minnesota Guidestar

Project Benefits

Understand non-intrusive technologies

Project Team

USDOT
Mn/DOT
SRF Consulting

Project Documents

Non-Intrusive Traffic Detection (NIT2)

Project Description

A comprehensive project to evaluate emerging technologies was conducted by the Minnesota Department of Transportation (Mn/DOT), with funding assistance and technical guidance from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). The Evaluation of Non-Intrusive Technologies for Traffic Detection (NIT) project was conducted in two stages. For Phase II, extensive field tests were conducted at the constructed test facility at I-394 and Penn Avenue in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The facility featured an overhead catwalk and adjustable side-fire tower for evaluating sensors in a variety of mounting locations. An environmentally controlled equipment shelter housed data collection equipment.

The goals of Phase II were to develop standardized test guidelines, conduct extensive field tests of non-intrusive technologies for use in a variety of applications, and examine the deployment issues and costs associated with the technologies. This project examined the traffic data collection capabilities of each sensor, including the application to historic and Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) data collection purposes.

Phase II of the NIT project furthered the understanding of non-intrusive technologies used for traffic detection. One of the unique features of this phase of testing was the assessment of sensor performance in a wide variety of mounting configurations.