Montana. Department of Highways. Planning and Research Bureau

The Planning Survey of the Montana State Highway Commission was established in 1936, jointly financed by the state and the U.S. Bureau of Public Roads. Also known as the Planning Survey Division, it was charged with gathering any and all types of data that would be beneficial for highway planning. In order to fulfill that responsibility the Division was structured in three principal sections: Traffic, Mapping, and Statistics.

The Traffic Section was given the responsibility of collecting data concerning the movement of motor vehicles on state highways, county roads, and city streets. The data were collected by means of both permanent and portable counters, as well as by visual counts and classifications. In addition to traffic counting, the Traffic Section was given a number of other functions including the weighing of trucks to obtain statistical information; the reporting of the number of accidents by location, type of accident, and economic cost; special urban transportation surveys for cities; origin destination surveys; and parking surveys.

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