Evaluating Weigh-In-Motion Sensing Technology
for Traffic Data Collection
Lixin Zhang
Research Assistant
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
University of Waterloo
200 University Ave West
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L 3G1
Phone: 519-888-4567 x 33929, Email: L29Zhang@uwaterloo.ca
Carl Haas
P.E., Ph.D. Professor
Canada Research Chair in Construction and Management of Sustainable Infrastructure
University of Waterloo
200 University Avenue West
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L 3G1
Phone: 519-888-4567 x35492, Fax: 519-888-4300
Susan L. Tighe
PhD, PEng, Associate Professor
Canada Research Chair in Pavement and Infrastructure Management
University of Waterloo
200 University Ave West
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L 3G1
Phone: 519-888-4567 x 33152, Fax: 519-888-4300
Paper prepared for presentation at the
No Road – No load: Enabling the Economy while Protecting Pavement Structures
Session
of the 2007 Annual Conference of the
Transportation Association of Canada
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
1
ABSTRACT
Traffic data, including traffic load and traffic volume, are necessary for pavement design and
management of the road networks. However, in practice, such data is also the largest source of
uncertainty amongst the various pavement design inputs. Traffic volume often exceeds predicted
volume, and truck overloading occurs frequently. This results in pavement premature
deterioration, early or mistimed maintenance activities and eventually high life cycle costs.
The significance of highway preservation and budget allocation constraints have motivated
development of sensing technologies for collecting accurate and detailed traffic information.
While static scales had been used widely to collect vehicle weights, Weigh-In-Motion (WIM)
systems have been focused on utilizing state-of-the-art technologies to collect various types of
traffic data. These systems continuously collect data, including gross vehicle weights (GVW),
vehicle speeds, axle loads, and vehicle