What COVID-19 Has Taught Us About Curbside Management

Will the pandemic permanently change the way we use the curb?   In almost every urban area and town in the world, the curb is…

5 Reasons to Attend the TRB 2021 Annual Meeting as a Student

The National Academies of Science, Engineering & Medicine’s Transportation Research Board—referred to within the profession as TRB—was established in November 1920 out of the need…

Applying Engineering Services to Honor Veterans in North Plains, OR

At the end of 2019, Blake Boyles with the City of North Plains, OR contacted Kittelson’s Principal Engineer Tony Roos to see if the Society…

FREEVAL-PA: An Innovation in Transportation & Software Engineering

A tool developed by Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) is changing the way PennDOT makes decisions about scheduling work zones. Historically, identifying the optimal timing…

Incorporating Health Into Transportation Projects: 6 Practical Principles for Success

As transportation professionals, we are in the public health business. The transportation policies, plans, projects, and recommendations we develop have an impact on the health…

The Case for Protected Intersections

In 2017, 43% of urban bicyclist fatalities occurred at intersections, writes the National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO) in the 2019 publication Don’t Give…

What We Learned From Our First-Ever Virtual Internship Program

Adrian Ayala, who is pursuing a Master’s degree in City and Regional Planning at Rutgers University, had planned to move from New Brunswick, NJ to…

Is Your City Ready for an Automated Future?

How can a transportation agency effectively plan for emerging technologies with a 25-year view, when the future of automated vehicles, mobility as a service, ride-hailing,…

Webinar Recording: Achieving Health Targets Through Transportation Decisions

On October 8, 2020, we gathered to dialogue about what it looks like to factor health into transportation through a webinar with Kittelson’s Lauren Hunt, Phyllis Davis, John Paul Weesner, and…

Findings From the City of Bend’s Roundabout Metering Test

Since the early days of modern roundabouts in the United States, this form of intersection control has grown in popularity as a cost-effective and often safer alternative…

Bringing Modern Roundabouts to Maryland

How Ed Myers’ “circular reasoning” helped launch the first statewide roundabout program in the United States   “What is a modern roundabout? Where are they…

Simple Tools That Made a Difference in Our Traffic Operations Project

When we can improve the functionality of a busy corridor and give “Twins of Evil” fans a hassle-free concert experience, we call that a project…

“Every Day is Saturday”: Alex Skabardonis’ Active Retirement and Eventful 38-Year Career

“Every day is Saturday,” says Kittelson Senior Principal Planner Alexander Skabardonis of his recent official retirement. In answer, Kittelson’s Rick Dowling says, “I hope you’ll…

Creating Safer Streets for Florida’s Aging Population With Road Safety Audits

The following article, authored by Benazir Portal of Kittelson & Associates and Kevin Walford of the Miami-Dade Transportation Planning Organization, was originally published in the…

Demystifying the Highway Capacity Manual for the Next Generation of Transportation Engineers and Planners

In an age of reliance on software programs, Michael Kyte and Rod Troutbeck’s Traffic Operations at Intersections is designed to help practitioners better understand and…

How Collaboration from Three MPOs is Transforming a Region’s Mobility Future

The Southeast Florida region—made up of Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach Counties—joins other rapidly growing regions looking to build their transportation systems differently. Southeast Florida…

My Virtual Internship Experience: Looking Back

Like many others, as COVID-19 continued to unfold, we at Kittelson were faced with the decision of canceling our internship program or reimagining it to…

Will COVID-19 Permanently Alter Teleworking and Commuting Patterns? Here’s What 1,000 Commuters Told Us.

