Analysis Report of Minnesota Bicycle & Pedestrian Traffic Volume (2017-2020)

Abstract

From 2014 to 2020, Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) has been incrementally collecting bicyclist and pedestrian traffic volume data that includes 44 mode counts on 27 sites with 51 physical counters. Five facilities are operated by Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (MnDNR). The 27 sites are divided into three categories in accordance with their facility type and the modes of traffic counted. The three categories are respectively Shared Use Paths & Trails, Bicycle Facilities on Roads and Road Shoulders, and Other Facilities. The modes of traffic are bicyclists, pedestrians, and in one facility, the Veteran Memorial Bridge in Mankato, mixed-mode which combines bicyclists and pedestrians as non-motorized traffic. This report is focusing on answering the question of: What were the traffic trends of Minnesota State Bicycle and Pedestrian Facilities before COVID-19? What is the impact of COVID-19 on Minnesota bicycle and pedestrian traffic. In order to draw the recent traffic trends, I collected and plotted daily cumulative traffic counts of bicyclists and pedestrians in a yearly basis for each site. I also calculated the Annual Average Daily Bicyclist (AADB) or Pedestrian (AADP) traffic volume for each site. The cumulative daily totals demonstrate the traffic trend from the first year of counting for each mode count at each location through 2020. The AADB and AADP were calculated for the period 2017-2020. Even though several facilities recorded available data prior to 2017, this analysis uses 2017 as the first year of the study because it is the first year when all mode counts have available data that enables mostly consistent analyses across sites, with the exclusion of five MnDNR facilities, which recorded their first available data in 2018. I have made separate analysis for MnDOT and MnDNR sites for the traffic trends before the pandemic.