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The methodology for the annual trip estimates was created by Alta Planning out of Portland, <br />Oregon for their National Bicycle and Pedestrian Documentation (NBPD) project and is based on the <br />techniques of the Institute of Traffic Engineers and data from over sixty cities nationwide. The NBPD <br />project is a standardized method for estimating annual trail volumes based on shorter periods of time. <br />Adjustment factors used in the NBPD project include time of day, day of the week, month of the year, and <br />general climate of the region. The NBPD project cannot account for daily weather conditions, but with <br />enough data a fairly accurate picture of annual trail use should emerge. <br />The guidelines established by Alta Planning require that weekday counts occur on Tuesday, <br />Wednesday, or Thursday. It is recommended that at least two days of counts be used to establish an <br />average. Saturday and Sunday are equally acceptable for weekend counts. The trail count methodology <br />used by Great Rivers Greenway was structured to meet these guidelines. <br />According to the NBPD project guidelines, a one hour time period should be randomly selected to <br />calculate the adjustment. This was the method used to estimate annual trail use in the past for other trails. <br />Based on conversations with Alta Planning a more accurate method has been established and was used in <br />this calculation. Great Rivers Greenway collects several hours of data over a few days. This allows us to <br />perform annual adjustments on each hour of data collected and to average those adjustments. This <br />method provides a more accurate annual trip estimate by using all available data and smoothing out <br />random variations. <br />Characteristics of Trail Users <br />Ninety-Nine percent of trail users on the Washington University to Delmar section of the Centennial <br />Greenway were adults. For the purpose of this study, adults are defined as anyone who appears to be high <br />school age or older. Fifty-seven percent of trail users were male and 43% were female. <br />Figure 5 <br />Figure 6 <br /> <br />