Counting Cars: How TxDOT keeps track of traffic volume

AUSTIN (KXAN) — The Texas Department of Transportation annually collects on average 82,000 short-term traffic counts, 1,000 manual traffic counts and more than 300 long-term counts. Data is collected 24 hours a day, 365 days a year to support federal, state, regional and local transportation entities.
The traffic counters are long black cables that are strewn across a road, usually in a set of three. They’re screwed right into the pavement but many times fast moving traffic can