Volume 21, Issue 2 APRIL | MAY 2014

TRANSPORTATION

G e o R G i a

ENGINEER®

the panama canaLat 100 yeaRS

tiGeR iithe atLanta StReetcaR pRoject

Road diet ShapeS upponce de Leon avenue

2 GeoRGia enGineeR

Publisher: A4 Inc.1154 Lower Birmingham RoadCanton, Georgia 30115Tel.: 770-521-8877 | Fax: 770-521-0406E-mail: p.frey@a4inc.com

Editor-in-Chief: Roland Petersen-FreyManaging Editor: Daniel SimmonsArt Direction/Design: Pam Petersen-Frey

Georgia Engineering Alliance233 Peachtree Street | Harris Tower, #700Atlanta, Georgia 30303Tel.: 404-521-2324 | Fax: 404-521-0283

Georgia Engineer Editorial BoardThomas C. Leslie, ChairMichael L. (Sully) Sullivan, ACEC Georgia, PresidentGwen D. Brandon, CAE, ACEC Georgia, Chief Operating Officer

ACEC/Georgia RepresentativesB.J. Martin, PELee Philips

ASCE/G RepresentativesDaniel Agramonte, PESteven C. Seachrist, PE

ASHE RepresentativeJenny Jenkins, PE

GSPE RepresentativesTim Glover, PE

ITE RepresentativesDaniel Dobry, PE, PTOEJohn Edwards, PE

ITS/G RepresentativesBill Wells, PEShaun Green, PEKay Wolfe, PE

SEAOG RepresentativeRob Wellacher, PE

WTS RepresentativeAngela Snyder

the Georgia engineer is published bi-monthly by A4 Inc. for the Georgia Engineering Allianceand sent to members of ACEC, ASCE, ASHE, GEF, GSPE, ITE, SEAOG, WTS; local, state, andFederal government officials and agencies; businesses and institutions. Opinions expressed by the au-thors are not necessarily those of the Alliance or publisher nor do they accept responsibility for er-rors of content or omission and, as a matter of policy, neither do they endorse products oradvertisements appearing herein. Parts of this periodical may be reproduced with the written con-sent from the Alliance and publisher. Correspondence regarding address changes should be sent tothe Alliance at the address above. Correspondence regarding advertising and editorial material shouldbe sent to A4 Inc. at the address listed above.

G e o R G i a

ENGINEER

apRiL | may 2014 3

36 42

39

40 44

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adveRtiSementSA4 Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

AECOM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

American Engineering Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

AMEC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Ayres Associates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Burns & McDonnell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Cardno TBE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Columbia Engineering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

CROM Corporation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

EcoWise Civil Design & Consulting Inc.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Edwards-Pitman Environmental Inc.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Engineered Restorations Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Facility Design Group. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Hayward Baker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Back Cover

Hazen & Sawyer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

HDR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Heath & Lineback Engineers Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

ITE Summer Seminar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

JAT. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Keck & Wood Inc.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Kennedy Engineering & Associates Group. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Kimley-Horn and Associates Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

MH Miles Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Pond Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Photo Science Geospatial Solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Prime Engineering Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Reinforced Earth Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

RHD Utility Locating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

ROSSER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

RS&H. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

S&ME . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Schnabel Engineering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Stevenson & Palmer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

STV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Terrell Hundley Carroll Right of Way Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

T•H•C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

TTL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

T. Wayne Owens & Associates, PC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

United Consulting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Inside Front Cover

Willmer Engineering Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Wolverton & Associates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

GeoRGia enGineeR4

t a b l e o f

CONTENTS GEORGIA ENGINEER April | May 2014

apRiL | may 2014 5

The Panama Canal at 100 Years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Road Diet Shapes up Ponce de Leon Avenue to be More Bicycle, Pedestrian, and Transit Friendly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Tiger II - The Atlanta Streetcar Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Cobb County - On the Move . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Atlanta Aerotropolis: Capitalizing on the Atlanta Regions’s Greatest Economic Asset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

AFS Expands Alternative Fuel Use with Largest Public CNG Station in Georgia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Building Trails in the City . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Georgia Engineering News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

ACEC Georgia News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

ASHE Georgia News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

GEF News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

ITE Georgia News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

ITS Georgia News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

SAME Georgia News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

WTS Georgia News. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Concrete Precast Panels Revitalize Pavements in Winder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

the panama canaL at 100 yeaRS 9

6 GeoRGia enGineeR

viSit uS attheGoeRGiaenGineeR.com

FEATURE

7apRiL | may 2014

there were decades of surveys and expeditions to one of the mostremote and unhealthy locations on earth to find a route across thenarrow strip of land between north and South america. Following

their wildly successful completion of the Suez Canal in 1869, the French began

construction in 1881 on a sea-

level passage across Panama.

They dug for six years before

changing the design concept to in-

clude locks to raise and lower ships over

the mid-isthmus mountain ridge. But by

1887 it was too late. The French company con-

structing the canal finally ran out of money in 1889,

was declared bankrupt, and became the center of a

national scandal, which seemed to consume French

pride and dignity.

THE PANAMA CANAL AT 100 YEARSthe fiRSt commeRciaL SteamShip officiaLLy SaiLed thRouGh the panamacanaL on auGuSt 15, 1914, aLthouGh it took aLmoSt 50 yeaRS ofStRuGGLe to Get to thiS ceLebRation.

BY THOMAS C. LESLIE

8 GeoRGia enGineeR

Ferdinand de Lesseps was the hero of the

Suez Canal construction. He was a man of

charisma, single-minded focus, and no

small self-esteem. His notion was to build

a sea level canal in Panama as he had done

in Suez, and he convinced 800,000 French

citizens, including both elites and com-

moners, to invest in his canal company. As

construction costs rose, additional stock

subscriptions were offered and purchased.

The bubble burst in 1889 and began three

years of l’affaire de Panama—a financial

scandal of the first order.

Even the great engineer, Gustave Eif-

fel, was swept up in the controversy. To

help provide public cover for the belated

change from a sea level to a lock-canal, de

Lesseps recruited Eiffel to design the locks.

Although Eiffel was charged with misuse

of funds and acquitted, his career as an en-

gineer and builder was destroyed.

By 1894, a new Panama Canal com-

pany was chartered in France, which held

the residual assets located in Panama but

which had no path forward. Meanwhile

in the U.S., the case for a canal to shorten

trade routes was as compelling as ever.

There seemed to be a growing consensus

for an ‘American’ canal through

Nicaragua in lieu of the failed ‘French’

canal through Panama. The debate at all

levels seemed to be independent of

which was the most cost-effective route.

Theodore Roosevelt was elected presi-

dent in 1901 as a strong advocate for a

canal. Among the arguments against the

Nicaragua route was the threat of vol-

cano eruptions in that country as evi-

denced by a Nicaragua postage stamp

that featured a volcano. In the end, Roo-

sevelt seemed to have selected the

Panama route largely based on a techni-

cal analysis and a much-reduced sales

price offered by the new canal company.

A congressional committee had made an

independent assessment and concluded

that the French assets should be valued

at $109 million, which must have made

the asking price of $40 million feel like a

sweet deal.

The American assumption of canal

construction seemed to exactly match the

times. American confidence was growing,

it would finish what Europe could not,

Theodore Roosevelt was a very popular

and energetic ‘can do’ President, and the

audacity of the project matched the coun-

try’s aspirations. The canal was a hard

project, but the President held the notion

that strong men were intended to over-

come hard things. And so it turned out.

