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RETREAT
2007
Port Ludlow Inn on the Kitsap
Peninsula provided a quiet refuge for our team of twenty-one to reflect
on the past year and plan for the coming year. Reviewing the past
year, Principal Tom Noguchi said that over the past nine years Mirai
has grown from 3 to 21 and revenues have grown proportionately. Each
new person has added exceptional skills and created more
opportunities to help our clients. Since our start in 1998, Mirai
has worked almost exclusively with cities and public agencies
throughout the Northwest. We expanded our services over the past
three years, and last year nearly 20 percent of our revenues were
derived from clients in the private sector.
The day was focused on how each
of us could become more "entrepreneurial". In small groups we
explored ways to grow professionally, to communicate more
effectively, to see the bigger picture for our projects, and to be
more resourceful and innovative in both approaching our work and
meeting our clients’ expectations. We committed to mentoring and
supporting each other for our own professional growth and the growth
of Mirai during our next 10 years.
PROJECTS WITH LOCAL AND REGIONAL IMPACTS
State, city, and county agencies have chosen Mirai to lead
or assist with more than a half dozen major new projects in
2007. Mirai’s work on these projects will range from local
area planning to studies addressing regional issues and new
approaches to meeting concurrency requirements. Clients are
always our number one focus. We work hard to earn your respect
and retain you as our client. Nearly 80 percent of our work
last year was with repeat clients.
WSDOT CONGESTION RELIEF ANALYSIS Mirai
was part of the multi-agency team that evaluated the potential of
several highway, transit, and pricing strategies to reduce
congestion in the three fastest growing areas of the state – Puget
Sound, Vancouver, and Spokane. Tasks included analyzing highway
existing and future baseline conditions, transit and pricing
schemes, and identifying reasonable solutions to congestion relief.
In Phase 2, the analyses focused on the Puget Sound region. Phase I
had indicated that effective strategies for fighting the growing
congestion were based on the strategic combination of providing
additional capacity and using travel demand management techniques.
Phase 2 explored the effectiveness of demand management strategies,
especially a HOT lane network, to reduce delay, improve travel time
reliability and maximize system efficiency in the central Puget
Sound region. The analyses were closely coordinated with the
Statewide Tolling Study. The HOT lane analyses included several
options for WSDOT to consider, including peak period pricing on all
HOV lanes in the system, and variable congestion pricing based on
remaining capacity in the HOV lane. Don Samdahl led the work,
assisted by Bob Sicko, Jana Janarthanan and Neha Rathi.
SEATTLE UNIVERSITY AREA TRANSPORTATION ACTION STRATEGY (UATAS)
The majority of the University of Washington's 40,000 students
live off campus, along with another 20,000 professors and staff.
In 2003, Mirai led a transportation planning study for the City of
Seattle, to identify improvements and strategies for pedestrians,
bicycles, transit, carpools/vanpools and vehicles. In 2007, Mirai
was asked to update the University Area Transportation Study.
Mirai prepared 2030 travel demand forecasts and identified the
transit, pedestrian, bicycle and road improvements that would be
needed during the next 25 years. This list of updated projects
will be used as the basis for the City’s multi-modal development
impact mitigation payment program. Mirai Principal Tom Noguchi,
John Davies, and Howard Wu worked with Mary Jo Porter and a
project committee to reach consensus on the needed projects.
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New projects in 2007 |
| Redmond Concurrency
Program Review |
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| Portland Transportation System Development Charges |
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WSDOT Congestion Relief Analysis, Phase 2 |
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City of Seattle Viaduct Surface Option Analysis |
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Pierce Transit Park-and-Ride Forecast Study |
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Seattle: University Area Transportation Action Strategy (UATA) |
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Renton Walkways Study |
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Kirkland NE 132nd Street Traffic Analysis |
KIRKLAND NE 132nd STREET ROADWAY MASTER PLAN STUDY
This corridor study for the City of Kirkland will develop the master
plan for the NE 132nd Street Roadway, NE 132nd Street forms the
north boundary of the City of Kirkland and is currently a 2- to
3-lane arterial roadway. Significant growth in daily and peak period
traffic is expected for the east-west corridor comprised of NE 124th
Street, NE 116th Street and NE 132nd Street. The purpose of the
project is to confirm the roadway cross-section and package of
improvements for the master plan for the roadway. A review of
traffic operations, safety, transit, bicycle and pedestrian needs
for the corridor are important elements of the plan. Mirai refined
the BKR travel demand model (in EMME-2) for the City of Kirkland to
forecast year 2030 traffic demand for the NE 132nd Street corridor.
