FDOT is tasked to provide Emergency Service Functions (ESF 1/3) during hurricanes and monitors traffic behavior during evacuation events, especially for one like Hurricane Milton that forced mass evacuations from a large majority of the state. FDOT collected and analyzed both real-time and historical traffic data for Oct. 5–13, 2024. There were nearly 120,000 traffic counts in 1-hour intervals along major roadways, power outage data in 3-hour intervals and similar traffic data from the Georgia Department of Transportation. All datasets had associated time and date stamps. Using ESRI’s ArcGIS Online Experience builder, ArcGIS Pro, and some digital animation software, we developed an interactive application and a compelling animated video that showed the traffic behavior before, during and after the hurricane. The end product tells the story of how the public responded to an emergency event and provides insight to improve future preparedness and response activities.

Truck parking is nationally recognized as a top issue for truck drivers.  It is anecdotally understood to be a statewide issue based on surveys and interviews.  However, prior to the analysis that inspired this edition of DataLytics, it had not been quantified or understood well enough to take appropriate action.  As with other strategic planning and investment decisions, a data-driven approach can effectively help alleviate this issue in locations experiencing the greatest over-utilization at designated truck parking locations or where unauthorized parking is most severe.  Truckers park for a multitude of reasons, including;

1. Home-stays (after multiple days on the road),
2. FMCSA Hours Of Service (HOS) compliance,
3. Overnight parking, other than for HOS compliance,
4. Staging to meet a delivery window, and
5. Regular breaks and refueling.

Each of these reasons is associated with different dwell times, which is the duration of a stopped truck.  Likewise, each reason can lead to different solutions the Department could consider to help improve work conditions for truck drivers.

Statewide truck GPS analyses were further analyzed to identify where and when trucks were stopped for the time period of September 2017 through August 2018.  A stopped truck is defined as a dwell time of greater than 1 hour.  An inventory of known (designated) truck parking locations, both public and private, was conducted and is considered the supply (or capacity).  The demand (or volume) is the number, and location, of stopped trucks.  These statistics can help transportation planners better understand where volume exceeds capacity, resulting in an over-utilized truck parking location.  The data can also identify where trucks are stopped in an unauthorized fashion, namely within public right-of-way (ROW).  This insight can then be used to identify where and why truck parking is of the greatest concern.  Then, appropriate solutions (projects, partnerships, policy updates, etc.) can be identified and tailored to each unique problem area.  For more information, please see the final report on TDA’s Multimodal Data System Program’s webpage, here.

This edition covers the time lapse, in 3-hour increments, of traffic impacts caused by Hurricane Michael from Sunday, October 7th through Tuesday, October 16th (2018). Hurricane Michael made landfall just east of Panama City around noon on Wednesday, October 10th. Hourly traffic volumes, represented as percent change between days (Monday, Tuesday, etc.) in October of 2018 and average historical days for September (2015, 2016, and 2017), before, during, and after the storm are illustrated in this video. This edition also incorporates public utility power outages reports as provided by the Florida Public Services Commission, in addition to evacuation status changes provided by the Florida Division of Emergency Management. This compilation of data from multiple sources helps us to tell this story with the intent to provide insight to improve strategies and operations following future storms.

This edition covers the time lapse, in 3-hour increments, of traffic impacts caused by Hurricane Irma from Monday, September 5th through Friday, September 15th in 2017. Hurricane Irma made landfall in the Florida Keys the morning of Sunday, September 10th. Traffic volumes, represented as percent change between 2017 days and average historical days for September (2015 & 2016), before, during, and after the storm are illustrated in the video above. FDOT's permanent continuous count stations that collect data on volume, speed and vehicle classification, as well as evacuation status changes from the Florida Division of Emergency Management, helped us tell this story.

In May of 2018, the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) Transportation Data and Analytics Office installed a permanent non-motorized counter at the Main Trailhead along the Tallahassee-St. Marks Historic Railroad State Trail. The counter possesses the capability to capture total non-motorized travel volume, time of use, and direction of each user that passes through the counters field of vision. The counter installation was made in partnership with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP).

Tourism is a major industry and economic advantage for the state of Florida, and as such, understanding visitation data is a key performance indicator for many aspects of transportation planning. The importance of visitor expenditure (in dollars) within Florida cannot be overstated as it directly supports our capacity to deliver the nation’s best transportation infrastructure. Understanding Florida’s global influence in the international tourism market serves as a reminder of how each of us contributes to the success of the state's economy.

