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"Main Street America Meets Main Street Europe"
May 2-3, 2002 Seattle, Washington, USA
Final Agenda
Wednesday, May 1, 2002
Registration Desk Open for check-in: 5:00-7:00 pm
Welcome Reception sponsored by CH2M Hill, 6:00-7:30 p.m.
Thursday, May 2, 2002
7:00-8:00 am
Continental Breakfast and Registration Check-in
8:00 am
Welcoming Session
Dr. Kam Movassaghi, Secretary, Louisiana Department of Transportation & Development
Dr. Kam K. Movassaghi, Scan Team Co-Chair and Chairman of the AASHTO Subcommittee on Design will open the session with introductions by FHWA, AASHTO, and Washington State officials. He will give an overview of the Symposium and what will be accomplished over the next day and half.
Welcoming us will be:
King Gee, Program Manager, Office of Infrastructure, FHWA
John Conrad, Assistant Secretary for Engineering & Regional Operations, Washington State DOT
8:20 am
The European Scan
Mr. Bob Walters, Chief Engineer, Arkansas Department of Highways& Transportation
Mr. Walters, Chief Engineer, AHTD, and the Chairman, AASHTO Task Force on Geometric Design, will present the purposes behind the June 2000 Scan to Sweden, Denmark, the United Kingdom, Germany, and the Netherlands. He will present the key findings, contrasting the different approaches between European and US practices.
8:45 am
The US Approach
Mr. Parker Williams, Administrator, Maryland State Highway Administration
Mr. Williams will present the history of context sensitive design and the rational for its existence. He will discuss how various policies and initiatives are being crafted on both a national and State basis and how the pilot state concept has borne fruit. Finally, Mr. Williams will present the real challenges the country faces in balancing community values and needs with the mobility that has been the hallmark of the American lifestyle.
9:15 am
Break
9:30 am
European Experiences and Practices
In this segment, four key European officials involved in the planning and design of transportation facilities within their countries will share the balance they strive for in providing both for mobility and for community involvement in the design process.
The Netherlands Story
Mr. Houko Luikens, AVV Transport Research Centre, Netherlands Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management.
The Netherlands has a very bold and assertive approach towards context sensitive design through the policies and procedures they follow, their standards, guides and recommendations – all of which define and involve the community throughout the process. Finally, the CROW representative will present some significant illustrations of how these polices and process are being applied.
The United Kingdom Story
Mr. Nigel Edwards, Policy Advisor, UK Highways Agency
"Route Management Strategies"
The UK has outlined a 10-year corridor program that identifies the function, objectives, problems and actions required to balance community and highway needs. They will also discuss how specifically they way local needs on Main Street Issues.
The Danish Story
Mr. Kenneth Kjemtrup, Danish Road Directorate
"Integrating Techniques and Actions for Social Acceptance of a Structured Highway System"
The Danish Road Directorate's procedures and processes to achieve "Beautiful Roads" (context-sensitive design) by closely working with the public, engineers, architects, State, county and local decision makers, as well we as many other interest groups. They will from present examples on how they consider all modes of transportation, such as, motorized traffic, non-motorized traffic such as pedestrians and bicyclists as well as providing for non-vehicular roadside activities and disabled persons. Finally, they will present their approach on speed reduction and traffic management by design.
The German Story
Dr. Reinhold Baier, Managing Director, BSV, German Roads Directore
During the Scan Visit, the team visited a town in the vicinity of Mainz where a series of measures were implemented to reduce the speed of the vehicles traveling though the town. The presentation will highlight the approach taken, the steps for implementation, the measures used, the effectiveness of the measures (lower speeds, fewer crashes, etc), and the lessons learned from this experiment. For more than 20 years, Dr. Baier has dealt with urban transport management, traffic calming, road safety and the design of road space. His office develops planning concepts for all over Germany. He currently is the committee chair for developing new guidelines for German urban roads.
12:00 pm
Lunch
The Washington State Story and Introduction to the Field Trips
John Conrad, Assistant Secretary for Engineering and Regional Operations, Washington State DOT
Communities in Washington State have been applying many context sensitive principles to various portions of their transportation systems. Our speaker will discuss the successes and the challenges in moving forward with this approach. He will also give us a rundown of what we will see on the field trips.You will have a choice of one of the three trips listed below.
