Last week some interesting-looking potable towers installed throughout the valley were raising some questions from residents. It turns out these are simply for traffic counts.
Wayne Wood of Alberta Transportation explains these cameras are placed at intersections to collect traffic counts of different types of vehicles.
“We typically undertake turning movement counts in the summer, between May and September. This year, we are undertaking a number of turning movement counts along Highway 9 and Highway 838 in Drumheller,” he said in an email.
He explains that as part of Alberta Transportation's Traffic Monitoring Program, it monitors approximately 2,700 intersections across the province, with approximately 540 monitoring turning movement counts.
The count data is used to estimate traffic volumes, including the number of trucks on highways. This data is used for future highway planning and design.