The details were not nailed down until

1904. A significant impediment was that

Panama was a province of Columbia, which

balked at the terms agreed upon between

Panama and the U.S. The U.S. fomented a

revolution, which resulted in an independ-

ent Panama that quickly agreed to the U.

S. resumption of canal construction, a

lump sum payment of $10 million, and a

100-year lease that called for a payment of

$250,000/year. The U.S. was given control

over a six-mile wide Canal Zone.

Remarkably, the fundamental ques-

tion of whether the canal should have

locks or be at sea level remained open.

Roosevelt appointed an advisory panel of

international experts in 1905 to consider

this question. It recommended a sea level

canal with an eight-to-five vote. Only after

intense lobbying by the practical, on-the-

ground chief engineer in Panama, John

Stevens, did Roosevelt instruct his Isth-

mian Canal Commission to override the

recommendation in 1906 in favor of a

lock-canal.

Finally, the path forward was clear

and Roosevelt asserted that he was going

to ‘make dirt fly.’ The American project

concept is not crisply described as a ditch

across Panama. About two-thirds of the

route is through Lake Gatun, the world’s

largest manmade lake created by building

a massive earthen dam on the Chagres

River a few miles inland from the

Caribbean end of the canal. Three pairs of

locks were built to lower ships through the

dam to sea level. Locks were also built at

two locations on the other end of the

canal. In all, there were 12 chambers for

raising and lowering vessels. Each cham-

ber was 110’ wide by 1,000’ long by 81’

deep. The size was set to accommodate

the largest sea-going vessel at the time—

the Titanic. Sufficient hydroelectric energy

was generated at the Gatun Dam to oper-

ate the entire canal, although the raising

and lowering of water in the chambers

was achieved by simply closing and open-

ing valves.

The biggest challenge of canal con-

struction was the excavation of the Cule-

bra Cut, the high point on the route across

the Isthmus, 275’ above sea level. The

French had dug for six years and excavated

about 19 million cubic yards. The U. S. dug

for about seven years and removed an ad-

ditional 96 million cubic yards. The real

problem was the almost continuous land-

slides into the canal cut as the U.S. sought

to find a stable angle of repose on the side

slopes. Eventually, the top of the cut grew

from a planned width of 670’ to 1,800’

with side slopes at 5:1.

Over the years of U.S. construction,

the management structure evolved and

became very flat with the chief engineer

in Panama reporting to the Secretary of

War (William Howard Taft in the early

years) who reported to the President

(Theodore Roosevelt). It had become very

clear that a Canal Commission in Wash-

ington that provided final approval to

every dot and tittle in Panama, 2,000 miles

away, simply did not work.

The chief engineer, in essence, be-

came the CEO for canal construction as

well as the Canal Zone, itself. John

Stevens was the Chief Engineer from 1905

– 1907, and George Washington Goethals

was chief engineer from 1907 to 1914.

While they were involved in major design

decisions, both knew that their most im-

portant job was to provide for a well-fed,

well-equipped, well-housed, and well-or-

ganized work force. And this they did.

The scale of the Panama Canal is so

large it is hard to imagine. During the final

years of construction, the work force was

45,000 – 50,000. The American cost for

the canal was $352 million (in 1914 dollars

and included the $10 million payment to

Panama and the $40 million to the new

Canal Company in France). Since 1904

(the American years), 5,600 deaths oc-

curred from disease and accidents; 20 –

22,000 deaths occurred during the French

years of construction. There was a total of

262 million cubic yards of excavation. In

1907, the Americans estimated the total

cost and a completion date—the work was

done $23 million under budget and six

months ahead of schedule.

It is clear that by almost any metric,

the Panama Canal has been wildly suc-

cessful. It was not until 1936 when the

Queen Mary was launched that a ship was

too large to pass through the canal. But

this was just the beginning. In 1976, au-

thor David McCullough* reported that 700

ships were too large for the canal. It is cur-

rently undergoing a major expansion to

handle the even larger number of super

sized ships. It is expected to be completed

in 2015, and the stage will be set for the

canal’s next 100 years.

* The Path Between the Seas, The Cre-

ation of the Panama Canal, 1870 – 1914,

by David McCullough served as the basis

of this article. v

9apRiL | may 2014

GeoRGia enGineeR10

Road Diet Shapes up Ponce de Leon Avenue to be MoreBicycle, Pedestrian, and Transit Friendly

It connects Atlanta’s

Midtown business dis-

trict to downtown De-

catur, unincorporated central

DeKalb County, and Stone Mountain.

The street, which is named after the

Ponce Springs located at the bottom of

the valley just east of Glen Iris Drive,

once carried streetcars from downtown

and Peachtree Street to the Atlanta

Crackers’ ballpark. East of Briarcliff

Road/Moreland Avenue (US 23), Ponce

de Leon Avenue becomes part of the

historic Olmsted Linear Park, which re-

sembles the winding parkways of New

York and Washington, DC. The corridor

has some serious character.

It had been ranked as one of the most

dangerous corridors in the state for bi-

cyclists and pedestrians, and was not

much safer for motorists. West of the

Atlanta BeltLine corridor, the street was

marked as five to six travel lanes, with

left-turn lanes that began and ended

randomly, and turning vehicles blocking

the innermost through lane at many in-

tersections. Hard to imagine, but the

travel lanes in some places were as nar-

row as 8.5’, and, at several intersec-

tions, through vehicles were in a

head-on situation with left-turning vehi-

cles. The outermost through lanes were

up against the sidewalk, which in many

places lacked any curbing. This resulted

in an extremely poor pedestrian envi-

ronment, as high-speed vehicles passed

within feet of those walking along the

street with no vertical separation. Also,

during heavy rain events, pedestrians

would be splashed by passing cars while

walking to the MARTA rail station at the

west end of the corridor or waiting for

the number two bus. My wife and I

walked up and down this street for

about a year when we first moved to At-

lanta, and dreaded every moment of it.

hat may be the biggest road diet ever done in the

state of Georgia was a long time coming. Ponce de Leon

Avenue, designated as US Highway 78 and 278, is one of

Atlanta’s signature corridors.

in the early 2000s, ponce was a neglectedroadway in a soon-to-be-redevelopingneighborhood.

apRiL | may 2014 11

the outermost

through lanes were up

against the sidewalk,

which in many places

lacked any curbing.

To

the east of

the Atlanta BeltLine

bridge, the roadway was striped

with three eastbound lanes, one of which

dropped at North Highland Avenue as a

left-turn lane, and two westbound lanes,

which were blocked frequently by left-

and right-turning vehicles. One left-turn-

ing motorist could reduce the roadway to

one westbound through lane in the morn-

ing peak hour. Between North Highland

Avenue and Briarcliff Road/Moreland Av-

enue, the street was striped with four

travel lanes and a two-way left-turn lane.

A corridor-wide average of 38,000

motor vehicles per day traveled the road-

way in 2006 with the higher volumes on

the five-lane section east of the Atlanta

BeltLine. By 2010, average daily traffic

counts dropped to 24,590-34,710 vehi-

cles per day; however the western sec-

tion with more lanes still carried less

traffic.

crash data

According to the Georgia Department of

Transportation (GDOT), Ponce de Leon

Avenue between Midtown and Briarcliff

Road/Moreland Avenue, was ranked sec-

ond highest in the state’s crash reporting

system for pedestrian crashes. From

2000 to 2009, there were 5,408 collisions

along this segment. A total of 112 of

these crashes involved pedestrians, re-

sulting in 113 injuries and three fatalities.

Almost 2,000 of the crashes were rear-

end and about 1,000 were side-swipes.

Per the Federal Highway Administration

(FHWA), adding a two-way left-turn lane

can

reduce

rear-end

crashes

by 36

percent

and side-

swipe

crashes by

37 percent.

There were also

15 bicycle crashes from

2003 to 2007, with many related to the

lack of dedicated bicycle facilities. Data

shows that the addition of bicycle lanes

has a crash reduction factor of 36 per-

cent for all types of bike crashes.

pedestrian Safety project

In 2008, recognizing that the safety of

those on foot was a serious issue along

the corridor, GDOT programmed a

pedestrian safety project between the

Piedmont Avenue and Briarcliff

Road/Moreland Avenue intersections.

This project was primarily focused on in-

stallation of street lighting, new pedes-

trian hybrid beacons (HAWKs) at

mid-block crossing locations, and as-

sorted ADA improvements and sidewalk

repair. The project was also scoped to in-

clude several curb extensions and the re-

moval of a short right-turn lane; however

a lane reduction was not part of the ini-

tial scope. At the time, FHWA had not fi-

nalized its list of proven pedestrian

safety

countermea-

sures, which includes road

diets. A study done by the

Pedestrian and Bicycle Informa-

tion Center in 2013 showed that road

diets had a pedestrians crash reduction

factor of 41 percent on roadway seg-

ments.

atlanta beltLine eastside trail

In 2010, construction of the Atlanta Belt-

Line Eastside Trail began. This section of

trail runs from Piedmont Park at the

north to Irwin Street at the south. It

stretches for about 2.5 miles and crosses

over Ponce de Leon Avenue via a historic

steel railroad bridge between Glen Iris

Drive and Ponce de Leon Place. Even be-

fore construction started, this important

project was positively influencing the

neighborhoods along the former freight

rail right-of-way. At the center of this

segment of 14’-wide trail is the Ponce

corridor.

ponce city market

In 2011, the city entered into an agree-

ment with German private equity fund

Jamestown, L.P. to sell the giant City Hall

East complex for $27 million, further fu-

GeoRGia enGineeR12

construction began in

late summer 2013, and

was substantially com-

plete by december.

eling

the urban ren-

aissance underway along

Ponce de Leon Avenue in the Old

Fourth Ward. Jamestown hoped to turn

the two-million-square-foot former Sears

distribution center into a mixed use at-

traction similar to Chelsea Market in New

York. Part of the company’s goals was to

create a bicycle and pedestrian friendly

development that directly links to the At-

lanta BeltLine and surrounding neighbor-

hoods. Almost immediately, the

Jamestown project management team

expressed interest in supporting and

even helping to fund complete street im-

provements along the corridor. As a re-

sult of this cooperative relationship

between the private sector, city staff and

the folks at Atlanta BeltLine Inc. (ABI),

the City was able to secure a Transporta-

tion, Community, and Systems Preserva-

tion (TCSP) grant from USDOT in order to

construct a bridge and plaza connecting

the Atlanta BeltLine trail to the Ponce

City market development. This project is

located directly to the south of Ponce.

Around

the same time,

Midtown Alliance was also fi-

nalizing plans for a streetscape project

along the City-owned section of Ponce de

Leon Avenue between Spring Street and

Juniper Street.

Later that year, city staff submitted

an application to the Atlanta Regional

Commission (ARC) Livable Centers Initia-

tive (LCI) program for implementation

funds. The application proposed bicycle

and pedestrian improvements along

Ponce between Boulevard/Monroe Drive

and Freedom Parkway and vertical con-

nections between the trail and Ponce.

The local match was generously commit-

ted by ABI and Jamestown. The Ponce

City Market developer was able to

pledge the funding budgeted for re-

quired improvements along the property

frontage to the greater Ponce corridor.

Leveraging private funding turned out to

be

a winning for-

mula, as we were

awarded the largest LCI grant of the

2011 round.

ponce de Leon task force

After our success with the TCSP grant, my

office pushed for the formation of a

Ponce de Leon Task Force that would

bring together all of the managers for the

different projects along the corridor and

advocate for additional aesthetic, opera-

tional, and safety improvements. Many

of us had witnessed the lack of concur-

rent public investment in the West Mid-

town area of Atlanta, where the private

sector had brought boatloads of equity

to bear and the city and state failed to

apRiL | may 2014 13

respond in time. We hoped that this time

would be different. Our goal was to sup-

port the private investment and perhaps

even accelerate it through targeted and

coordinated public support.

We convened the task force at city

of Atlanta Office of Planning. ABI, ARC,

GDOT, Jamestown, and Midtown Alliance

all sent representatives. We were careful

to limit attendance to those who were al-

ready involved with projects along the

corridor. This group was intended to be

an action council, not a place to wax hy-

pothetical and/or talk about why we

couldn’t do things. This first meeting was

mostly an opportunity to review the pro-

grammed projects, however we at the

City expressed early on that we were in-

terested in a road diet west of the At-

lanta BeltLine bridge. The existing lanes

were too narrow, there was capacity to

spare, and the Ponce de Leon Avenue/

North Avenue corridor was identified in

the Connect Atlanta Plan as an important

bicycle connection. Furthermore, the

city’s plans for streetcar transit on North

Avenue coupled with the street’s ex-

treme grades made it an unlikely candi-

date for a bikeway. It was agreed by the

group that additional analysis was

needed to pursue the lane reduction.

Both Jamestown and City staff asked

GDOT to investigate the programming of

resurfacing funds to implement the lane

conversion as soon as possible. Ponce

City Market was slated to open in 2014;

however the pedestrian safety and LCI

projects were not scheduled for con-

struction until 2015-2016.

Roadway Safety audits

After the first task force meeting, we

began coordinating with Atlanta’s pedes-

trian and bike safety advocacy groups,

PEDS, and Atlanta Bicycle Coalition to ad-

vance the road diet concept for Ponce.

Both organizations conducted Roadway

Safety Audits (RSAs) and organized walk-

abouts, which included representatives

from the task force agencies.

The bicycle RSA revealed 11 safety

issues, including inconsistency in road-

way cross-sections, causing confusion

and unsafe roadway user behavior. Addi-

tionally, high speeds, limited sight dis-

tances, and unpredictable road user

movements result in conflicts at access

points and intersections. All reported bi-

cycle crashes on Ponce between 2003

and 2007 were angle crashes at intersec-

tions, which can be exacerbated by the

number of lanes being crossed.

The pedestrian RSA identified a num-

ber of safety concerns, including: aggres-

sive driver behavior, poor coordination of

traffic signals, high driving speeds, and

long waits to cross at traffic signals,

which require pedestrian activation. Fur-

thermore, due to repeated repaving, the

curb lacks vertical separation from the

travel lanes. In the two-mile segment,

there are 13 traffic lights and 11

unsignalized intersections. On average,

intersections are 436’ apart and traffic

signals are located every 836’, a four to

five minute walk, compelling many

pedestrians to cross mid-block. The addi-

tion of a two-way left-turn lane would

make the installation of mid-block cross-

ings easier.

Both RSAs recommended a road diet

to improve safety, as well as the addition

of bikeways, vertically buffered side-

walks, and safer pedestrian crossings.

These reports provided city staff with evi-

dence and recommendations supporting

the lane reduction.

complete Street Retrofit

In early 2012, we received good news.

GDOT maintenance staff was able to ac-

celerate the funding for the resurfacing

of Ponce, with a goal of letting the proj-

ect in 2013. The roadway was already

high on the list of priorities, however it

was recognized that improvements were

needed in advance of the opening of

major new traffic generators along the

street.

Our efforts received crucial top-

down endorsement in May 2012 with a

letter from the Mayor Kasim Reed to

GDOT Commissioner Keith Golden. The

letter urged GDOT to reconfigure the

roadway for improved safety, noting that

the city’s plans supported the lane con-

version. Commissioner Golden re-

sponded with a letter shortly thereafter

affirming his department’s support for

the road diet and supporting the efforts

of the task force to implement the com-

plete street retrofit with the resurfacing

in 2013.

In late 2012, GDOT was able to com-

plete an updated traffic analysis using a

continuous four-lane cross-section with a

two-way left-turn lane for the entire

stretch between Piedmont Avenue and

Briarcliff Road/Moreland Avenue. This

analysis showed a slight improvement in

level of service in the AM peak between

North Highland Avenue and the Atlanta

BeltLine. This was due to the conversion

of the third westbound travel lane to a

two-way left-turn lane, which removed

turning vehicles from the innermost

westbound lane. Generally, the west end

of the corridor during the AM peak and

all intersections during the PM peak

would see degradations in level of serv-

ice of one grade or less. Only two inter-

sections would operate below the

city-minimum of D in the horizon year

2035: Charles Allen Drive and Briarcliff

Road/Moreland Avenue. The latter will

operate at LOS E regardless of whether

the road diet is implemented.

After reviewing the results of the

traffic analysis, the task force agreed that

the safety improvements resulting from

the lane conversion outweighed the neg-

ative impacts to motor vehicle traffic dur-

ing the peaks hours. The group agreed to

monitor the intersections of Charles

Allen Drive and Boulevard/Monroe Drive

after the implementation and make mod-

ifications if necessary. It was a very rea-

sonable course of action.

In early 2013, city transportation

planning staff began developing the new

pavement marking plan with the assis-

tance of GDOT and its consultant. Be-

tween Piedmont Avenue and the Atlanta

BeltLine, where Ponce had seven to eight

narrow lanes, the roadway was reduced

to four 10’ travel lanes with a two-way

left-turn lane and two 5’ bike lanes with

2-3’ buffers. East of Ponce de Leon Place,

where Ponce de Leon Avenue had three

14 GeoRGia enGineeR

east-

bound

and two

westbound

travel lanes, the

project created a

two-way left-turn lane

with two travel lanes in

each direction. This segment

of Ponce lacks space for bike-

ways, but the parallel St. Charles

Avenue serves as the east-west bike

connection here. The city plans to install

a two-stage left-turn queue box at the

east end of the Ponce bike lane, guiding

cyclists onto St. Charles Avenue. We

worked closely with MARTA to relocate

many bus stops to the far side of intersec-

tions and future mid-block crossing loca-

tions, and the plans include dashed bike

lane markings and no bike lane symbols

in bus stop areas. This will notify cyclists

that they are entering a bus stop area and

also prevent the thermoplastic markings

from being damaged by buses. We also

asked Midtown Alliance to develop a

pavement marking plan for the section

between Piedmont Avenue and Juniper

Street, which was outside of the limits of

the GDOT plan. The two pavement mark-

ing plans became part of the bid package

for the resurfacing project. The resurfac-

ing project scope was carefully crafted so

as to avoid areas the upcoming pedes-

trian safety and LCI projects would dis-

turb. The task force developed a

comprehensive map and matrix listing the

components of each project so as to

avoid duplication. It was truly an unprece-

dented level of inter-agency coordination.

Before finalizing the design, the task

force held a series of public meetings, in-

cluding one for businesses, to collect

public input. Businesses were over-

whelmingly in favor of the new two-way

left-turn lane, and generally viewed the

street redesign as attractive.

Construction began in late summer

2013, and was substantially complete by

De-

cem-

ber. The

new two-

way left-turn

lane rationalizes

the movement of

motor vehicles and al-

lows for the future instal-

lation of medianettes /refuge

islands, while the buffered bicy-

cle lanes also serve two purposes:

connecting bicyclists to the popular

Atlanta BeltLine trail and the Midtown

business district, and providing a 5-8’

horizontal buffer between pedestrians on

the sidewalk and the nearest travel lane.

This reduces noise, splashing, and wind,

making walking along the corridor more

comfortable. Anecdotal evidence is posi-

tive so far with peak hour speeds averag-

ing between 15 and 20 mph, inclusive of

dwell time at traffic signals. On urban ar-

terials, an acceptable average peak hour

speed seems to be somewhere near 18

mph. Cyclist traffic is sure to increase

once Ponce City Market opens later this

year and the vertical connections up to

the Atlanta BeltLine are constructed as

part of the LCI project.

Josh Mello, AICP served as the Assistant

Director of Planning - Transportation for

the city of Atlanta from 2010 to early

2014.

In this

role, he su-

pervised the

city’s transporta-

tion planning staff

and managed plan-

ning, political outreach,

public involvement, scoping,

design supervision, permitting,

and data collection services for bi-

cycle, freight, transit, pedestrian, and

roadway projects throughout the city.

He is currently a Senior Associate with

Alta Planning + Design in Sacramento,

where he works primarily on bicycle,

pedestrian, and complete street projects

throughout California and the southeast-

ern US. v

businesses were over-whelmingly in favor ofthe new two-way left-

turn lane, and gener-ally viewed the streetredesign as attractive.

15apRiL | may 2014

16 GeoRGia enGineeR

Tiger II

the atlanta Streetcar projectBy Philip Meador | Silverman Construction

17apRiL | may 2014

irst and last mile transit con-

nectivity referenced by the

Atlanta Beltline begins with

the Atlanta Streetcar. Part of

the larger ‘Connect Atlanta’

plan which is intended to in-

crease transportation op-

tions, promote sustainable development

and create a better urban environment,

the Atlanta Streetcar is the first stage in

what is expected to become a major over-

haul of the city’s transit system. Initially

envisioned as an East-West connection be-

tween the Martin Luther King Jr. National

Historic site and Centennial Olympic Park

with a north-south alignment along

Peachtree Street, the Atlanta Streetcar

lost out on the opportunity for TIGER I

Stimulus. However, in October 2010 the

city of Atlanta received notice that it had

been awarded approximately $47.6 mil-

lion in funds through the TIGER II Federal

Grant program, which would partially fund

the originally proposed east-west connec-

tion. In addition, the city of Atlanta re-

cently pursued and was granted Federal

Transit Administration Grantee status.

Recognizing transit-related financing chal-

lenges, the city of Atlanta has also re-

cently publicly acknowledged it would

entertain public-private partnerships.

The TIGER II Atlanta Streetcar Project

(‘Streetcar’), a collaborative effort among

Atlanta’s business, political, and transit

communities, includes three local spon-

sors: the city of Atlanta, Atlanta Down-

town Improvement District (ADID), and

MARTA. The city of Atlanta is the recipi-

ent of the TIGER II grant and owner of the

project. MARTA, as the tenured transit or-

ganization, is serving as the technical ad-

visor, and ADID is a funding partner.

Because of the TIGER II Grant federal fund-

ing, the Federal Transit Administration

provides oversight while Georgia Depart-

F

18 GeoRGia enGineeR

19apRiL | may 2014

20 GeoRGia enGineeR

ment of Transportation oversees safety

certification. The team selected the de-

sign-build project delivery system for im-

plementation and awarded the contract to

URS Corporation in February 2012. Im-

mediately following the selection, URS

joined the Weekly Utility Task Force com-

prised of the entire utility community and

the sponsors, originally established in mid

2011. In April of 2012, URS began design

efforts. With the URS team on board and

the full attention of all parties, focus on

design refinement became top priority.

Design concluded in December of 2012,

and streetcar system construction com-

menced in February of 2013. The last no-

table utility adjustments were completed

in July of 2013. Since the project site is lo-

cated within some of the oldest areas of

downtown Atlanta, several unknown facil-

ities and infrastructure had to be dealt

with on a case by case basis. The entire

Utility Task Force has and will remain com-

mitted to actively responding until the last

cantilever pole is placed and the last por-

tion of guide way is poured in early 2014.

In addition to the sponsors and utili-

ties, property owners, business proprietors,

and the general public have been integral

players in the project’s implementation.

Within Atlanta’s built- out urban environ-

ment, minimizing and negotiating impacts

and conflicts is a huge challenge. Contend-

ing with existing utilities, minimizing inter-

ruptions of the myriad of utility service

providers, and considering new infrastruc-

ture, along with constant merger and ac-

quisition activity amongst the private

telecom utilities, requires continuous day

to day collaboration amongst all involved.

Over the course of construction, property

owners who border the Streetcar have had

to face daily construction traffic, shifting de-

tours and the occasional access request

needed to integrate the new system into

the existing infrastructure. These busi-

nesses, residences, and the general public

have exhibited patience and understanding

that normal routines will return and will re-

turn with a new method of transit that has

21apRiL | may 2014

been missing for over a half century.

The Streetcar project is 2.7 miles long

operating in a loop from the Martin Luther

King Jr. National Historic Site to Woodruff

Park to Centennial Olympic Park and back.

The twelve stops include: King Historic Dis-

trict, Peachtree Center, Centennial

Olympic Park, Hurt Park, and the Sweet

Auburn Market. The four vehicles are ex-

amples of the most advanced modern

streetcar design and technology available.

The Overhead Contact System (OCS) will

also be making a reappearance downtown

with a single trolley wire system sus-

pended from OCS poles, blending in with

the city street lights. The project is sup-

ported by a new two-bay vehicle mainte-

nance Facility located in the heart of the

alignment on Fort Street.

With the conclusion of construction

this year, festival activity will return to

downtown, traffic detours will be lifted,

and the public can enjoy an enriched and

revitalized downtown Atlanta. The Street-

car will share travel lanes with the public

who will undoubtedly know which way it

will turn! This is an historic project for the

city of Atlanta and one that exemplifies

the intense collaborative effort that is cru-

cial in rebuilding and urbanizing not only

existing infrastructure but also new infra-

structure here in Georgia and across the

United States. v

ome to nearly 700,000 per-

sons, 30,000 businesses and

numerous Fortune 500 com-

panies, and regional institu-

tions, Cobb County is a

developed area with a mature

transportation system that in-

cludes 5,000 roads, 440 bridges and cul-

verts, and 536 traffic signals. The county’s

transportation system has expanded over

time to serve the growing economy and

population of the county, and is now sub-

stantial with major roadways in place to

serve future generations. Even so, numer-

ous opportunities still exist to capture mar-

ket trends with a focus on infill

development and redevelopment. Future

investments will focus on improving exist-

ing corridors and enhancing system opera-

tions such as intersection and signalization

improvements, technology and traffic

management enhancements, and ex-

panded multimodal capacity. Our Regional

Traffic Management Center (TMC), com-

pleted in 2010, serves as the center for the

county’s Advanced Transportation Man-

agement Systems. The advanced technol-

ogy provides for excellent situational

awareness in incident management, in-

clement weather, and event related activ-

ities, and for exceptional system

operational efficiencies. Through signal

systems operation and management activ-

ities, the TMC will pay for itself within

seven years, reducing travel delays and im-

proving mobility for the traveling public.

Cobb’s rich transportation infrastruc-

ture not only includes roadway and oper-

ational assets but the Cobb County Airport

- McCollum Field and Cobb Community

Transit system (CCT). McCollum Field’s

economic impact is considerable, sup-

porting over 840 jobs in the region. Addi-

tionally, a new air traffic control tower,

new customs facility for international ar-

rivals, and parallel taxiway extensions to

runway end will be under construction in

2014. The corporate row hangar project

has added 100,000 square feet of new cor-

porate flight department first class hangar

space. In addition, potential scheduled air

charter service is being explored along

with aviation management academic pro-

gramming at Kennesaw State University

(KSU). The airport area is also anchored

by one of two community improvement

districts in Cobb—the Town Center Area

Community Improvement District

(TCACID). Cobb County’s partnership with

TCACID and Georgia Department of Trans-

portation (GDOT) has produced trans-

portation investments supporting the

area’s continued prosperity including the

most recent—the Skip Spann Connector.

This project includes a bridge over I-75

providing connection between rapidly

growing KSU and the Town Center activity

center that will significantly reduce traffic

on Chastain Road.

CCT celebrates its 25th year in opera-

tion in 2014 and is the second largest tran-

sit system in Georgia, behind MARTA,

serving over four million trips annually.

Current CCT service includes fixed route

local and paratransit services as well as ex-

press commuter service. Connect Cobb,

the current Alternatives Analysis and En-

vironmental Assessment for the north-

west corridor, including Cobb Parkway/US

41 and I-75 from KSU through Cumberland

and to the MARTA Arts Center Station, is

developing a Bus Rapid Transit project

along with complementary enhancement

of express bus on I-75, to serve the in-

creasing mobility demands, livability, and

connectivity in this key Cobb corridor. In

addition, CCT is finalizing plans to initiate

‘first- in-the-Atlanta-region’ flex zone bus

service and improvements to several other

routes in the south Cobb area which is also

home to Six Flags.

The county’s Comprehensive Trans-

portation Plan update underway will pro-

vide the strategic vision and

implementation guide for Cobb’s contin-

ued success and includes the cities of

Austell, Powder Springs, Smyrna, Marietta,

Kennesaw, and Acworth, CIDs and unin-

Cobb County – On the MoveBy Faye Q. DiMassimo, AICP | Director | Cobb County Department of Transportation

H

McCollum Field’s New Control Tower Concept

GeoRGia enGineeR22

corporated Cobb County. That success has

been underscored further with the an-

nouncement of the Braves baseball move

to Cobb County. Located in the Cumber-

land area, this area is home to Home

Depot, the Cobb Energy Performing Arts

Centre, the Cobb Galleria Convention Cen-

tre, The Weather Channel, the Chatta-

hoochee National Recreation Area, and

the new stadium development. Another

key community partner, the Cumberland

Community Improvement District (CCID)

represents over five percent of the state’s

total economy.

Because of Cobb’s aggressive ap-

proach to planning and implementing in-

frastructure that supports the county’s

economic development plans, significant

roadway improvements are already or will

soon be under construction in the Cum-

berland area in time for the first Braves

pitch. Many are made possible through

the county’s current 2011 SPLOST and

partnerships with GDOT. In addition to the

existing fourteen (14) points of access to

and from the stadium area, these projects

include the Windy Hill Diverging Diamond

Interchange (DDI) and corridor improve-

ments along Cobb Parkway/US 41, from

Akers Mill Road to Paces Mill Road, and

the Cobb Parkway Chattahoochee River

Bridge. The I-75 managed lanes, opening

to traffic in 2018, will also greatly improve

peak period mobility for commuters and

enhance express bus transit. Roadway

projects are complemented by the existing

five routes of CCT service and one MARTA

route in the Cumberland area.

Key new projects under development

include a ped-transit bridge over I-285

connecting the Galleria and Braves sta-

dium areas as well as a circulator that will

serve the area and connect to mainline

transit services. Other potential roadway,

operational and pedestrian improvements

are being considered.

Cobb’s transportation approach

serves to maximize system performance,

enhance mobility, improve safety, sustain

economic competiveness, and seek cost

effective investment strategies. Our suc-

cess story rests on this foundation coupled

with community involvement, vision, and

leadership. v

Cumberland Galleria Area

Alternatives Analysis Alignments

apRiL | may 2014 23

artsfield-Jackson Atlanta In-

ternational Airport is the

busiest airport in the world,

serving some 250,000 pas-

sengers and moving almost

2,000 metric tons of freight

each day. This makes it one of

Georgia’s primary economic engines, di-

rectly responsible for over 50,000 jobs and

indirectly responsible for countless more.

Global commercial passenger air travel is

expected to increase from roughly five bil-

lion passengers in 2010 to 13.3 billion by

2030. Cargo traffic is expected to triple in

the same two decades. If Hartsfield-Jack-

son remains the busiest in the world,

much of this new aviation business will

come its way. Knowing this, it makes sense

that the region would want to leverage

the airport’s power and help it deliver

maximum economic benefit today while

preparing to drive the state’s economy for

decades to come.

As the “front porch” of metro Atlanta,

Hartsfield-Jackson and the surrounding

area are the first impression that millions

of people get when they visit metro At-

lanta. It also makes sense that the region

would want the airport area to make a

good first impression for the metro area,

attracting new businesses and educated

residents to help grow the economy.

Fortunately, those two economic

strategies go hand-in-hand. And, after two

years of research, planning and relation-

ship building, airport-area leaders have

taken a large, bold step toward these two

goals by forming the Atlanta Aerotropolis

Alliance. The Alliance is focused on creat-

ing a community around the airport that

will attract more corporate headquarters,

businesses, retail and housing by increas-

ing economic development, mobility and

quality of life for the communities adja-

cent to Hartsfield-Jackson.

The initiative is being led by Chairman

Joe Folz, Chief Counsel and Secretary for

Porsche Cars North America. His vice chair

is Pedro Cherry, Vice President for Com-

munity and Economic Development at

Georgia Power.

“We chose the airport area for our

new headquarters and our Porsche Expe-

rience Center because we believe in the

future of the Hartsfield-Jackson area and

its importance to the Atlanta region, and

H

Frankfurt, Germany

Schiphol Airport City in Amsterdam

Atlanta Aerotropolis: Capitalizing on the Atlanta Region’s Greatest Economic AssetBy Douglas R. Hooker, P.E. | Executive Director | Atlanta Regional Commission

“The true challenge is planning to get

the aerotropolis right. If there is not ap-

propriate planning, airport-area devel-

opment will be spontaneous,

haphazard, economically inefficient and

ultimately unsustainable. The aerotrop-

olis model brings together airport plan-

ning, urban and regional planning and

business-site planning, to create a new

urban form that is highly competitive,

attractive and sustainable.”

- John D. Kasarda,

PhD, director of the Center

for Air Commerce at UNC's

Kenan Institute of Private

Enterprise

24 GeoRGia enGineeR

because it literally brings the world to our

door every day,” Mr. Folz said. “We have a

tremendous opportunity to build upon our

asset of having the world’s busiest airport

to pursue what other global cities are

doing, our own world-class aerotropolis.

What Is an Aerotropolis?

This idea of an ‘aerotropolis’ is not

new. The term ‘aerotropolis’ can be found

at least as far back as an issue of Popular

Science magazine from the 1930s. Essen-

tially, the concept is to make a region’s air-

port a hub of economic activity and to

celebrate the airport’s role as a powerful

economic engine. Because of this concept,

airports are evolving from a necessary

place of departure to a destination in and

of themselves.

The idea is that the airport is the cen-

tral business district of the aerotropolis,

along with a few hotels and some other

business functions. In ripples moving out

from the center are airport-related indus-

tries like distribution centers and e-fulfill-

ment facilities. A little further out you

might find industrial parks, research facili-

ties and hotel/convention areas. And fur-

ther still, as you move out of the Federal

Aviation Administration height limits, you

might find office and residential properties.

Throughout the aerotropolis community,

you would find signage that is easy to fol-

low and a transportation network that can

efficiently get you where you need to go.

Cities around the U.S. and the world

are planning airport cities. Paris, Frankfurt,

Hong Kong, Indianapolis, Denver and De-

troit are all developing communities

around their airports that are attracting

business in high-tech, manufacturing, lo-

Perspective from 1939 Popular Science Magazine

Gateway Center in College Park

25apRiL | may 2014

gistics and tourism industries. The Atlanta

Aerotropolis Alliance has a similar oppor-

tunity.

An aerotropolis with Hartsfield-Jack-

son as its centerpiece is further along than

some might think. With Porsche Cars

North America joining Delta Airlines,

Chick-fil-A and other major corporations

putting their headquarters near the air-

port, and with the redevelopment of the

old Ford plant and a new hotel going in,

things seem to be moving in the right di-

rection. And, the formation of the Atlanta

Aerotropolis Alliance will help focus lead-

ership and resources in creating an excit-

ing gateway and business hub for metro

Atlanta, in a unified, strategic manner.

What is the atlanta aerotropolis

alliance?

In 2010-11, ARC developed the regional

plan, called PLAN 2040. During the

process, as planners met with hundreds of

regional business, political and nonprofit

leaders, the airport and its importance to

the region kept coming up. Therefore, a

key recommendation of PLAN 2040 is to

leverage Hartsfield-Jackson for economic

development in the region, especially the

communities around the airport.

As a first step, ARC staff began a series of

discussions with each of the jurisdictions

around the airport. These discussions cen-

tered mostly on issues and opportunities

these jurisdictions were facing and

whether or not there was a need for

greater collaboration and coordination

among the jurisdictions. All agreed that

coordination was needed and that ARC

should be involved.

A ‘Global Gateway’ event, co-hosted

by ARC, Georgia Power and the Airport

Area, Clayton County and South Fulton

chambers of commerce, introduced the

aerotropolis concept and the general idea

of airport area development to more than

160 interested stakeholders and members

of the general public. After that, the idea

truly began gaining momentum.

The Airport Area Task Force was cre-

ated by combining interested parties from

the event with members of the Airport

Area Working Group. The task force fo-

cused on three main issues: the creation

of an umbrella organization (Atlanta Aero-

tropolis Alliance), improved intergovern-

mental coordination and the investigation

of creating one or more CIDs in the area.

The task force also acted as the forum for

sharing and promoting multiple airport

Hartsfield Jackson’s International Terminal

Global Cargo Flight

GeoRGia enGineeR26

area efforts. It has also become a vehicle

for recruiting new members.

next Steps

The Atlanta Airport Alliance was officially

established as a 501(c)6 early in 2014 and

held its first official board meeting shortly

thereafter. The Alliance has established

several short-term goals. They plan to en-

hance aesthetics, branding and safety in

the airport area and within nearby com-

munities by improving signage, cleaning

up the roadways and other similar activi-

ties. Funding for these early initiatives is

expected to come from two new CIDs in

the area.

Longer term, the Alliance will develop

economic development plans and a mar-

keting strategy to leverage the global

reach of the airport, as well as the ability

of travelers to reach 80 percent of the con-

tinental US population in two hours or less

from Hartsfield-Jackson, and to create

more high-wage business, manufacturing,

cargo and logistics opportunities in the air-

port area. It also hopes that these travel

conveniences and the promise of better

amenities and more livable nearby com-

munities will attract more headquarters

like Porsche to the area.

The Alliance is challenged more than

other aerotropolis builders by the fact that

Hartsfield-Jackson has a very small geo-

graphic footprint compared to other major

airports. For example, according to its

website, the Dallas-Fort Worth airport

consists of 17,000 acres, 4,000 of which is

available for commercial use and open

space. Hartsfield-Jackson sits on a total of

4,700 acres, most of which is used for air-

port buildings, runways and operations.

The majority of developable land near the

airport is located in College Park, East

Point, Hapeville and the other cities and

towns adjacent to the airport property.

Multiple parcels with multiple owners

make thoughtful planning and collabora-

tion essential.

When business people are asked to

name the factors they considered when

deciding to locate or stay in metro Atlanta,

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International

Airport is always near the top of the list.

The Atlanta Aerotropolis Alliance wants to

ensure that remains the case and that the

airport becomes a shining example of how

an airport can not only drive a region’s

economy, but can also drive the transfor-

mation of communities near airports that

offer a high quality of life and an example

to other suburban areas. v

Airport City Concept

Aerotropolis Area Map

apRiL | may 2014 27

he demand for cleaner burn-

ing alternative fuels such as

Compressed Natural Gas

(CNG) is growing at a stagger-

ing rate. More and more mu-

nicipalities, counties and

companies are starting to

transition their fleets to run on CNG-pow-

ered vehicles primarily because of the low

cost of fuel and the stability of price when

compared to gasoline and diesel. On av-

erage, CNG is 30% cheaper than gasoline

and 40% cheaper than diesel. CNG also of-

fers many environmental benefits that

make it a clear choice in order to meet

new EPA emissions standards. CNG offers

a 30% reduction in carbon emissions and a

90% reduction in fine particulate matter

when compared to gasoline and diesel.

These advantages, along with the fact that

natural gas is a domestically sourced fuel,

are increasing the need for more and

more reliable fueling locations.

American Fueling Systems (AFS) is a

leader in the effort to increase alternative

fueling infrastructure and has designed its

facilities to help make the transition to

CNG both easy and seamless. AFS, like

many of its peers in the marketplace, must

strike a balance between top-tier per-

formance in the production and dispens-

ing of CNG, and meeting the unique needs

from the variety of users of these facilities.

In September 2012, AFS opened the

largest public CNG fueling facility in the

state of Georgia. AFS, in partnership with

the Department of Energy’s Petroleum Re-

duction Grant, designed and built this fa-

cility located at 4420 Buford Highway NE

in Chamblee, Georgia in a mere seven

months. Located on a 1-acre lot behind

Peachtree-DeKalb Airport, this CNG sta-

tion was the first to be located on a major

thoroughfare in the state of Georgia, and

the first with a marquee advertising the

price; currently, that price is $2.39/GGE,

and it has not changed since January 2013.

This facility produces CNG at a rate of

500 Standard Cubic Feet per Minute

(SCFM). The industry is based on a single

rate of conversion that is the primary basis

for pricing and production. One Gasoline

Gallon Equivalent (GGE) equates to 125

cubic feet of natural gas. Using this con-

version, AFS is able to produce four GGEs

of CNG per minute. Unlike traditional pe-

troleum stations, CNG facilities focus pri-

marily on producing CNG on an as needed

basis with very little in storage. Therefore,

it is imperative that the developer and en-

gineers work together to better under-

stand the total and peak consumption of

that particular facility.

This AFS CNG station features two J-

W Power compressors. Each compressor

is 125 horsepower and has a flow rate of

250 SCFM. With a combined flow of 500

SCFM, this compressor system is capable

of producing approximately 240

GGE/hour. This compressor package was

chosen for its ability to not only satisfy the

customer demand upon opening of this fa-

cility, but also to handle projected demand

as it grows over the coming years. The

compressor skids are sized to accommo-

date the next biggest compressor unit,

which means that if the compressors need

to be upgraded in the future, the larger

compressors can simply be bolted in place

and made operational seamlessly. This

flexibility of design is evident in all other

areas of AFS stations, as well.

Prior to entering the compressors,

natural gas flows through a gas dryer man-

T

AFS Expands Alternative Fuels Use with Largest Public CNG Station in GeorgiaBy Joey Kline & Khurram Saleem

American Fueling Systems built the largest public CNG fueling station in Georgia in

just seven months, and useage has increased 37% for the year 2013.

GeoRGia enGineeR28

ufactured by PSB Industries, whose pur-

pose is to eliminate any moisture and/or

particulate matter in the gas. Despite the

fact that Georgia has gas with very low

moisture content, the gas dryer ensures

that the CNG going into customers’ fuel

tanks is of the highest quality. The gas ex-

iting the dryer is fed directly into the J-W

Power compressors.

Within the compressors, the natural

gas is compressed in four stages, at ever-

increasing pressure. From the compressor,

the gas, which is now pressurized at 4,500

psi, flows either to one of two three-bank

storage cascades manufactured by CP In-

dustries, or to one of eight hoses on the

four Tulsa Gas Technologies CNG dis-

pensers. Whether the gas flows to the

storage tanks or to the dispensers is de-

cided by the Priority Panel, which is man-

ufactured by J-W Power. The Priority Panel

also decides to which of the four dis-

pensers the gas flows, and is controlled by

sophisticated computer software that al-

lows the panel to intelligently route the

CNG to where it is needed at any particu-

lar moment.

The storage cascades are capable of

storing approximately 200 GGE of CNG and

serve as complements to the output of the

compressors. With the added storage, cus-

tomers are able to fuel their vehicles at 10-

12 GGE/minute. All piping connecting the

compressors, storage tanks, priority panel

and dispensers is seamless stainless steel.

To avoid possible choke points, the piping

was installed with a goal of minimizing the

use of mechanical joints and sharp bends

wherever possible. Within the equipment

enclosure, all piping is above ground. This

feature ensures that as the station grows

in the future, connections between new

pieces of equipment will be seamless and

not require a shutdown of the station to

dig up underground piping. The only un-

derground piping is from the priority panel

to the currently operational dispensers as

well as those planned for future expansion.

Each dispenser is coupled with a

stand-alone payment processing system

manufactured by Fuel Master. The pay-

ment system is equipped to accept all

major credit and fleet cards. In addition,

customers that have the capability to be

invoiced (as opposed to paying by credit

card at the point of purchase) can simply

enter their unique identifying number and

begin fueling. All transaction data is cap-

tured by the payment system and down-

loaded to AFS’s servers at our

headquarters. This capability allows the

AFS analytics team to study customer

data, and ultimately draw business con-

clusions that help guide internal decision-

making as well as client’s future vehicle

acquisitions.

The station features two canopies

that are each 17.6 feet high. There are

four dual-hose dispensers that allow eight

vehicles to fuel simultaneously. Also, AFS

installed an empty concrete pad under the

second canopy to allow for the addition of

another alternative fuel in the future. Liq-

uefied Natural Gas (LNG) and Liquefied Pe-

troleum Gas (LPG) both have the potential

to serve more customers in the area sur-

rounding this station, and are viable op-

tions for expansion at a later date.

During its first full year of operations,

this CNG station dispensed a total of

136,430 GGEs of CNG and ended 2013

with consumption up 37% for the year.