WSDOT plans to implement a half-diamond interchange to and from the
north on I-405 at NE 132nd Street. One purpose of this study is to
confirm the improvements needed associated with the new
half-interchange. As sub-consultant to KPG, Inc., Mirai analyzed the
traffic operations and needs for the corridor as input to the master
plan. Katherine Casseday is leading the traffic operations analysis,
with assistance from Ming Bang Shyu and Mike Lapham.
OFFICE SNAPSHOTS Katherine Casseday received
her Professional Traffic Operations Engineer (PTOE) certification.
Mike Ekshtut received his Professional Engineering (PE) license.
John Davies, Tom Noguchi, and Don Samdahl received the new
Professional Transportation Planner (PTP) Certification.
Mirai athletes have been busy this year – a ski trip to Stevens
Pass, a snow shoe adventure at Snoqualmie Pass, a climb up Mt
Shuksan; the Grand Canyon ‘rim to rim’ back-packing adventure that
Tom and Don took, and the recent Kirkland Turkey Trot benefiting
Hopelink.
Dave Enger competed in orienteering events in British Columbia,
Saskatchewan, Washington, California, Colorado and Virginia this
year. Dave’s highlight of the orienteering year was winning the US
Long Distance Orienteering Championship for his age class at an
event in August in the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains near
Woodland Park, Colorado.
One rainy day in June, the Mirai relay team joined forces to
battle the elements and each other in the 100-mile Mountains to
Sound Relay. Near dawn, John Davies started the race at Snoqualmie
Pass on his trusty mountain bike (22 miles), passing the baton to
Dave Enger who raced swiftly on his road bike to Redmond (50
miles), and on to Don Samdahl in his kayak who paddled down the
Sammamish Slough from Marymoor Park to Log Boom Park, Kenmore.
Yukari Bettencort picked up the challenge and ran a half marathon
(13.1 miles) to Gas Works Park where she met up with Jenny Pearson
who sprinted the last 6 miles to Golden Gardens Park. A great team
showing for our first attempt at this event. (We finished at 130/175
in 9.5 hours compared to winner at a little over 6 hours). We will
be back next year.
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Mike Lapham led a Habitat for Humanity
Volunteer team to build homes in Tarija, Bolivia. Tarija is a
medium-sized colonial town located near the Argentina border. The
team was made up of 12 people from the US and Canada. Mike reports
that the build and trip went very well thanks to the wonderful
Bolivian volunteers and team members. Mike has traveled to Africa
with Habitat for Humanity.
John Davies, Janet Hall, Lisa Maitland, Dave Enger, Yukari
Bettencourt, Howard Wu, Brad Dain, Jennifer Pearson, Don Samdahl
and Ming-Bang Shyu rode their bikes to work last spring,
celebrating ‘Bike to Work Day’. Although John Davies uses his
motor on the hills, the purists count him as one of them. Many of
this group continued biking on Fridays throughout the summer and
Ming, Dave and Jenny continue to bike several days a week this
Fall.
MANAGING GROWTH
AND MULTIMODAL MITIGATION PROJECT
Project Description
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This pdf file shows some of the major
projects Mirai has been working on in 2007.
A DECADE
- 1998 to 2008
All of us at Mirai want to thank you - our clients for 10 great
years. In 1998, when we started Mirai in the back room of Tom’s
house (the garden office) using borrowed tables and computers, we
wanted to make a difference. We formed Mirai to help jurisdictions find
solutions to serve the growth in the region’s transportation system.
In 2005, we moved to Kirkland and added services in traffic
engineering and traffic impact analysis.
Now it’s 2008, we’ve grown to more than 20 people. We enjoy the
diversity of skills and talent that our staff brings to projects and
clients. We look forward to working with you on our transportation
challenges in the great Pacific Northwest. Here’s to the next 10
years!
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Mirai 2006 Newsletter
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