2023 Traffic Data

About this data

The Town collects data to determine solutions to traffic flow problems during peak season.

Banff’s threshold for the onset of congestion and delays is considered to be approximately 24,000 vehicles per day entering the town, as measured by counters at the Banff Avenue entrance and the Norquay Road entrance. 

The Town’s goal is to minimize delays during peak periods, to under 15 minutes. 

The data and traffic cameras are used to determine if interventions are needed such as overriding the traffic lights at key intersections to move more vehicles through, to reduce backlogs.

Vehicles Per Day at Town Entrances: This number references the total number of vehicles recorded (both incoming and outgoing combined) at traffic count stations located at the two main entrances to Town – Norquay Rd and Banff Ave. Hence, this number equals (Norquay incoming volume + Norquay outgoing volume) + (Banff Ave incoming volume + Banff Ave outgoing volume). The VPD reported is not representative of the total number of vehicles in town on one day; it is simply how many vehicles are moving in and out of the town over the course of one day (24hrs).

Northbound Maximum Delay: Northbound Maximum Delay numbers are based on calculated travel times obtained from roadside Traffax traffic monitoring sensors which use Bluetooth and Wi-Fi technology embedded in devices and vehicles traveling between The Rimrock Resort Hotel and Buffalo Street. Detections from Bluetooth and Wi-Fi are not limited to vehicles, but most pedestrians and slower cyclists are filtered out using various travel time algorithms.

The Delay is the maximum additional travel time in minutes it took for vehicular traffic to travel the route compared to the typical off-peak travel time. (The average travel time from a low volume day (January 20, 2016) is used to represent the typical travel time).