The Secret Behind Those Mysterious Rubber Tubes on Montana Roads

Spring in Montana sees a shift not only in the weather and blooming of flowers, but it is also the precursor to another season. We aren't talking about summer, we are talking about road construction season.

First, I have to give a shoutout to Missoula's street cleaners. It's a thankless job, and I believe this is the earliest in the season that I have had my street cleaned and it looks great. Something else popped up in my neighborhood recently. Those black rubber strips that run across the road.

Ever wonder what those things are? I knew they had to be gathering information on vehicles, but I had no idea how they gathered the information and what they could get from just some rubber tubing.

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Well, it turns out they can gather quite a bit of information. They are called pneumatic road tubes and they use compressed air to gather data. According to the Department of Transportation, the air pressure closes an air switch, which produces an electrical signal that transmits information to a collection box. If there are two of them on the road they can collect even more data.

The data they collect can tell how many vehicles use the roads and how fast vehicles are driving on the roads. They can also tell what kind of vehicles are being used on the roads by the amount of pressure applied to the tubes. For example a commercial vehicle will exert more air pressure than a small car. They can also track cars coming in and out of intersections.

Most of the tubes are used temporarily to gather data. The data can determine what roads may need- whether it's stop signs, traffic lights, or everyone's favorite- roundabouts.

There is a school in my neighborhood, which means there are school buses. It also means that there is a 25-mile-per-hour speed limit. There are very few people who obey that law in my neighborhood.

Who knows what data they are gathering in my neighborhood? I do know that when I see those things on the road I tend to slow down.