Iowa DOT installs first permanent AxleLight station

The Iowa Department of Transportation has selected Peek Traffic Corporation’s AxleLight, non-intrusive laser axle sensor system, to be installed in a permanent site along I-35/80 in Des Moines. This is the first time that the AxleLight sensors – normally designed as a temporary study tool – have been installed in permanent roadside cabinets.

The sensors shoot a beam of non-visible laser light across the roadway, just a few inches above the pavement. Using these sensors – and the company’s ADR-3000 Plus Automatic Data Recorders – the Department can count, classify, and analyze traffic flow.

Right: Three cabinets house the two AxleLight sensors (in the outside cabinets), with the ADR-3000 Plus unit, the power panel, and the batteries housed in the center cabinet

Iowa DOT normally uses solar power for its other traffic data collection stations. However, the location of this permanent station had insufficient solar energy during the winter months, so the Peek solar array was customized with a 1.2m-wide wind turbine mounted on a 6m-tall mast. These sources provide all of the power required for the AxleLight units, the data collector, as well as the Peek power panel that manages the backup battery array.

Left: AxleLight Laser Sensor
 

17 March 2009