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Trail counters show 15.93% increase in use since 2022; staff using algorithms to clean 307,000 data points
Summary
OST staff presented a cleaned analysis of 2025 trail-counter data that removed anomalies from roughly 307,000 points, found a 15.93% increase in usage across five counters since 2022, and proposed integrating Strava Metro, GPS sources, and interactive story maps for public visualization.
Open Space and Trails staff presented their 2025 trail-counter analysis, describing both the technical approach to clean noisy sensor data and the resulting usage trends.
Technicians Brian Genge and Nathaniel Goeckner explained trail counters detect heat and movement and can miscount due to vehicles, vegetation, wildlife and other noise. To improve reliability, staff wrote an algorithm to evaluate and remove anomalies from about 307,000 data points collected in 2025. The cleaned data showed seasonality patterns with recreational trails peaking in summer and weekend use, while the US 36 Bikeway—primarily commuter-focused—showed lower summer counts. Staff reported "a 15.93% increase in trail usage since 2022" across the five counters monitored.
OSTAC members and staff discussed next steps: adding external data sources such as Strava Metro and GPS-derived data for broader coverage, creating interactive story maps for public access, and considering baseline monitoring at new underpass locations (for example, the underpass across State HWY 7) to compare pre- and post-construction flows. Council Member Braun and other members asked about counter placement and proximity of some counters to regional connections; staff explained paired counters serve different monitoring goals (community trail usage vs. regional connection counts).
