Victoria De La Rue
Pronouns:
Research Mentor(s): Fred Feng
Research Mentor School/College/Department: UM-Dearborn, Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering /
Program: Changing Gears
Session: Session 5 (2:40pm – 3:30pm)
Authors: Victoria De La Rue, Fred Feng
Abstract
In addition to cycling being a more sustainable and equitable alternative to motor vehicles, over 42,000 deaths occur annually in the U.S. as a result of motor vehicle crashes. Motor vehicle traffic volumes, often measured by the Annual Average Daily Traffic (AADT), have been widely used in transportation engineering for making and justifying planning and engineering decisions. However, little data on bicycle traffic volumes have been collected in most cities and communities in the U.S. Although an automated bicycle counter is often not cost-prohibitive to many communities, bike counter companies often require a subscription-based service to publish the data with dashboards or data API. This recurring cost is significant especially for small local non-profit organizations. The lack of the ability to share and publish the bike traffic data with their community members makes it difficult to justify the purchasing bike counters. In this project, we aim to remove this barrier by developing an open-source, web-based, and interactive dashboard for publishing bike traffic data that can be used by local communities and active transportation researchers. The communities may benefit from our research by being able to utilize our dashboard and incorporate it into their bike analytics to support the building of protected bike lanes. Additionally, this project directly benefits pedestrians, both cyclists and commuters, who may benefit from additional protected bike lane implementations.
