Bridging Research, Design, and Safer Streets

Former WSDOT Assistant Secretary Marshall Elizer Joins Kittelson

Please join us in welcoming Marshall Elizer to Kittelson!

Marshall is a highly respected transportation engineer, researcher, agency leader, and consultant who has spent decades working at the intersection of operations, geometric design, and safety for all travel modes, most recently serving as Assistant Secretary of Transportation for the Washington State DOT from 2017-2025. His career began at the University of Tennessee and has included nearly two decades in consulting along with governmental transportation leadership roles in Tennessee, Colorado, Texas, California, and Washington.

Marshall is known for approaching complex suburban and urban transportation challenges with a focus on how design and operations influence behavior—particularly speed—and how thoughtful, context-based design can make streets safer and more intuitive for everyone. In recent years, he’s researched and written on the art and science of speed management and the concept of “self-explaining” or “self-enforcing” roads. This included serving as principal investigator and lead author for NCHRP Research Report 880: Guidelines for Designing Low- and Intermediate-Speed Roadways that Serve All Users.

“People respond to what streets tell them,” says Marshall. “When speed, geometry, and context are aligned, streets naturally encourage safer behavior. Putting the pieces together is a challenge that never gets boring. 45+ years into my career, I’m as passionate as ever about what I do.”

“Putting the pieces together is a challenge that never gets boring. 45+ years into my career, I’m as passionate as ever about what I do.”

A significant throughline in Marshall’s work is his longstanding involvement with AASHTO’s A Policy on Geometric Design of Highways and Streets, also known as the Green Book. After being a contributing author to both the 6th and 7th editions, Marshall served as panel chair for NCHRP 07-29, which developed the draft 8th edition. Through this work, Marshall has been closely involved in the profession’s evolution toward more flexible, context-sensitive design guidance, and he looks forward to applying that experience through helping agencies update policies and guidebooks to align with where the Green Book, and transportation design and operations, is headed.

But that’s far from the extent of Marshall’s engagement in the broader transportation profession: his service also includes roles as International President of the Institute of Transportation Engineers, a six-year board member of the American Public Works Association, longtime involvement in the National Complete Streets Coalition, and extended service on AASHTO technical committees related to geometric design, highways and streets, and active transportation.

We at Kittelson have interacted with Marshall in many of these roles, and after years of meaningful collaboration, we are excited to be able to introduce him as a Kittelson employee for the first time! Marshall will be working a part-time schedule as a member of our Technology and Research Services (TRS) team and primarily focusing his time advising design, safety, and research projects.

“I was drawn to Kittelson as a team that’s effectively connecting research and practice,” says Marshall. “At this stage in my career, what matters most to me is helping the profession move forward. Kittelson’s emphasis on the practical application of research is creating real momentum, and I’m excited to be a part of it.”

“At this stage in my career, what matters most to me is helping the profession move forward. Kittelson’s emphasis on the practical application of research is creating real momentum, and I’m excited to be a part of it.”

To learn more about Marshall’s new role at Kittelson, you can contact Hermanus Steyn (regarding design projects), Bastian Schroeder (regarding research projects); or reach out to Marshall directly.