Annual Bicycle and Pedestrian Counts for Somerville

Volunteer-collected annual counts from 2010 onward track bicycling and walking activity in Somerville. Data includes hourly counts by location, time of day, and mode of travel. The City of Somerville organizes this data collection effort each fall.

Use Cases

• Analyze long-term trends in bicycle and pedestrian activity by aggregating Counts across Years and Location Name.
• Compare morning (AM) versus evening (PM) usage patterns for different Modes at specific Latitude and Longitude coordinates.
• Identify high-traffic corridors for infrastructure investment by ranking Location # based on total Count.
• Model the impact of external factors by correlating Count data from specific Years with local construction or weather events.

Strengths

• Data collection spans over a decade, starting in 2010.
• Counts are disaggregated by Mode, time of day (AM/PM), and precise geographic coordinates (Latitude, Longitude).

Limitations

• Not all locations have been counted every year, creating data gaps.
• Counts are based on one-hour sessions, not continuous monitoring, limiting temporal granularity.
• Data accuracy is subject to volunteer error and variable external factors like weather.

Provenance

Source

City of Somerville (data.somervillema.gov).

Collection Method

Volunteer counts using a 'screen line' method during one-hour morning and evening sessions each fall.

Time Range

Annual data from 2010 onward.

Freshness

Annual updates; data last updated December 2025.

Geography

Somerville, Massachusetts, USA.