Abstract Manager

The province-wide Ontario Commercial Vehicle Survey (CVS) has been conducted periodically to provide an unparalleled depth and breadth of understanding of commercial vehicle flows throughout the province as well as trends over time. CVS data are collected at over 200 directional data collection sites along major roadways via roadside interviews of commercial vehicle operators, who are asked about their current trip, such as commodities carried, trip routing, vehicle weights and dimensions, company characteristics and more, which cannot be readily inferred from more passive means of data collection. There are many challenges associated with collecting complete and accurate commercial vehicle trip information. This presentation outlines innovations that have been incorporated into the data collection program, in particular using remote conferencing technologies in a roadside survey setting to improve field data collection efficiencies, and use of weigh-in-motion technologies to collect axle weight data. The CVS also relies on accurate and representative commercial vehicle traffic volume counts for data expansion. Traffic classification data collection for the CVS included validating a sample of data collected by automatic traffic recorded with manual classification count data for a better understanding of the strengths and shortcomings of automated traffic collection technologies, toward ensuring that the commercial vehicle counts are accurately distinguished from other vehicle types. The presentation also shares selected findings of the 2023 CVS.