12:45 pm
Field Trips
1. City of Seattle
Tour Leader - Peter Lagerwey, Seattle Transportation Department
This tour will take you through a big city attempting to deal with many diverse neighborhoods, populations and needs. How do they deal with these issues? What strategies are they using? See road "diet" arterials and innovative neighborhood street treatments. Are they "true" to good highway and street design principles? Do they always make everyone happy?2. Redeveloping Communities with Transportation Design
Tour Leader - Brian Walsh, P.E., WSDOT
On this tour, you will visit small and medium sized communities including Auburn, Mercer Island Redeveloped Center and the I-90 Freeway "lid", Renton and Kent. You'll see examples of how several streets and roadways are meeting traffic movement needs as well as meeting other community values such as economically viable downtowns, transit, pedestrian and sustainable environments.3. Developing Urban Corridors and Suburban Arterial Systems
Tour Leader - David Berg, P.E., Bellevue Transportation Department
This tour will examine major arterial routes that are the "workhorses" of their communities and must balance changing land use, access issues, pedestrian needs, transit needs, and other conflicts with moving high volumes of traffic. The tour will focus on the suburban eastside communities of Puget Sound including Bellevue, Redmond, and Kirkland - as well as a quick view of the Mercer Island "lid" project on I-90.
3:30 pm
Return to the hotel
3:45 pm
North American Case Studies
Many North American DOTs have applied the principles of context sensitive design, addressing the role the community played in the decision-making, and the impact this had on the ultimate project decisions. The speakers will highlight the similarities between the European methodologies and the adaptations that were made to meet specific community values and transportation needs.
The British Columbia Story
John C. Collings, PE, Principal, Collings Johnston Inc.
Canada's extensive road network is operated under the jurisdiction of its ten provinces and three territories. Although the Federal Government and organizations such as the Transportation Association of Canada (TAC) provide co-coordinating roles in areas of design and signage, design approaches vary across the country. The flexible use of design parameters, known in Canada as "design domain", is being employed in different ways as authorities seek to improve safety, reliability and capacity improvement goals. This approach to design flexibility is enhancing the affordability and constructability of projects, while attending to environmental and stakeholder concerns. Design domain encompasses many of the attributes of context sensitive design.
The Minnesota Story
Mr. Dave Ekern, Assistant Commissioner, Minnesota Department of Transportation
Minnesota is one of the initial pilot states for context sensitive design. Mr. Ekern will focus on the core definition of context sensitive design as illustrated in two project rural settings, the keys of success in the Minnesota approach, and the translation of the principles of CSD into workshops being used in the transportation community.
The Kentucky Story
Mr. Phil Logdson, Environmental Coordinator, Kentucky Transportation Cabinet
The University of Kentucky wanted to pave a 1.2-mile minor arterial through campus. The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet envisioned a higher future traffic volume and determined that the existing 4-lane section would be better served by stripping the existing road to 5 lanes while staying within the existing 52-foot right of way. At the public meetings, the public balked at this plan and proposed a 3-lane section with bike lanes. The 3 lanes and bike lane design was implemented and it is working efficiently. The speaker will provide the background information, discuss the advantages of road-diet, and present this successful CSD implementation story.
Mr. James C. Codell, III, Secretary, Kentucky Transportation Cabinet
Secretary Codell will address how the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet continues to pursue environmental excellence throughout the organization by raising the expectations of their customers, their partners, and the staff by institutionalizing Context Sensitive Solutions in planning, design, and construction programs in meeting the public's transportation needs.
A real touch of the Northwest! Blake Island State Park is a 475-acre marine camping park with five miles of saltwater beach shoreline providing magnificent views of the Olympic Mountains and the Seattle skyline. The park is only reachable by boat. We will board a boat on the Seattle waterfront and celebrate our time together while enroute to Tillicum Village on Blake Island. Dinner is served in the traditionally-styled cedar longhouse. The salmon is cooked over an open fire on cedar stakes in the ancient Northwest Coast Native American fashion. Following dinner, we'll enjoy demonstrations of Northwest Indian dancing at Tillicum Village. The return cruise features views of the Seattle's nighttime skyline from the waters of Elliott Bay.
10:30 pm
Return to Hotel
Friday, May 3, 2002
7:00-8:00 am
Continental Breakfast
8:00 am
The Gap: Community Needs versus Regional Mobility
Timothy R. Neuman, P.E., Vice President and Chief Highway Engineer, CH2M Hill
While we have heard how our European and US transportation representatives are attempting to address context sensitive design, you may have noticed that one significant element of our system is calling out for creative solutions. Our major arterials are a lifeline for regional mobility for both personal and commercial vehicles. Communities, however, are struggling with a host of issues that directly challenge the very essence of that function. Do we have ways to balance the needs? Mr. Neumann will address this challenge but give us some real solutions that several DOTs have implemented.
8:40 am
Open Mike
Session Moderator: Ray Krammes, Highway Research Engineer, FHWA
During this session, you will have the opportunity to ask questions of all our speakers, to exam additional details, ask about culture changes, legal issues, and all those apparent barriers that make implementation in your state difficult and challenging.
9:40 am
The Challenge
Mr. John Horsley, Executive Director, AASHTO
Mr. Horsley will summarize the similarities and differences between the US and European policies and practices. Mr. Horsley will challenge us with a course of action that, if implemented, could make context sensitive processes and tools more constructive elements within our transportation program.
10:00 am
Adjourn