Black Rubber Tubes On Pittsfield Roads – What Are Those Things?

If you've driven through Pittsfield or Berkshire County lately, you may have noticed those thick two parallel black rubber cables attached to a gray box that says MASS DOT laid across certain heavily traveled streets. What are those things?

A quick phone call to Ricardo Morales over at Pittsfield City Hall is all it took to clear up the mystery.

Those black rubber tubes stretched across the road are temporary traffic counters used to collect information about roadway use. Each time a vehicle tire passes over the tube, it records a count. This is used to better understand traffic patterns, evaluate speeding concerns, plan roadway improvements, and support safety studies. - Pittsfield Commissioner of Public Works Ricardo Morales

Some times there two tubes, sometimes just one - Here's why.

Every time your car tires roll over one of those tubes, it sends a tiny pulse of air to that little box on the side of the road, which records the hit. When there are two tubes laid parallel, the system can actually calculate your speed based on how quickly your front axle hits the first tube versus the second. Pretty low-tech looking for something that's doing that much math.

Travel speed and the number of vehicles is the information they want.

I asked Morales if they were planning on any specific improvement or change to the streets that they were gathering data on, such as Hancock Rd, West St, and Pittsfield/Lenox Rd, and he said they weren't but just updating new information into the system.

I know how much you guys love new traffic calming measures!