Uruguay's road and highway network comprises approximately 60.000 km, of which 8.700 km are national highways that form the country's basic communication network for all economic and social activities. In recent years, there has been substantial economic development in the country. As a result, highway traffic has almost doubled in the last fifteen years due to commercial trade and tourism. The original geometric and pavement designs for the network were based on the best estimates and projections available at the time (traffic volumes, axle weights, etc.). Since a pavement's service life depends mainly on volumes and axle weights, it is logical that if the real values do not coincide with projections, actual and forecast service lives will be different. The lack of real traffic volume and characteristics also leads to over and under estimates of investments, congestion, safety, etc. This paper presents the new traffic data collection system implemented in Uruguay. Its main objective is to estimate the volume of traffic per vehicle category and all its principal characteristics (speed, size, weight, growth rates, etc.) on each section of the network with a high level of precision and reliability, thus enabling better planning of investments and works.
Abstract