Trail Counter Reports

Detailed trail usage data from prior years are available. Data are available for:
• Current year(2010)
• 2009
• 2008
• 2007
• 2006
• 2005
• 2004

LCTA has installed infra-red (IR) counting devices on several trails within Linn County to determine usage. The results are shown in the following plots of daily counts. The counters are read frequently by LCTA supports and the data are interpolated to allocate the counts on a daily basis. The consistency of the daily counts demonstrates the validity of the data. If two people are walking or biking side-by-side, only one count is recorded. Testing has demonstrated an approximately 10 percent undercount but the amount will vary depending on the type of trail traffic. However the data presented here does not contain an undercount correction. This represents a conservative estimate of trail usage. Gaps in the plot data are periods where data were not available due to battery failure or other problems.

The following table summarizes trail usage during 2005 through 2009. In contrast to the peak season, the usage for the fall and winter months with cold and snow is also shown. The total weekly usage measured on all 10 counters for the period May through August 2006 is 20,466 and the total counts for the four month period from May 1 to September 1, 2006 is 359,610.

The trails have been significantly impacted by the flood of 2008. The Sac and Fox Trail has been closed since the flood in early June 2008. The south end of the Cedar River Trail from Sokol Park south has also been closed and is impassable. The trail counts at Sokol are much lower than prior years. The Sac and Fox counts are very low and are not presented because the data are sparse. The Boyson Trail in Marion was impacted by the flood but is now restored. However the Cedar Valley Nature Trail in Linn County was not impacted by the flood and the 2008 counts were up significantly compared to prior years. The average weekly count for 2008 July and August at the trail head on Boyson Road for the Cedar Valley Nature Trail is 53% more than in 2007 or an average weekly count of 4,680. Trail users have simply moved to to the remaining active trails!

The Cedar River Trail (CRT) is a North-South hard surfaced trail through Cedar Rapids and Hiawatha. The Cedar Lake Trail is a small loop trail near the middle of the CRT. The CRT connects to the Cedar Valley Nature Trail (CVNT) which continues to the Waterloo/Cedar Falls area. The four counters on the CVNT are at mile 0 (Boyson), mile 3 (County Home Rd.), Mile 7 (Lafayette) and Mile 13 (Center Point). The trail is hard surfaced to County Home Rd. so the counter at County Home Rd. indicates the number of users that continue onto the crushed limestone surface. Lafayette is a popular turn-around point for many CVNT users. It is interesting to observe the traffic reductions as the distance from central Cedar Rapids increases, however a significant number of users continue beyond the hard surface. Other unconnected trails which have crushed limestone surfaces are the Marion Trail and the Sac and Fox Trail. The counters are at the two ends of the Sac and Fox trail.

The following graph shows the average weekly counts for each month of 2010. It also shows the relative traffic on each of the trails since all trails are shown on the same graph.

The graphs shown below are from data being collected in 2010. Data are available for: