Traffic journeys through Shrewsbury town centre were being monitored yesterday as researchers gather data for a new movement strategy for the town.
A series of Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) surveys took place around Shrewsbury as part of the development of the movement and public realm strategy, led by Shrewsbury Big Town Plan Partnership.
The results of the ANPR surveys will be used to provide a current, accurate and in-depth picture of the traffic routes around Shrewsbury, by vehicle type. It will also provide details of journey times on key routes through the town centre, showing each vehicle’s origin and destination.
Ed Potter, Shropshire Council’s deputy Leader, and representative on Shrewsbury Big Town Plan Partnership, said the data gathered from the surveys would be an important part of the research feeding into the movement strategy:
“The team from expert transport planners and designers, PJA, are already making great progress, talking in detail with a range of community groups and organisations about how the way people travel in and around Shrewsbury can positively change in the future.
“These surveys will provide a fascinating insight into the way traffic moves through the town centre, and will form a vital part of the evidence base for the strategy, along with other data including public transport patronage data, walking and cycling data, and outputs from strategic traffic models of the local area.”
ANPR surveys use cameras mounted onto street furniture to record time-stamped numberplates of vehicles using specific routes.
The survey is being undertaken by traffic survey specialists, Intelligent Data. At each of the survey locations, Intelligent Data will use CA Traffic Evo 8 Cameras, and the DVLA and Manufacturer Database to quantify the volume of traffic in each direction and collate information about vehicle type, vehicle class, fuel type and vehicle emission data.
The cameras are fully integrated, home office compliant equipment that are also used by police forces across the UK. Any personal data collected as part of the survey will be held in line with GDPR requirements by the relevant parties.
A second day of surveying will take place on Saturday 7 May between 7am and 7pm.