question
 

Quick summary, I'm in Queens now for school. Near my apartment, there is a rubber strip that goes across the road attached to a little box with a solar panel on top. It is labeled NYDOT I believe. What is it?

Car counter?

yup most likely a car counter

that, or my township set one up right in front of my house.

There were two of those strips used to determine speed (seen them measure the distance between every few days), and the number of cars going down my street.

When the cops came by after my truck was "broken into", we asked when the hell they were getting rid of it. It was annoying cause I heard :THUD THUD ... THUD THUD:: twenty four hours a day.

ya car counter

for NY Department Of Transportation...

why are they counting cars? just surveying? it seems useless for a residential area

they use it to determine avg traffic flows, based on that data they can setup stop signs and traffic lights in areas of high flow or congestion to create a better flow of traffic.

allllll correct

interesting.... they better not be adding any extra stop signs or traffic lights. there is certainly no need for that.