COVID-19 has undoubtedly changed many work situations in the present. Will any of these changes stick around to be part of the “new normal” after…

Catalyzing Context-Sensitive Shifts in Transportation Planning & Engineering

Change always require a catalyst. Someone, or something, deciding things cannot go on the way they are. In 2019, Oregon Department of Transportation (DOT) released…

Adapting Public Spaces During COVID-19: 3 Examples of Tactical Urbanism Projects

“Everyone wants to know when this will end. That’s not the right question. The right question is: How do we continue?” – Devi Sridhar, public…

My Virtual Internship Experience: Midway Update

Like many others, as COVID-19 continued to unfold, we at Kittelson were faced with the decision of canceling our internship program or reimagining it to…

COVID-19 Is a Wake-Up Call for Transportation

As COVID-19 continues to unfold and cities respond, we see streets closed to cars, an influx of bicycling, and growing energy behind the idea that…

My Virtual Internship Experience: Reflections on Week One

Like many others, as COVID-19 continued to unfold, we at Kittelson were faced with the decision of canceling our internship program or reimagining it to…

How Many Roundabouts Are in the United States?

It’s the kind of question many of us assume has always been answerable—carefully tracked by some data-crunching agency since New York’s Columbus Circle opened in…

Standing Together For Racial Justice

I’m proud to work for an organization that creates space to have difficult conversations and listen to one another. As our nation reels from and…

Taking Transportation Safety Beyond Engineering Improvements

The Role of LRSPs, SSARs, and Vision Zero Plans in Multidisciplinary Safety Planning   Where there are transit stops, there are people walking. If there’s…

What Baltimore Can Teach Us About E-Scooters and Equity During COVID-19

Baltimore’s dockless vehicle program offers a wealth of insight for cities assessing the viability of e-scooters in their transportation system, particularly during COVID-19.   Baltimore’s…

2-Minute Survey: Help Us Understand Post-Pandemic Commutes

With two minutes of your time, you could help us shine a light into what changes may be on the horizon with commuting and teleworking…

Who’s Holding Up the (Electric) Bus?

Electric buses have zero tailpipe emissions, are quieter, easier to maintain, and have lower lifecycle costs than diesel buses. Despite drawbacks including higher upfront costs…

A Day in the Life of Four Transportation Engineers and Planners at Kittelson

“What does a typical day for you look like?” This is a question we often get as we speak with students, and it’s a good…

How We’re Celebrating National Bike Month During COVID-19

For 64 years, May has been celebrated as National Bike Month and a chance to celebrate the health, economic, environmental, and social benefits of cycling….

Online Learning Roundup: Transportation Webinars, Podcasts, and Blogs to Keep you Up-to-Date While Social Distancing

With many people working and attending classes remotely these days, there is an abundance of online educational content coming through our feeds. Articles, webinars, and…

Webinar Recording: Story First: Strategies for Strong Virtual Communication

On June 4, 2020 we gathered to dialogue about effective communication in the virtual space through a webinar with Susan Mah, Steve Rhyne and Katie Taylor. Susan, Steve,…

Webinar Recording: Estimating Traffic Volumes When There’s No Traffic

On May 14, 2020, we gathered to dialogue about an important topic through a webinar with Brian Dunn, Chris Brehmer, and Wayne Kittelson, authors of…

NCHRP 07-25: A Game of “20 Questions” That Looks Out For Pedestrians & Bicyclists At Intersections

In a Restricted Crossing U-Turn (RCUT) intersection, a driver makes a right turn, travels about 500 feet, then enters a left-turn lane to make a…

WHITE PAPER: Estimating Traffic Volumes Under COVID-19 Pandemic Conditions

Recently, we offered broad ideas responding to a question on the minds of many practitioners: How can important projects that rely on field-collected volume data…

Two Transportation Planners Debate: Are E-Scooters Here to Stay?

We’re always in favor of a little friendly debate. It helps us stay open and gain new perspectives, especially around transportation topics that are shrouded…

Collecting Traffic Counts When There’s No Traffic

Developing Proxy Traffic Volume Estimates During COVID-19 Pandemic Conditions   The COVID-19 pandemic has developed so rapidly that there has been very little opportunity for…

Moving Public Workshops Online: Tools & Examples for Responding to COVID-19

Conducting Community Outreach During a Period of Social Distancing   While important for limiting the spread of COVID-19, social distancing and restrictions on gatherings of…

6 Transportation Heroes During the Coronavirus Outbreak

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a drastic impact on our transportation systems, which in turn affects the livelihood of employees in the transportation industry. In…

Steps We’ve Taken to Transition to Remote Work (And You Can Too)

Kittelson & Associates joins organizations across the world in preparing to go fully remote as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to unfold. As a consulting firm,…

How COVID-19 Is Impacting Travel Patterns and Transportation Mode Choice

Published: March 13, 2020 Last Updated: March 23, 2020   Here at Kittelson, we’re joining organizations around the world in closely monitoring recommendations surrounding COVID-19…

How Collaborating As “One Firm” Strengthens Kittelson’s Project Work

Kittelson & Associates, Inc. is a company spread over more than 25 offices, yet we don’t silo project work by location. Due to our “one…

Environmental Justice and Transportation Planning

What is environmental justice? What has been done to advance it? And how can transportation planners factor it into projects?   Think of the water…

Webinar Recording: Thinking Twice About Bike Helmet Laws

On March 23, 2020 we gathered to dialogue about an important topic through a webinar with Conor Semler. Will mandatory helmet laws make bicycling in the…

How Transportation Agencies Can Set Themselves Up for Large-Scale ATSPM Deployment

Automated traffic signal performance measures (ATSPMs) are revolutionizing the way agency engineers view traffic management. These high-resolution data analytic tools pull from systems and components…

Webinar Recording: Environmental (in)Justice: From Recommendations to Regulations

On February 19, 2020 we gathered to dialogue about environmental justice through a webinar with Veronica McBeth. Veronica talked about: The harm inflicted upon minorities, low-income,…

Kittelson Launches the Sustainability Initiative: How Our Firm is Becoming Greener

Several months ago, a group of us at Kittelson got together to discuss how we’re incorporating environmentally sustainable habits in our offices and firmwide operations….

Does Vision Zero Start at the Curb?

In the January 2020 issue of Parking Magazine, Kittelson Senior Engineer/Planner Alek Pochowski explains how good curbside management has tremendous implications for keeping communities safe….

The Biggest Themes of the Transportation Research Board’s 2020 Annual Meeting

The Transportation Research Board (TRB)’s Annual Meeting is an eye-opener to, and reminder of, the many ways that transportation intersects everyday life, and the vitally…

Blueprint for Urban Design, ODOT’s Approach for Design in Oregon Communities

An Efficient Route to Applying Performance-Based Design Guidance   Traditionally, transportation engineers have been trained to apply a set of standards that primarily address function…

Two Ways Bike Helmet Laws Won’t Protect Bicyclists

Opinion | December 30, 2019   In November 2019, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) convened to examine the very important topic of bicycle safety….

3 National Research Efforts You Can Learn About at TRB 2020

A Primer on Automated Traffic Signal Performance Measures

Traffic signals can do much more for our transportation networks than just flash green, yellow, and red. Through advances in traffic signal technology and communications…

What We’re Most Excited About For TRB 2020

More than 13,000 transportation professionals from around the world will gather at the Transportation Research Board (TRB) Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C., January 12–16, 2020….

The Benefits and Drawbacks of a Cashless Public Transit System

Remember the “transit stores” of old? (Well… of a few years ago.) Schedules would be stacked on one wall and people selling fare cards would…

Could Big Data Replace On-The-Ground Traffic Counts?

Understanding traffic volumes is the bread and butter of a transportation engineer’s work. Volumes are usually measured along roadway segments or at intersections—where they are…

An Interview With Gibran Hadj-Chikh

“We are in the Napster phase of transportation. We don’t know who’s going to have Spotify.”   Gibran Hadj-Chikh joined Kittelson in August 2019 as…

Emergency Evacuation Strategies for Every Community

Emergency evacuations and resilience planning are increasingly important topics for many reasons. Here are two key points that are top-of-mind: #1: The substantial and increasing…

Tips for Your First TRB Annual Meeting

More than 13,000 transportation professionals from around the world will gather at the Transportation Research Board (TRB) Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C., January 12-16, 2020….

Rick Dowling and Abby Morgan Talk Emerging Tech

The first national guidebook about the impacts of new technologies on land use and transportation was released in pre-publication form by Transportation Research Board October…

Why We Put on a Mid-Level Staff Retreat

We are passionate about the work we do. At the same time, we know people in the middle of their careers are in the thick…

How Visualization Techniques Can Change Your Project’s Outcome

Giving stakeholders the opportunity to visualize transportation solutions before they become reality can confirm a project’s course, or change it for the better. Visualization is…

How Connected & Automated Vehicles May Change Freeway Capacities

100% market penetration for fully connected and automated vehicles (CAVs) will likely be post-2050, and even then may be restricted to dedicated CAV-only facilities. However,…

Transportation Careers For Every Major

From graphic design to tech services, here are 9 career paths in the transportation field that might surprise you.

7 Creative Kittelson Roundabouts for National Roundabouts Week

It’s National Roundabouts Week! To celebrate, we’re highlighting a few of our favorite roundabout design projects over the years. The Roundabout We Call “The Dogbone”…

Advice For Future Kittelson Interns, From Past Kittelson Interns

We just wrapped up our summer 2019 internship program, but we are already on recruiting students for our upcoming 2020 summer internships. We’re also excited…

5 Important Topics Presented at the Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals (APBP) 2019 Conference

The Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals (APBP) 2019 Conference took place from August 25-28 in Portland, Oregon. Ten Kittelson staff members—representing our Portland, Boston,…

The Latest Tools in Roundabout Evaluation

Roundabouts continue to be constructed at a rapid pace in the United States. We have well over 5,000 roundabouts nationwide, and that number is quickly…

7 Key Insights from the Automated Vehicles Symposium in Orlando, FL

From July 15-18, 2019 in Orlando, Florida, leaders in all branches of transportation technology came together to share new research, make connections, and discuss the future…

Using Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality in Transportation Planning

You’re preparing for a public meeting to communicate the pros and cons of two different bike lane facility alternatives. You want thoughtful feedback that comes…

5 Ways to Make Cities More Walkable

Close your eyes for a second, and think of a city you loved walking through. What do you see and feel? Traffic whizzing by? Stress…

Curbside Management on Urban Streets, Part Two: Best Practices for Curbside Data Collection

By Rodrikas Jones, East Coast Director of Operations, Quality Counts What’s an activity that weathers rain, snow, and tornado warnings to piece together an accurate…

Six Common Pitfalls (and Solutions) of Effective Community Engagement

As a transportation planning and engineering firm, we exist to improve people’s daily lives with better and safer transportation. The only way we can do…

Three Ways E-Scooters Could Make Cities Safer + More Equitable

The most recent e-scooter you’ve seen may have been entertainment on someone’s vacation, or a feature in a brunchtime Instagram story. Or, it may have…

A 105-Year History of the Electric Traffic Signal

2019 marks the 105th anniversary of the electric traffic signal, so let’s travel back in time to the very first signal system… which takes us…

Curbside Management on Urban Streets, Part One: The Value of the Curb

Once just a place for parking near your destination, today’s urban curbs have become a lively, non-stop interaction of countless modes of transportation, from cars,…

Planning-Level Capacity Adjustments for Connected and Automated Vehicles: The Future is Now

Self-driving truck platoons are delivering goods, auto manufacturers and ride-share providers are racing to be the first to distribute autonomous vehicles to customers, and connected…

Keeping a Unified Culture Across 26 Offices

Our company mantra has always been to hire motivated people and give them freedom to pursue their passions. When Wayne Kittelson founded Kittelson & Associates,…

