RSG is working with the Vermont Agency of Transportation to develop an On-Road Bicycle Plan in support of enhancing on-road bicycle improvements on the State highways. The deadline for public input is May 15th and both Vermont Public Radio and Burlington’s WCAX News shared the story. RSG and VTrans are collecting public input on where people ride now and routes people would like to ride if they were safer. This input will help to inform where to focus limited resources towards bicycle improvements and allow better integration into Agency projects.
RSG consultants will lead six presentations at the 2015 International Choice Modelling Conference in Austin, TX from May 10-13. RSG is organizing and sponsoring the conference jointly with the Center for Transportation Research (CTR) at The University of Texas at Austin.
The event will bring together leading researchers and practitioners from across different areas of study, with presentations looking both at state-of-the-art methodology as well as innovative real world applications of choice models.
RSG is working with the South Carolina Department of Transportation to determine drivers’ willingness to pay for travel time savings for a new stretch of Interstate 73 in South Carolina. The survey is currently in field and the project was recently featured by NBC’s WMBF news program. Check it out.
RSG Senior Consultant, Steve Gayle, appointed to the NCHRP Project Panel: Project 20-102(01), Identification of State and Local Policy and Planning Actions that Could Facilitate Implementation of Connected Vehicle and Autonomous Vehicle Systems.
Steve will join a diverse group of experts who will develop the scope of work and review the ongoing research over the next year, ultimately approving the final product of this project. As the title suggests, this is one of a series of projects that will assist state and local governments in understanding more about the coming reality of autonomous (self-driving) vehicles.
RSG Director, Eddie Duncan, will present this week at the Sixth International Conference on Wind Turbine Noise in Glasgow, Scotland. His presentation will cover methods for assessing background sound levels during post-construction compliance monitoring within a community.
The International Conference on Wind Turbine Noise is a biennial gathering sponsored by the International Institute of Noise Control Engineering (I-INCE). It provides an opportunity for all those with an interest in wind turbine noise, its generation, its prediction, its assessment, and its effects on people, to meet together to discuss common problems and solutions.
RSG Analyst, Erich Rentz, has been attending the 2015 AASHTO GIS for Transportation Symposium this week in Des Moines, Iowa. At the conference he gave two presentations, “Developing Travelshed TAZ Using ArcGIS” and “Cumulative Non-Negative Elevation Gain.”
The annual GIS for Transportation Symposium is sponsored by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials; it is an opportunity for those in government and private industry who are interested in the use of GIS for transportation purposes to get together to share experiences, see state-of-art software, and learn more about the field.
RSG Senior Consultant, Michelle Lee, is attending the “Moving Active Transportation to Higher Ground” conference in Washington, DC this week.
The conference will focus on the evidence base as well as discussion of key tools and metrics for active transportation. Jointly sponsored and organized by ACSM and the Transportation Research Board of the National Academies of Science, the conference will bring together experts and constituents from transportation, urban planning, public health healthcare, and health economics to explore the practice of quantifying the public health outcomes of active transportation.
RSG Senior Consultant Michelle Lee was recently named to the Michigan State University (MSU) Department of Geography Alumni Advisory Board. Last week, Michelle traveled out to East Lansing, Michigan to volunteer on the board and at the annual MSU Geography Career & Internship Event.
The board is responsible for developing relationships between alumni, faculty, and students, developing fresh perspectives to address department issues and opportunities, and mentoring both graduate and undergraduate geography students.
RSG is excited for the upcoming 2015 George Wright Society Conference on Parks, Protected Areas, and Cultural Sites next week. RSG’s Steve Lawson, Brett Kiser, and Susie Irizarry will be in attendance.
Steve will lead a session on Sustainable Transportation for National Parks, act as a panelist discussing career paths in parks and protected areas management, and serve as a George Melendez Wright Scholarship mentor. Steve also will present a paper he co-authored with Brett as part of the session Conventional Transportation Planning in National Parks: Consequences and Alternatives. Susie will present both a paper titled, “A Novel Application of GPS and Sensor Data to Explore Micro-Level Site Displacement Among Yosemite Wilderness Visitors” and a poster on day hike trail choice decision making in Yosemite Wilderness.
RSG Senior Consultant, Jeffrey Dumont, and Director, Stephane Hess, co-authored the article “Individual Level Models vs. Sample Level Models: Contrasts and Mutual Benefit,” which was published in the latest issue of Transportmetrica A: Transport Science. In the article, Jeff, Stephane, and co-author Marek Giergiczny assessed the use of individual level estimates in transport applications. In particular, they explored a new technique for modeling that draws on the relative benefits of multiple modeling types for a more realistic, efficient result.