The Corvallis Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (CAMPO) has completed two rounds of bicycle and pedestrian counts along the Eric E. Austin Memorial Bypass in South Corvallis and recently released a report documenting the findings. Counts were collected using automated counting equipment which was temporarily installed during each of the two study periods.
The first deployment of the counting equipment spanned eight weeks during cold weather months (November 23, 2020 to January 17, 2021). Following this, counting equipment was returned to the same location for six weeks of data collection during the summer (June 28 to August 8, 2021). The results from the most recent report, which includes seasonal comparisons, can be found on CAMPO’s website HERE.
Despite the fact that the winter weather counts were conducted over an eight week period (56 days) and the summer counts only covered a six week period (42 days), the total number of people walking and riding bikes on the newly installed multi-use path grew significantly during the summer. While a large number of walkers and bikers used the pathway during the winter reporting period (8,669 total) the summer numbers were significantly higher (15,028 total users). On average, 358 people walked, jogged, or rolled along the path each day during the summer reporting period.
The roll-out of this counting equipment is part of a larger effort to inform long-range planning by systematically surveying the number of bicycle and pedestrian trips made at key locations in Adair Village, Corvallis, Philomath and Benton County. The data collected will help transportation planners better understand how pedestrians and cyclists travel throughout the region and can be paired with automobile count data to evaluate mobility across multiple modes of travel. This information can help track usage of bicycle and pedestrian facilities (including changes in use over time) and help evaluate the impacts of infrastructure projects after they are completed.
Counting equipment was purchased with Federal planning funds from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). Look out for the counting equipment in other locations in the future, including our 2022 Open Streets event, happening Sunday, August 14.
As more information is collected, additional data and reports will be available on CAMPO’s website at https://corvallisareampo.org/data-maps/campo-region/.
Steve Dobrinich is a transportation planner for the Corvallis Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (CAMPO) and a member of the Open Streets Steering Committee.
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