Resilience Planning: Making Streets Nimble for Future Generations

When the nimbleness of a transportation network is tested, it’s rarely by an expected event—which is why it’s critical for communities to plan for the…

What Fort Lauderdale Teaches Us About Regulating E-Scooters

E-scooter companies expanded from one city to 71 cities in the United States in just 15 months. (For a visual illustration of this expansion, check…

The Intersection of Transportation and Health

APA National Planning Conference Session Brings Light to Common Health Challenges   The way we move around—in terms of transportation choices as well as physical…

Making Your Marketing Team Your Creative Partner

Tips for collaboration between marketing coordinators and technical staff   What needs to happen for marketing activities to get the attention and momentum they need…

Five Takeaways from the 2019 ASCE Legislative Fly-In

More than 250 members of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) convened for the organization’s annual Legislative Fly-In March 12 – 14, 2019. Attendees…

Expanding Transportation Options Can Improve Quality of Life

Every weekday morning in Seattle, a programmer drives a Car2Go from her neighborhood to a light rail station. In Baltimore, a graphic designer uses a…

Pick Up Your Bike With Us During Bike Month!

For the past 63 years, May has been officially designated as Bike Month around the nation. We’re not surprised—May has an average high temperature of…

How Lyft and Uber Affect Transportation Patterns

The United States has some of the worst traffic congestion in the developed world: in 2017, drivers here spent an average of 41 hours stuck…

The Why, What, and How of Planning for Operations

We’re two planners who have come to realize that being good planners means thinking more like non-planners. What do we mean? Good planning considers the…

The Story of the Temporary Roundabouts After Hurricane Florence

There was no way to fully prepare for the wettest tropical cyclone on record in the Carolinas. Hurricane Florence made landfall in September 2018. A…

What Does Traffic Calming Calm?

The speed of drivers? The number of drivers? The impatience of drivers? The stress level of residents?

The Importance of the Equity Lens in Transportation Planning and Design

An equity lens helps planners and designers see the needs of every person potentially served or impacted by every transportation decision. It’s best applied when…

Honoring the Life & Legacy of John Zegeer

With heavy hearts, we announce the passing of John Zegeer, former Senior Principal Engineer at Kittelson—a dedicated colleague, a trusted mentor, and a dear friend…

How Machine Learning Data is Changing Our Streets

Machine learning has been an important tool for several decades. It has been used for diverse tasks such as handwriting recognition, patient monitoring, facial recognition,…

Five Themes That Emerged from the 2019 TRB Annual Meeting

The 98th Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board just wrapped up in Washington, D.C. The brisk (and snowy) air may have had something to…

Reflections on a Visit Back to Amsterdam

Today, I walked through some streets of Amsterdam on my way to the American Consulate. Having lived in the United States for more than a…

3 Ways to Improve Public Transportation Sustainability

Finding solutions that enhance equity and sustainability for communities will always be central to the work we do as transportation professionals. Through research and data…

Getting to Work the Kittelson Way

Here at Kittelson, we like to think of ourselves as transportation nerds… and that transportation nerds get to work differently than the average US commuter….

AASHTO Green Book 8th Edition to Reflect Shifts Toward Multimodal Transportation

The future 8th Edition of A Policy on Geometric Design of Highways and Streets (Green Book 8) will reflect the dramatic evolution of the nation’s…

What’s the Future of Parking Garages?

Vehicle storage facilities are responding to a changing transportation network

Cycles of Health and Longevity

The Protected Bike Lane That’s Revitalizing a Community

Complete Streets Defined

The term “complete streets” has gained momentum in recent years, but the concept is time-tested. How can we develop networks that meet a community’s needs?…

Shaped by Values, Driven by Innovation

Jack Freeman, Karl Passetti, a hardworking team, and a great deal of gumption made our Orlando office what it is today.

Finding the Right Internship for YOU

Kittelson interns past and present share their insights on identifying the opportunities that will enable emerging professionals to thrive.

