Towns use cutting-edge tech to address traffic safety concerns

Town planners follow in your footsteps

ALBANY COUNTY — Urban planners have established methods for measuring vehicular traffic to assess its impact on the local landscape, but tracking pedestrian and bicycle congestion has often been more challenging.

People often notice when changes are afoot by spotting a thin black strip stretched across the road. This strip connects to a counter, allowing planners to measure the number of cars that pass by while accounting for the day of the week and the time of day.

However, suburban roads are not exclusively for motorists. In recent years, municipal leaders have reconsidered how local roads are used. According to Axios, more Americans are using bicycles, with a 37% increase in the average number of daily bike trips between 2019 and 2022. In 2022, 54.7 million people in the United States rode bikes at least once a year, a slight increase from 2021. This trend has led to increased demand for change, including the U.S. Department of Transportation’s push for Complete Streets.

Complete Streets are roadways designed to ensure safe and accessible travel for everyone, regardless of age, ability, or mode of transportation—whether driving, walking, biking, or using public transit. The concept involves planning and designing streets with all users in mind to create a safer and more efficient transportation network. Policies for Complete Streets are implemented at various government levels, often guided by specific design standards to support these inclusive practices.

So to gain a comprehensive understanding that includes pedestrians and bicyclists, planners are turning to emerging technology that relies on something we all carry with us—our cell phones.

Bethlehem Economic Development & Planning Director Robert Leslie faced this challenge while assessing foot traffic along Delmar’s Murray Avenue. This mile-long stretch of road runs through an older development in the hamlet but has since become a busy thoroughfare, connecting an elementary school and the local high school to the four-lane Delmar Bypass. Residents have reported motorists driving as fast as 50 mph, and the lack of sidewalks presents a danger to pedestrians.

“We have access to what’s called Strava Data, which is data collected through our cell phones and GPS units,” Leslie explained during a recent Bethlehem Town Board meeting. “It’s constantly collecting data.”

Strava is a software development company based in San Francisco, California that has designed a platform that aggregates and de-identifies data from millions of users who log activities like cycling and running.

Strava is best known among the cyclists, runners, and walkers who upload their workouts and share to its social network This data is then used by urban planners, city governments, and transportation agencies to better understand how people move through cities, which helps in designing safer and more efficient infrastructure for non-motorized transportation.

Municipalities, transportation agencies, and urban planners use this data to analyze mobility patterns, identify areas needing improvements, and assess the impact of those improvements. The platform supports strategic planning efforts, such as placing bike share stations and optimizing traffic flow, ultimately contributing to safer and more efficient urban environments.

The data is presented through heat maps, which visually depict the density of activity across different routes. These maps have become essential tools for cities and researchers, providing insights into popular routes, usage patterns, and areas in need of infrastructure improvements.

By combining data from conventional counters with data supplied by Strava, Leslie said it substantiated residents’ complaints, leading to a proposal that ask to spread speed humps across the road to calm motorist behavior.

“So it’s not a surprise that the data reflects what people have been saying,” Leslie said. “You see people walking, jogging, pushing strollers. And, it’s also a neighborhood collector road.”

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