Bastian Schroeder, Director of Research at Kittelson, has been announced as the next chair of the Transportation Research Board’s Committee on Highway Capacity and Quality of Service (HCQS, TRB Committee Number ACP40). Bastian will serve a three-year term starting April 2022.
Bastian has participated in HCQS activities as a member or friend for more than 15 years, and served as secretary for the past three years. He has worked on the past three editions of the Highway Capacity Manual (HCM), most recently leading the research on capacity adjustment factors of connected and automated vehicles that is now formally in the HCM 7th Edition (HCM7).
Thank You to Outgoing Chair, Tom Creasey
Outgoing chair Tom Creasey receiving recognition from TRB’s Rich Cunard for his six years of service as chair.
Bastian takes the torch from Caliper Corporation‘s Tom Creasey, whose significant contributions as chair have included getting HCM7 reviewed/published in the middle of a pandemic, and leading a restructuring of the committee from 13 subcommittees down to five as part of an effort to simplify committee activities back to its core mission.
“I am excited to continue the legacy that Tom started, which is really a ‘back to the basics’ movement,” said Bastian. “Over the years, methods of the HCM have gotten more complicated. As a committee we’ve put a lot of emphasis in to simplifying things to get back to the core purpose of the manual, which is providing estimates of capacity and traffic operations.”
What’s Next for HCQS
The HCQS Committee has already been hard at work in 2022. In addition to publishing HCM7, members are working on a series of research efforts that will be reflected in the next edition of the manual. These include a new arterial weaving method; updates to freeway merge, diverge, and weaving methods; and new reliability and quality of service methods for rural highways. The committee is also working through how to translate big data into actionable information for capacity estimates.
“That’s the future,” said Bastian. “We’re using more and more big data sets, lots of complexity, but distilling it down into simple and easy-to-use information. That’s the challenge in front of us: Big Data-Simple Results.”
Bastian is part of a legacy of Kittelson staff who have developed a passion for the work of the HCQS Committee. Rick Dowling and the late John Zegeer were prior chairs, and many other Kittelson staff have been members over the years and heavily involved as friends. We look forward to continuing to be involved in the important work of this committee. For more information, you can contact Bastian directly.