Traffic Survey Services for Roads and Junctions

What is a traffic survey?

A traffic survey counts and classifies the vehicles and people using a road or junction over a set period, so that designers, planners and authorities can size lanes, signals, parking and pavements on measured demand rather than guesswork. Most jobs we take are video-based: cameras record each approach, and trained staff or software then count vehicles by type, direction and time interval from the footage.

Video has two advantages over clipboards at the kerb. The count can be checked again if a figure looks odd, and nobody has to stand in traffic through the night. Our 12 video cameras cover a large junction, or several mid-block points along a corridor, at the same time.

Who asks for counts? DPR and feasibility consultants for highways and city roads; developers preparing a traffic impact study for a mall, hospital, warehouse or housing project; municipal engineers deciding whether a junction needs signals; and schools or industrial estates worried about gate-time congestion. Each wants a slightly different output, so the purpose shapes the class list, the hours and the report.

Which kind of count answers your question?

Pick the survey by the decision it supports: lane width, junction design, route choice or speed control.

Table note: where a junction or road widening depends on who owns the frontage, read about land survey services before the design is drawn.

How does a video count work on site?

Cameras on poles or temporary masts look along each approach, recording continuously for the agreed hours; the footage is then counted class by class.

Indian traffic is mixed, so classes go well beyond cars and trucks: two-wheelers, auto-rickshaws, cars and vans, light commercial vehicles, buses, two-axle trucks, multi-axle trucks, tractors, cycles and cycle-rickshaws, and animal carts on rural roads. Counts are then converted to passenger car units (PCU), which weight each class by the road space and delay it causes. We use the PCU values set out in IRC guidance or, where the consultant asks, those in the Indian Highway Capacity Manual (Indo-HCM) developed by CSIR–CRRI and released by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.

Quality control is built in. A sample of each day's footage is counted a second time by a different person, and the two results are compared class by class. Where they differ beyond a small margin, the whole interval is recounted. Camera time stamps are checked against a clock at set-up and pick-up, so 15-minute bins line up across every approach.

Which IRC guidance shapes the survey?

The Indian Roads Congress publishes the codes most consultants follow for counting and capacity in India. The ones we are asked about most:

• IRC:9-1972, traffic census on non-urban roads, the long-standing basis for counting on highways.
• IRC:64-1990, capacity of roads in rural areas, and IRC:106-1990, capacity of urban roads in plain areas, both of which give PCU factors and design service volumes.
• IRC:108-1996, traffic prediction on rural highways, which uses the counts as the base year.
• IRC:SP:41, the guidelines for design of at-grade intersections, which works from peak-hour turning volumes.

We follow whichever code and class list your terms of reference name. If none is named, we state in the quote what we will use.

How many days, and which hours?

Urban junction studies usually need a typical weekday covering both peaks; highway studies commonly ask for a seven-day, 24-hour classified count at each homogeneous section. Counts are avoided on festival days, during unusual events and in heavy rain, because they would not represent normal traffic.

Count points on a highway are chosen on homogeneous sections, meaning stretches between major junctions or towns where the traffic stays broadly the same. A point is placed clear of bus stops, toll plazas and market fronts unless those are what the study is about, and at least one point is usually placed on each side of a town, so through and local traffic can be separated later.

For corridors, counts sit alongside the engineering survey. If you are preparing a DPR, the levels and alignment side is covered under Topographic Survey for Road Projects, and our sector page lets you read about highway projects and the services they need. Junction redesigns often need extra land at the corners; when land records state area in bigha or kanal, take a closer look at Land Area Converter before estimating acquisition.

What do you receive at the end?

Clean spreadsheets, summary charts and a short report, with the video kept so any figure can be re-checked.

• Counts by class, direction and interval (Excel / CSV)
• Totals in vehicles and PCU, peak hour, peak hour factor and directional split
• Turning movement diagrams for each junction (PDF)
• Location plan of every camera and count line (PDF, KMZ)
• Method note: dates, hours, weather, class list and PCU values used

Footage is kept for the period agreed in the quote. If a reviewer questions a peak figure months later, the relevant interval can be pulled up and recounted rather than defended from memory.

Traffic survey rates – November 2026

A classified volume count is ₹15,000 per location per 24 hours, and a turning movement count is ₹20,000 per junction per day. Origin–destination and speed surveys are quoted per scope, because the sample size and method vary so much. All rates exclude GST; any mobilisation/travel cost, if applicable, is added in the written quote.

• Three highway locations counted for seven days: 21 location-days × ₹15,000 = ₹3,15,000
• Four city junctions counted on one weekday: 4 × ₹20,000 = ₹80,000

The written quote fixes the final figure once count points, days and hours are agreed. A week-long count at one spot costs seven times the daily rate, so it pays to decide early which points truly need a full week and which can be covered by a single representative day.

How soon can counting start?

In Delhi NCR cameras can usually be up the same day or within 1 working day of confirmation; elsewhere in India a team member based in that city puts them up immediately or within 1 working day. Permission to fix cameras on poles or near a police post is sometimes needed, and we ask the client to arrange it where the authority insists. Count data normally follows within 3 working days of the last recording day for small jobs; week-long corridor counts are issued to an agreed programme. To fix the scope, send the locations and the study purpose and ask about your project.

Frequently asked questions

Is a video count accepted for a DPR?

Video counts are widely used for DPR and feasibility work. The method note states the dates, hours, classes and PCU values, which is what reviewers usually check.

Can you count at night?

Yes. Cameras record through the night at lit locations; on dark rural roads we choose positions where headlights and street lights allow vehicles to be classified.

Do you also survey the road alignment?

Yes. Counts often go with a route survey of the centreline and cross-sections, done by our ground crew.

How do you handle two-wheelers in heavy traffic?

They are counted from video in slow motion where needed, and the same stretch is counted twice on a sample basis to check consistency.

Can you do a pedestrian count near a school or station?

Yes. We count crossings and footpath flows by time interval, which helps decide the type and place of a crossing.

Who gets permission to put up cameras?

On most private and project sites we arrange it with the site in charge. On public roads some authorities ask for a client letter; we tell you in advance.

Written by Saniya Parveen · Technically reviewed by Rahul Rai · Updated 8 November 2026