How much traffic is on that road?

That's a question I frequently hear from people who are thinking about touring through Saskatchewan. A few of you are wondering just how much traffic we'll encounter on GASP 2009.

Saskatchewan's highways ministry publishes a map showing average daily traffic volumes for all our major roads. You can download the map from their website. It's a great resource for anyone planning to tour by bicycle through the province. (Note that although the most recent data are for 2007, there isn't a lot of change from year to year, especially on the roads we'll be travelling.)

Here's a brief summary of some of the traffic volumes we'll encounter on GASP 2009:

Day 1, near Asquith: 2140
Day 2, Biggar to Wilkie: 830
Day 3, Wilkie to Battleford: 740
Day 3, near Battleford: 1440
Day 4, on the way to Unity: 1360
Day 5, Wilkie to Kerrobert: 480
Day 6, Kerrobert to Herschel: 150
Day 7, Herschel to Rosetown: 260
Day 7, Rosetown to Outlook: 260
Day 7, near Outlook: 1220
Day 8, Outlook to Saskatoon: 530

Is that a lot of traffic, or a little? It's not like we count the cars that pass us. Well, 150 vehicles per day works out to about 10 per hour (making a rough calculation that they're being driven exclusively in daylight hours, which I know is a simplistic - and overestimated - representation of the highway ministry's very complicated formula) or about one every five minutes coming from either direction. Compare that with highways such as #16 (about 5700 per day on it's quieter sections), #12 between Saskatoon and Martensville (about 12,000) and Victoria Avenue heading east out of Regina (about 23,000).

The U.S. Federal Highways Administration defines traffic volumes below 3000 as "low". By most accounts, cyclists are comfortable on such roads, consider roads with volumes below 1500 to be quiet and those below 750 to be almost deserted.