LADOT’s Traffic Surveys Section collects, coordinates, and maintains various traffic counts and surveys. Traffic counts provide critical information to support various engineering and planning studies. Below describes the types of traffic counts regularly performed and coordinated by LADOT.
Turning movement counts, also known as manual counts, are performed by recording each vehicle approaching an intersection by their direction of travel and movement. LADOT also collects information on people walking and biking when performing manual counts. These counts are usually taken during the peak periods of travel, such as 7-10 AM and 3-6 PM.
An automatic count summarizes vehicle travel on a particular street during an entire day or longer. Automatic counts record every vehicle that passes over a detector that is temporarily installed on a street. This provides a statistic known as Average Daily Traffic (ADT).
Similar to automatic counts, volume speed studies the total number of vehicles on a roadway, but also provides information on the speed of each vehicle. This is collected through vehicle detectors that are temporarily installed on a street.
LADOT occasionally performs counts exclusively of other travel modes, such as people walking, biking, skating, or riding a scooter. These counts are performed as-needed for projects, but are also captured regularly at specific locations as part of the Walk & Bike Count.
Availability of Traffic Count Data
LADOT’s traffic count data dates back to the early 1990’s. These counts are stored electronically on NavigateLA.. See here for a tutorial for accessing traffic counts on NavigateLA. Some pedestrian and bicycle count data can also be accessed on the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) Active Transportation Database.
While NavigateLA stores historic data, LADOT recommends using data up to 10 years old. If you do not see a specific intersection listed on NavigateLA, then LADOT does not have count data for that intersection. Most likely, no traffic count was conducted there, or the location may be outside the city boundaries.
Contact ladot.trafficsurveys@lacity.org for more help.