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Planners propose EcoCounter pilot and regional count program to better measure pedestrian and bike activity
Summary
Presenters proposed a regional active‑transportation count program and a free EcoCounter trial for a downtown test site; Vanderbilt and Memphis practitioners discussed LiDAR and EcoCounter experience and commissioners raised validation, power, cost and installation questions.
Presenters asked BPAC to support a pilot and longer‑term program to expand active‑transportation counts in Nashville and the surrounding region. A Metropolitan Planning Organization presenter outlined a vision for a centralized data exchange and a regional program to place and maintain counters; EcoCounter offered a free trial device for a test site, and staff proposed validating any device against human counts before procurement.
Will Ezell (former City of Memphis bikeway and pedestrian program manager, S11) described Memphis’s experience operating permanent and portable counters and using that data to support funding and project planning. A Vanderbilt researcher (S4) demonstrated LiDAR output from Broadway and emphasized the anonymized nature of the data: "It's anonymized data... You can't read a license plate. You can't see a face," he said, and described how trajectory and heat‑map products can inform signal timing and safety interventions.
Presenters and commissioners discussed technical tradeoffs and uses. Commissioners asked whether LiDAR and video can reliably distinguish scooters from bicycles; the Vanderbilt presenter said scooter classification can vary with speed and algorithm confidence and that video and human validation improve reliability. Participants discussed costs (portable solutions in the low thousands of dollars; permanent LiDAR installations more expensive, in the tens of thousands), power and mounting requirements (some devices require higher pole mounting and dedicated power), and maintenance burdens.
Use cases cited included near‑hit analysis for immediate safety insights, before‑and‑after evaluations for projects such as Chestnut Street, and annual reporting to support long‑range planning. Presenters said a dashboard and standardized data schema would let agencies and the public download and merge counts from multiple vendors.
The commission voiced support for testing a trial device at a busy downtown testbed (the base of the Siegenthaler pedestrian bridge and other high‑use sites were discussed), asked staff to confirm power availability and mounting height, and encouraged pilot placements that would enable before‑and‑after studies for nearby projects. The presenters said they will follow up with NDOT and city signal/maintenance staff to confirm locations and technical requirements for the trial.