Finding the Right Internship for YOU: Part Two

Once you’re confident in the guiding principles and opportunities presented, it’s time to engage in practical steps to demonstrate how your internship is a good fit. Kittelson interns past and present tell you how.

Addressing Competition for Curbside Parking Spaces

parkDC: Penn Quarter/Chinatown is seeing success for five key reasons.

Are navigation apps changing traffic patterns?

As apps like Waze continue to give drivers alternatives to sitting in traffic, our engineers discuss the impacts.

FDOT Integrates Design with Context to Implement Complete Streets

FDOT takes the principle of Complete Streets to the next step by integrating a context classification into its design manual to design speed ranges for non-access-limited state roadways.

Automated Traffic Signal Performance Measures

The Waiting Is (No Longer) the Hardest Part

Evolving Complete Street Networks

Approaching Complete Streets design with a typological framework based on land use context to create a connected network

Keeping Time with the Future

Impacts of Connected Vehicles on Multimodal Geometric Design

How Future Vehicles Could Bring Cleaner Air

The Potential Effects of CAVs on GHG Emissions: A Research Synthesis

The Peanutabout: Solving Cambridge’s Skewed Intersection

The intersection of Hampshire Street and Cambridge Street in Cambridge, Massachusetts’ busy Inman Square presents a familiar challenge for cities. Due to its low-angle skew,…

Intern Jamboree Offers Camaraderie, Hands-On Learning Opportunities

Every summer, interns from Kittelson’s offices across the country gather in Portland for a week to participate in a host of hands-on learning opportunities, meet…

Performance-Based Design Helps to Address Evolving Infrastructure Needs

As state transportation departments seek to improve system performance, mobility and safety, engineers working in both the public and private sectors are charged with crafting…

Transforming Streets: Baltimore’s “Pop-Up” Protected Bike Lane

Four city blocks in Baltimore were transformed last Thursday, with a “pop-up” two-way protected bike lane, open for use by the end of the afternoon….

FHWA Develops Part-Time Shoulder Use Guide

A growing number of states in the United States are learning how part-time shoulder use can help manage congestion and want to put this strategy…

Utah’s Zero-Fatality Safety Summit

Last week, the Utah Department of Public Safety and the Utah Department of Transportation hosted over 400 participants at their state’s Zero Fatalities Safety Summit….

How We Get to Work: Told Through the Data

Here at Kittelson, we like to think of ourselves as transportation nerds. We enjoy philosophical discussions about parking policies as much as we love a…

“Pop-Up” Event Brings Separated Bike Lanes to Portsmouth, New Hampshire

City officials in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, arrived at Middle Street early in the morning armed with plastic posts, hay bales, and flower pots. Staff from…

MSU’s Summer Transportation Institute Introduces Students to New Possibilities

“It made me want to go to college more than I already wanted to and it also inspired me to try harder in school to…

League of American Bicyclists Award Bicycle Friendly Businesses

On April 22, the League of American Bicyclists awarded 161 new and renewing Bicycle Friendly Businesses (BFB) in 46 states and Washington, D.C. The BFB list now includes more than 950 businesses that are transforming the American workplace.

Testing Addresses Freight Industry Concerns about U.S. Highway 20 Roundabout

As the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) planned for a new roundabout on US 20 at Barclay Drive in Sisters, the freight industry expressed concern…

Anchorage Transportation Fair Offers Opportunity to Inform Public, Gather Feedback

Anchorage residents who wanted to know about transportation projects in their community recently had a chance to learn more about specific projects and see the…

TRIP97 Allows Central Oregon Jurisdictions to Collaborate on US 97 Improvements

From new residents to visitors from both inside and outside the state, people flock to Central Oregon for its natural beauty and ample array of…

Online Bike Count Data Clearinghouse Aims to Better Inform Transportation Decisions

The Bike Count Data Clearinghouse project aims to compile and standardize the collection of bicycle and pedestrian data to improve multimodal transportation planning across multiple…