| June 2, 2008
Fehr & Peers/Mirai welcomes Seleta Reynolds.
June 2, 2008 Seleta Reynolds, AICP will be joining the Fehr & Peers/Mirai team in our Kirkland offices. Seleta brings a strong depth of experience in bicycle and pedestrian projects as well as
traffic calming. Welcome Seleta!
May 31, 2008
Mirai is pleased to announce we have joined Fehr & Peers effective May 31, 2008. Mirai will be know as Fehr & Peers/Mirai. This merger brings increased depth and expanded services in
transportation planning and traffic engineering services. With offices throughout the western United States, Fehr & Peers provides local, regional and state expertise to
public agencies, institutions and
private companies. We at Fehr & Peers/Mirai look forward to continuing to provide our clients with high quality services in the Pacific Northwest.
Fehr & Peers.com
September 1, 2007
Don Samdahl, Tom Noguchi and John Davies recently passed the new
Professional Transportation Planner (PTP) certification program
offered through the Institute of Transportation Engineers. Don Samdahl was a
key player in developing the test format for the PTP certification program. The PTP is designed for candidates who have a wide-range of
education and experience in transportation planning. No other certification program is offered that specifically addresses the work performed by transportation planners.
Congratulations to all three for passing with flying colors!!
August 5, 2007
ITE International Meeting, August 6-8, Pittsburgh, PA. Don
Samdahl presented a paper on Managing Congestion using HOT Lanes.
Abstract - Evaluating Congestion Relief Using HOT Lanes
The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) conducted a congestion relief analysis for the State's three major urban areas: Central Puget Sound, Spokane and Vancouver during 2003-4.
Phase 1 of the analysis examined a variety of congestion relief scenarios ranging from highway, transit, and roadway value pricing strategies. This phase concluded that value pricing is a very effective strategy in
reducing congestion and that a strategic combination of transportation supplies and demand management, particularly value pricing should be given much greater attention in the future.
In 2005, a Phase 2 study was initiated to further examine how pricing, in the form of a network of HOT lane facilities, could affect travel patterns and congestion within the Puget Sound region.
Three HOT lane scenarios were tested using the Puget Sound Regional Council's travel demand forecast model. The first scenario considered converting all of the region's 200+ miles of existing and planned HOV
lanes and reversible express facilities into HOT lanes. The second scenario examined the effects of adding a lane to most of the freeways to create a two-lane HOT system. The third scenario blended the high
performing HOT lane elements of Scenarios 1 and 2, together with full pricing of I-5 and the cross-lake bridges. A final scenario priced all roadway lanes within the region.
Through modeling analysis, it was found that the HOT scenarios produced favorable reductions in delay and travel time, and increases in person throughput, in comparison to the existing HOV-only policy.
To learn more about the project contact Don Samdahl
To view full report click here
Concurrency and Impact Fee Seminar was held August 5, in
Seattle. Don Samdahl was an invited panelist on the topic of
transportation impact fees in Washington State.
July
16, 2007
ITE District 6 Annual Meeting, July 15-18th in Portland, Oregon –
Mirai Senior Planner, John Davies presented a paper on Road Diets &
Traffic Calming.
Abstract: The Dark Side of Road Diets
The road diet concept provides many benefits to a community.
Reducing a roadway’s width can provide traffic calming, improved
pedestrian access and an appropriate scale to surrounding land uses.
This presentation focuses on Market Street in Kirkland, WA, the only
principal arterial that parallels the heavily-traveled Interstate
405. The design for the 1.3-mile Market Street was conceived as
four-lanes, but never developed in favor of a two-lane,
smaller-scale facility. Kirkland’s Market Neighborhood, trapped
between Market Street and the shores of Lake Washington, is
dependent solely on Market Street for access. An offset street grid
and topography further exacerbates the neighborhood’s access
problems by creating restricted sight lines. With traffic levels
nearing 1500 vehicles/hour in the peak direction, what options can
improve minor street mobility in the face of the overwhelming demand
for through travel? This project summarizes a six-month study
completed for the Market Neighborhood organization focused on how
best to: (1) improve mobility for residents "trapped" by Market
Street traffic, (2) reduce off-peak travel speeds and (3) enhance
the quality of this high volume corridor. While unique to the
characteristics of Market Street, many of the concepts and issues
may be applicable to communities considering a road diet of an
arterial roadway or dealing with minor street movements onto a high
volume corridor. Recommendations from this study included: signal
timing changes, traffic calming improvements, targeted parking
removal, turn restrictions, pedestrian and transit improvements, and
public information campaigns.
To learn more about the project click here.
For more information contact john@miraiassociates.com
February 1, 2007
Mirai Staff attended the recent TRB 86th Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C. The TRB Annual Meeting program covered all transportation modes, with more than 2,800 presentations in 500 sessions addressing topics of interest to all attendees—policy makers, administrators, practitioners, researchers, and representatives of government, industry, and academic institutions. The spotlight theme for 2007 was "Transportation Institutions, Finance and Workforce: Meeting the Needs of the 21st Century".
Principal, Don Samdahl presented his poster “Exploring HOT Lanes and Value Pricing to increase Efficiency and Reduce Congestion”. During his session over 150 participants dropped by.
Mirai was also represented by Jana Janarthanan who is a Committee Member on the Task Force for Moving Activity-Based Approaches to Practice.
Bob Sicko is Chair of the Census Data for Transportation
Planning sub-committee. To learn more about the project and see the poster click here
December 1, 2006
Lisa Maitland joined us in November as our marketing coordinator. She comes from the Center for Urban Transportation Research (CUTR) at the University of South Florida where she was the technical editor for the publication of the Journal of Public Transportation. Lisa is leading our marketing efforts, supporting our website, and maintaining a strong professional presence for our firm.
November 1, 2006
Katherine Casseday has joined our firm as Traffic Engineering Manager. Katherine is a traffic engineer and project manager with 28 years of engineering and planning experience that encompasses short-term and long-range transportation planning projects ranging from neighborhood traffic control to major arterial analysis studies. Her specific area of expertise is traffic engineering and corridor planning with a focus on arterial systems and integration with regional corridors. Katherine is an effective project manager, capable of directing technical analysis as well as community outreach and education. Katherine’s skills in traffic operations complement her abilities to present complex information in ways to facilitate decision making. Katherine is a problem-solver, an engineer who finds creative ways to answer community traffic issues.
Katherine has recently served the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) as City Traffic Engineer and Director of Traffic Management and as Transportation Planning Manager for the Alaskan Way Viaduct and Seawall Replacement Project. This has allowed her to combine her planning and design experience with direct operational application of traffic engineering. Key projects and programs as Seattle Traffic Engineer include the development of the Center City Access Strategy program within SDOT, the initiation of a Rainier Avenue South Corridor Safety Project with the Washington Traffic Safety Council, and the South Downtown Rail Corridor Study.
October 1, 2006
Having interned at Mirai in 2004, Ming-Bang Shyu re-joined Mirai in October, after completing his doctorate at Penn State in 2006. Ming specializes in traffic engineering, travel demand forecasting, safety analyses, and multi-modal transportation planning.
He is skilled at customizing regional transportation models for sub area traffic analyses and use in growth management issues such as concurrency and level of service. He also creates real-time traffic simulation models of smaller networks, travel corridors and sub areas. He will support our travel demand modeling group.
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