RSG Consultant Isaac Old will present this week at the 2017 International Conference on Wind Turbine Noise in Rotterdam the Netherlands. His presentation will use knowledge about the differences in results between sound propagation modeling methods and how wind turbine noise varies over time to compare results from recent studies on how humans respond to wind turbine noise.

This biennial international conference on wind turbine noise is organized by INCE-Europe and is a main forum for the technical discussion of wind turbine noise, from how it is generated to its effect on neighbors.

RSG Senior Engineer Erica Wygonik co-authored the article, “Evaluating the Impacts of Density on Urban Goods Movement Externalities,” which was recently published in the Journal of Urbanism. Compared to previous research on the subject, this article examines the impacts of replacing passenger travel for shopping with delivery services over a broad set of externalities (VMT, CO2, NOx, and PM10) in both urban and rural communities.

RSG Director Vince Bernardin will present this week at the 2017 North Carolina Association of Metropolitan Planning Organizations (NCAMPO) Conference in New Bern, NC from April 26-28.

His presentation, titled “The Power of Big Data – and its Limits!,” will share an assessment of using big data sources to improve modeling accuracy, including a candid look at their power and the often overlooked complications.

RSG is honored to sponsor this conference.

RSG Senior Transportation Engineer, Kordel Braley, is presenting later this week alongside Christopher Chestnut of the Utah Transit Authority (UTA) at the 58^th Transportation Research Forum Annual Conference. Their presentation, titled “Attitudinal Market Segmentation Applied to Transit Service Area: An Updated Approach,” will discuss RSG’s use of latent class cluster analysis to perform a market segmentation of transit riders and non-riders in Utah to assist the UTA with bus service planning improvements. The conference is taking place in Chicago, Illinois on April 20-21.

RSG’s Steve Lawson, Susan Irizarry, Ellen Rovelstad, and Alex Belensz are headed to the 2017 George Wright Society Conference next week. Among them, they have organized two sessions and will have four presentations and one poster at the event, which will take place from April 2-7 in Norfolk, Virginia.

The conference, organized by the George Wright Society, takes place every two years and is the premier interdisciplinary professional meeting on parks, protected areas, and cultural sites.

Last week, the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) issued a statewide news release titled “Updated research looks in-depth at how poor road conditions will impact Oregon's economy.” As the title suggests, the release explains that funding shortfalls for infrastructure will have significant negative impacts on the state economy and resident’s quality of life.

One of the reports that the release references, “Rough Roads Ahead 2,” relied on the Oregon Statewide Integrated Model (SWIM) to study an issue that many state DOTs are facing—declining revenue accompanied by increasing costs due to the need to maintain and/or replace deteriorating infrastructure. RSG’s Joel Freedman and Ben Stabler helped build the model that was used for the analysis, and—along with RSG’s Nagendra Dhakar—assisted Oregon DOT staff define alternatives to be tested in the model, analyzed model outputs, and interpreted results.

See Oregon's Rough Roads/Pavement Reports website for more information.

Two RSG-involved projects received recognition at the American Council of Engineering Companies of NH (ACEC NH) Engineering Excellence awards banquet last week.

RSG assisted AECOM by collecting and analyzing traffic and survey data for the “NH Statewide Rest Area and Welcome Center Study,” which received an honorable mention.

In addition, the RSG project “Your Guide to Promoting Walking and Bicycling Accommodations in New Hampshire” received a Silver award. The guide, completed in collaboration with the New Hampshire Department of Transportation (NHDOT) and its Bicycle & Pedestrian Transportation Advisory Committee (BPTAC), informs bicycle and pedestrian stakeholders on how to most effectively engage in the transportation project planning and design process. The final product marries complex technical content with reader-friendly design and language, serving as both an outreach and educational resource for the public.

RSG’s proprietary location-aware market research app, rMove, was featured on NBC San Diego last week. RSG is conducting a household travel survey for the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) and, as the segment explains, is using rMove to allow for participation via smartphone. rMove is a platform that collects data on participants’ day-to-day movements and motivations to help organizations confidently plan for future transportation needs.

The study, which is taking place from August 2016 to March 2017, is projected to include data from 5,500 households. Compared to traditional survey methods, data collection via rMove will provide more accurate and robust data as well as more enjoyment and convenience for participants. Find out more at meetrmove.rsginc.com.

RSG’s proprietary location-aware market research app, rMove, was featured on NBC San Diego last week. RSG is conducting a household travel survey for the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) and, as the segment explains, is using rMove to allow for participation via smartphone. rMove is a platform that collects data on participants’ day-to-day movements and motivations to help organizations confidently plan for future transportation needs.

The study, which is taking place from August 2016 to March 2017, is projected to include data from 5,500 households. Compared to traditional survey methods, data collection via rMove will provide more accurate and robust data as well as more enjoyment and convenience for participants. Find out more at meetrmove.rsginc.com.

RSG Senior Director Steve Lawson's appointment as adjunct faculty at the University of Vermont (UVM) was recently renewed by the university. In this role, Steve serves on graduate student committees and provides opportunities for professional experience to graduate and undergraduate students in the Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources (RSENR). In addition, he serves in this role as a liaison with the school for collaboration on research, scholarship, and consulting projects.

Steve's adjunct faculty appointment at UVM reinforces RSG's commitment to its academic roots and the scientific rigor of our work.