Alek Pochowski: Circling Back to Safety

We’re an interconnected nationwide team, but we each have our own reasons for being passionate about the work we do. This month, get to know Alek Pochowski, associate engineer/planner in our Washington D.C. office.

What’s your background and how did you end up at Kittelson?

As an undergrad civil engineering student at Iowa State University, I interned for the City of Lenexa, Kansas, a suburb of Kansas City near where I grew up. At the time, the City was building a lot of roundabouts. I was given the original roundabout guide to review along with one of the design plans for a soon-to-be-built roundabout. Looking through the guide, I was curious who writes things like this, and that’s when I saw Kittelson’s name for the first time. Later that fall, I applied to internships at several companies but kept getting asked if I would work in their Kansas City office.

On a whim, I looked up that roundabout company and was delighted to see only a few offices on the east and west coasts, nowhere near Kansas City. Coincidentally, Ed Myers and Casey Bergh visited Iowa State about a week later. The first thing I said to Ed was that I was interested in roundabouts, which turned out to be the exact right thing to say to the exact right person. After studying abroad in Scotland the following spring and experiencing many British roundabouts, I interned in Kittelson’s Portland office. I returned to finish my undergrad the next year and then started full-time in Kittelson’s Baltimore office. After two years and many roundabouts, I went to grad school at Georgia Tech and later returned to Kittelson’s Reston office before transitioning to our D.C. office.

Over the years, my work has shifted away from roundabouts and toward Vision Zero projects in the District and other cities. What I didn’t realize at first is that the lessons from designing roundabouts—reducing conflict speeds, slowing vehicles, and prioritizing people walking and biking—translate directly into the work I do today.

What is on the horizon for roundabouts?

A few years ago I would have said designs that prioritize people walking and biking. But the new roundabout guide and the NACTO Urban Bikeway Design Guide (which I was fortunate to help with) already include some excellent bicycle designs. My hope is that roundabouts stop being seen as “alternative” or “innovative” and instead become just another type of intersection that doesn’t draw extra attention or scrutiny.

What’s the biggest misconception people have about roundabouts?

That they’re new, different, or European, or that New Jersey removed them all in the 1950s. The truth is that circular intersections have existed for thousands of years. Roundabouts are simply a rebranded version with one-way circulation, speed control, and yield on entry.

Where do you see roundabout design heading in the next 10 years?

With the rapid growth in roundabouts across the United States, I hope the next decade is when they become mainstream and no longer something we can track in a database. The safety benefits and long-term cost savings are hard to ignore, and with new designs that prioritize walking and biking, we now have more U.S. examples that show how roundabouts can work in a variety of places.

Fast Lane Facts

Do you have a favorite roundabout?

For many years it was the mythical Peanutabout, but now it’s the temporary design at 10th Street & Barry Place & Florida Avenue NW in Washington, D.C. During COVID, I walked my puppy through that intersection every day and thought about how great a roundabout would be there. When we later worked with DDOT on the Near Northwest III Safety and Mobility Study, I had the chance to design one, and it worked even better than I imagined.

What’s the most rewarding part of your work?

The combination of working with great curious people who embrace trying new things.

What do you like to do outside of work?

Walk and bike through circular intersections with my wife and dog.