This edition of DataLytics shows the status of Florida’s tourism economy as it relates to other global leaders. This resource also allows you to consider how the fluidity of travel between states within the United States compares to the fluidity of travel between nations in Europe. Whether by car or by train, using a passport or driver’s license, each transportation mode directly affects the frequency for both domestic and international visitation.

The latest edition of DataLytics utilizes a dataset that other state DOTs are just beginning to explore. The Automatic Identification System (AIS), that is collected by the United State Coast Guard (USCG), provides maritime vessel traffic data. Each ship has a unique ID and reports latitude/longitude coordinates every 5 minutes; making it possible to track vessel movements to identify shipping patterns. This data is now providing insights into freight planning issues such as commodity and supply-chain flow as well as utilization of infrastructure investments. The animation of the AIS data clearly shows the behavior of large freight vessels before, during and after Hurricane Matthew.

This edition of DataLytics introduces how FDOT TDA Traffic Monitoring Data is collected (as observed) on our roadways. Each vehicle that passes a Telemetered Traffic Monitoring Station (TTMS), triggers an event which is then stored as data. The focus of this animation is on the embedded sensors in the roadway since they serve as the source of this data. These sensors should not be confused with signal activation or other Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) related equipment. Weigh-in-Motion (WIM) sensors are also introduced.

Truck Empty Back Haul (TEBH) has been identified as a top issue facing the trucking industry in Florida. As a Department, we’ve heard many different figures on the assumed number of empty trucks on our roadways, but none of these figures could be backed with Department data. This edition of DataLytics summarizes the findings of observed empty trucks on our roadways in Florida using Weigh-In-Motion (WIM) data as collected by TDA’s Continuous Traffic Monitoring Program. This provides the first glimpse into the quantification of the degree of TEBH in Florida.

According to the American Automobile Association (AAA), this past holiday season had the highest travel in recent history according to an article they published online titled: “Have Holiday Plans, Will Travel: Record-Breaking 107 Million Americans to Celebrate Holidays Away from Home.”¹ So, for this month’s edition of DataLytics we wanted to use our traffic count data to see the effect of holiday travel on Florida’s Interstates. We compared 2017 data from November 1 to January 2, 2018 with prior years data. Our numbers show a 13% increase over previous years. Also, it is very apparent by looking at the graph when the majority of holiday travel was occurring. We hope you find this informative and find other creative ways to use our data.

¹ AAA News Room “Have Holiday Plans, Will Travel: Record-Breaking 107 Million Americans to Celebrate Holidays Away from Home”, Jeannette Casselano. December 14, 2017. http://newsroom.aaa.com/2017/12/holiday-plans-will-travel-record-breaking-107-million-americans-celebrate-holidays-away-home

This edition was inspired from an article published by the L.A. Times on the World’s Busiest Cruise Ports. The underlying data was provided by Cruise Industry News and represents total passengers for the ports exceeding 1 million passengers in 2016. As you will see, Florida has the top 3 busiest cruise ports in the world.

FDOT District 6 produces an annual report detailing the performance of the I-95 Express Lanes compared to I-95 General Use Lanes (or Local Lanes, as per the reports). This DataLytics illustrates the annual speed and volume data for the average peak periods for both the Northbound and Southbound lanes.

This edition utilizes the Certified Public Roadway Mileage (CPRM) report, as signed by Assistant Secretary Tom Byron on May 1, 2017. The CPRM report reflects road ownership mileage as reported by the owning local agency. The line work utilizes the U.S. Census TIGER products and represents public road networks based on administrative boundary lines.

Data Purpose: Certified public roadway mileage is reported by FDOT to USDOT, as required by Section 402(c) of Title 23, United States Code. The data for each local government is supplied by that government to FDOT each year, as required by Florida Statutes Chapter 218.322. Please click here for more information on available roadway mileage data. for more information on available roadway mileage data.

This month we took a look at traffic patterns before, during and after the November 14, 2015 College Football Game between the Florida State Seminoles and North Carolina State Wolfpack that took place at Bobby Bowden Field at Doak Campbell Stadium. It’s understood that peak-hours are right before and right after a football game. This exercise is to graphically represent a quantified analysis of the traffic data.

Data Purpose: System currently consists of (330) permanent continuous count stations that collect volume, speed, vehicle classification data and (33) stations that collect weigh-in-motion data 24 hours per day, 365 days per year. These sites are located throughout the State to monitor overall traffic trends. Information from these counters is used to determine traffic growth and tendencies as well as to develop pavement design input, seasonal adjustment factors used in determining estimates of annual average daily traffic (AADT), axle correction factors for road tube counts and directional design hour volumes (DDHV).