The AZ Roundabout study is a part of our sub-agreement with NCHRP through Kittelson & Associates for NCHRP Project 03-130, Guide for Roundabouts. This contract consists of numerous roundabouts being selected throughout the country to be filmed and reduced by Quality Counts. The purpose of this project was to provide drone footage at four roundabout locations in Arizona (2 in Chino Valley & 2 in Camp Verde) to identify entering, circulating, and exiting lane discipline for trucks. The client was looking to identify truck driver lane discipline, and the presence or absence of potentially conflicting traffic.
Three of the main questions the clients were interested in answering:
• Do trucks stay in their lanes when entering a roundabout?
• Do trucks stay in their lanes when circulating through a roundabout?
• Are any conflicts with passenger car vehicles observed?
Each location was filmed for four hours, as well as performing one hour (peak hour) turning movement count at each roundabout. Our in-house pilot, Tim Miller, was in charge of operating the drone for this project. The study consisted of capturing two roundabouts per day over a two day span. We were to capture four hours in the AM and four hours in the PM on each day.
We anticipate the client will follow up within the next couple of weeks to let us know the outcome of the truck lane discipline observation results. Quality Counts is under contract with NCHRP, and will continue to perform 12-20 additional roundabout studies to fulfil our contract.
