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The National Traffic Database is a system for storing traffic data collected from each of approximately 120,000 sections of New Zealand public roads (ie the state highway and local road network). It incorporates data collected by each Road Controlling Authority (RCA), ie by Transit New Zealand Regional Offices for state highways and by Territorial Authorities (TAs) for local roads. The road sections are those defined in the RAMM (Road Assessment and Maintenance Management system) databases of each RCA.

The National Traffic Database describes the relative traffic demand on New Zealand public roads, in terms of traffic volume (Annual Average Daily Traffic – AADT), traffic composition by vehicle class and by vehicle weight. Such a compilation of these data has not been made elsewhere in the world, according to international literature.

The availability of the National Traffic Database will provide:

• accurate information on vehicular travel
• comparative information for traffic demand both in terms of volume and of ESALs (equivalent standard axles) between RCAs or between road use categories on an aggregated national basis.

To improve the accuracy and usefulness of the Database, the additional classification surveys that have already been designed need to be completed. In the longer term, an ongoing programme of vehicle classification surveys and vehicle weight surveys needs to be implemented.

The project, begun in 1994, is reported in three parts:

Keywords: Database, national, National Traffic Database, New Zealand, traffic, traffic flow, traffic volume, vehicles, vehicle class, vehicle weight, weight