Introduction Congestion Maps & Photos Survey Data Survey Information Additional Resources
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Downtown Atlanta

Atlanta Regional Highway Traffic Survey

Through the use of time-lapse aerial photography, GDOT monitors highway traffic flow throughout the 21-county Atlanta planning region. Fast-moving aircraft document the severity of region-wide bottlenecks, and a database is maintained to track mobility improvements and degradations between survey years. This information is used to support general planning studies, and to evaluate the effectiveness of investments intended to restore or maintain highway mobility.

Information generated through this program has been compiled into a comprehensive set of digital products and reports. This website section is a collection of those materials:

The Congestion Maps and Photos box is the primary user interface. It contains interactive "bottleneck maps" that display where congestion was found in the region; these maps also serve as a tool to access highlight aerial photography and information about each congested bottleneck. This page also contains "comparative maps" that are almost identical to bottleneck maps except that they use a modified color scheme to highlight where mobility has deteriorated or improved significantly between survey years. This page currently displays four morning/evening pairs of maps, all precisely aligned so users can zoom-in, pan, view photos, or switch maps without re-orienting:

  1. "Current" (bottleneck) map, combined ‘07/08 findings;
  2. "Previous" (bottleneck) map, combined ‘04/05 findings;
  3. "Comparison" (comparative) map, Current vs. Previous;
  4. "Comparison" (comparative) map, 2005 vs. 2001.

The Survey Data page provides access to the underlying survey database. Link-by- link performance rating tables and graphics can be dynamically generated for any surveyed highway for any year or set of years; this page also allows customized data export from the database with user-selected filters.

The Survey Information page provides additional background information, performance rating definitions, and describes the underlying methodology.

The Additional Resources page provides the following:

  1. Maps showing which highways were surveyed in which years;
  2. Region-wide bottleneck and comparative maps suitable for poster-sized printing on digital plotters;
  3. PDF copies of all reports submitted during the course of this program.

Collectively, these resources comprise a toolkit to provide data, photographs and graphics for papers and digital presentations about regional mobility issues.

Questions and requests for more photography: This program is directed and managed by the GDOT Office of Planning, and is executed by Skycomp, Inc. Questions about the program should be directed to Ulysses Mitchell at umitchell@dot.ga.gov, or 404-631-1746. If oblique peak-period aerial photography is desired for any place on the surveyed system beyond the highlights available through this website, please contact Gregory Jordan at jordan@skycomp.com, or 410-884-6900, ext. 33.