Transportation Analysis and Querying Application (TAQA)

TAQA makes a range of transportation data easily accessible to member agencies and the public. The goal is to help make informed decisions regarding transportation infrastructure and to assist in the project development process. 

To determine whether data exists for a particular roadway, refer to the “Speed & Travel Time” layers in the TAQA tool. Additional travel time data from “floating car” surveys can also be found here. 

Access TAQA

INRIX relies on a combination of observed data at the point and time in question and historical reference data. The data is most reliable when assessing longer stretches of a roadway, and is particularly useful in determining relative differences across locations (through measures such as Travel Time Index) or for evaluating conditions in the same location at different times of the day or parts of the year.

For assistance in using TAQA, please consult the User Guide (PDF) and how-to video.

Data currently available through the TAQA tool:

Travel Time

Data may be queried for individual date(s) or to determine average conditions across a longer period, such as all weekdays in a month. The data is available by direction for individual roadway segments. Travel time data is obtained from INRIX, a commercial vendor that aggregates data from a range of mobile devices. 

Traffic Counts

Traffic counts data is for a point in time. The filter tool can be applied geographically (for individual corridors or road segments within a political boundary) but it cannot be applied to certain dates or times. Only the travel time data can be queried by date in the application.

Data is collected by MRCOG for segments of every federal-aid eligible road (all roadways classified as collectors or above) using portable traffic monitoring devices with rubber tubes that stretch across the roadway (tube counters). All major roads are counted once every three years. Additional data is collected through a series of permanent count stations, mostly on Interstates. Data is collected across two 24-hour periods to produce average daily and peak period traffic volume levels, as well as directional split values (the percentage of travel in a peak direction for the day or peak period). Only the most recent observed traffic counts data for each segment can be found in the TAQA. 

Volume-to-Capacity Ratios

Volume-to-capacity (V/C) ratios are a common tool in transportation planning to evaluate congestion. The demand on a roadway link (the traffic volume) is represented relative to the supply of roadway space (capacity). MRMPO applies peak hour volumes to capacity values based on the roadway functional classification. This data is presented in maps available for download. To query and access V/C data, see the “Observed Traffic Counts” tab in the TAQA tool.

If you would like to see the estimated hourly vehicle capacity of a certain roadway, explore this spreadsheet: 

Capacity Values by Functional Class - 2015 (XLS)