For the first three months of 2014, the

consumption has been even higher and

with more and more fleets looking to CNG

as their fuel of choice, this station is well

on its way to achieving the short-term goal

of 20,000 GGEs per month.

The United States is the largest natural

gas producer in the world according to En-

ergy Information Administration. The

abundance of natural gas, coupled with

stable prices and reduced carbon emis-

sions, is making CNG the fuel of choice for

many of the nation’s fleets. All of these

factors have contributed to the recent

surge in demand for CNG, especially in and

around the logsistical hub of Atlanta.

There are significant resources being

poured into CNG infrastructure develop-

ment in and around the state of Georgia

and AFS, with its experience and impecca-

ble market reputation for expert design

and engineering services, is poised to be at

the forefront of this energy revolution. v

apRiL | may 2014 29

he biggest challenge to build-

ing greenways and trails

through urban areas is as-

sembling vacant land to form

corridors that link desirable

destinations. Most vacant

land near a city’s center has

been passed over by developers for good

reason: it is either too steep, too wet, or

is surrounded by land uses inconsistent

with new development. Our effort to as-

semble passed-over land to build the

PATH trail system in metropolitan Atlanta

has resulted in innovative design tech-

niques for bridging creeks, handling

storm water, and protecting trees from

damage during construction. Engineers

and landscape architects are helping us

transform these passed over strips of

land into beautiful greenways and critical

transportation links.

Twenty three years ago, I enjoyed cy-

cling with a group who became tired of

challenging cars for a sliver of pavement

and riding in the gutter, dodging trash and

potholes. The group formed the PATH

Foundation, a nonprofit organization with

the mission to build a network of trails

throughout metro Atlanta where people

could walk and bike in the quietness away

from the street. I now realize the good for-

tune of having this particular group of peo-

ple band together to face the challenges

of building trails in a city that was built for

cars. To date, we have raised over $100

million from public and private sources to

build 200 miles of trail in Georgia.

Our engineering consultants have

helped us develop an array of choices for

bridging ravines and waterways. Many

trail builders rely exclusively on prefabri-

cated, metal bridges when they are faced

with a crossing. (See photo 8) These

bridges typically require access for large

cranes and tractor-trailer trucks which is

not feasible in many locations. We use job-

T

Building Trails in the City Innovative Techniques to Minimize Environmental ImpactBy Ed McBrayer | Executive Director and co-founder of the PATH Foundation

Cable railings and I-beam construction of this bridge modeled such that it

could be lowered into the floodway without creating a rise in the creek during

a 100 year flood.

GeoRGia enGineeR30

built, I-beam bridges when access is poor

and spans are less than sixty feet (See

photo 1). We build structural slab bridges

when spans are less than forty feet. Both

options reduce the need for tree removal

and other damage to the environment at

the ends of the crossing. Structural slabs

also serve as “bottomless culverts”, much

preferred over traditional concrete pipes

for wildlife migration and propagation of

desirable plant species. (See 2A and 2B)

In some cases, structural slab bridges and

I-beam bridges can be placed at a lower

elevation since they project a lesser pro-

file during hydrological modeling. Often,

lowering the elevation of a bridge will re-

sult in a reduction in length of the bridge

and the amount of earthwork required at

each approach.

Occasionally, soil conditions or envi-

ronmental constraints prevent us from

building concrete abutments for bridges.

We have built miles of pressure-treated

boardwalks to complete trail connections

where bridge construction was not feasi-

ble. The serpentine boardwalk through

Alexander Lake at Panola Mountain State

Park was built from a barge to avoid im-

pact to the lake environment during con-

struction (see photo 3).

Innovative design by PATH engineers

Structural slabs are often substituted for pipes when migration of animals and plant

species is an issue

This boardwalk was built from a barge to

minimize damage to shoreline during

construction

Tensar Geogrid was used under gravel to protect trees and cushion affect of equip-

ment during construction

Tree root protection doubles as

infiltration basin.

apRiL | may 2014 31

has played a big role in allowing trails to

be constructed near waterways and

drainage areas. When building impervious

trails adjacent to waterways, we slope the

trail away from the stream, diverting run-

off from the trail surface to an infiltration

trench on the high side of the trail. We

place gravel beneath the trail so runoff

from the trail flows into the infiltration

trench and through the soil and gravel be-

neath the trail before reaching the stream.

(See figure 4 and photo 5). This technique

all but eliminates any affect the trail has

on infiltration in the area.

Many of the corridors we assemble

are narrow and heavily forested. With the

help of a professional arborist, we devised

a root-bridging system that has been very

effective saving trees next to trails. When

construction begins we cover the drip line

area affected by trail construction with fil-

ter fabric and six to twelve inches of 57

stone. Light weight equipment can then

freely travel over the roots without dam-

aging the tree. When it is time to install

the trail near the tree, careful grading,

pouring, and backfill will insure the tree is

saved (See photo 6 and figure 7).

The PATH team has relied on innova-

tive design and creative engineering to

build trails in some of the most difficult en-

vironments imaginable. It is essential that

we have landscape architects and profes-

sional engineers on our team that find

ways to transform concepts into reality.

This is not trail building 101 anymore. Our

team is setting the bar for retrofitting trails

with innovation and imagination. I look

forward to the challenges and innovative

solutions that will surely come with the

next 200 miles. Our goal is to transform

Atlanta into the most walkable, bikable

city in the U.S. We have a great start!

For further information, contact the author

at pathfoundation.org v

32 GeoRGia enGineeR

This trail section facilitates imperious

concrete trails adjacent to streams

without adversely affecting infiltration of

storm water.

altium announces opening of east coast

of united Sates Location Altium opens of-fice in Newton, Massachusetts to support therapid market growth in the U.S. Altium Lim-ited, a global leader in Smart System DesignAutomation, 3D PCB design (Altium De-signer) and embedded software development(TASKING) announces the opening of anew office in Newton, Massachusetts. is isa direct reflection of Altium’s commitmentto providing high quality services to its cus-tomers and growth of its US user-base.

As Altium continues to expand the pres-ence in the US Printed Circuit Board designmarket, the addition of the new office is partof the investments in the US market allowingAltium to be closer to its strategic partnersand customers in the New England area, oneof the largest technology hubs in the Ameri-cas market. Additionally, the new office willallow Altium to further strengthen what isthe largest resell network in the EDA indus-try and to ensure that the ever growing listof Altium Designer users continue to get ac-cess to superior and responsive service.

"e opening of Altium's Massachusettsoffice is an important step towards realizingour goals of becoming more available to allusers as well as the continual support to ourstrategic level accounts" said Chris Donato,VP Sales, Americas. "e new office repre-sents one of the many important milestonesfor the company in 2014. eECAD/MCAD software industry is con-stantly changing. At Altium, we want to beahead of the curve in electronic designs aswell as customer interactions."

By establishing a strong presence inNew England, Altium is enhancing the userexperience for its customers. is is achievedthrough daily interaction with all of its EastCoast resellers to ensure that they receivemarketing support, training for their salesand technical personnel, as well as businessand management guidance. Altium is alsowell positioned to support and further de-velop its strategic level accounts.

Altium Limited (ASX:ALU) is an Aus-tralian multinational software corporationthat focuses on 3D PCB design, electronicsdesign and embedded system developmentsoftware.

Altium Designer, a unified electronics

design environment links all aspects of smartsystems design in a single application that ispriced as affordable as possible. Altium's em-bedded software compilers are used aroundthe globe by carmakers and the world'slargest automotive Tier-1 suppliers. With

33apRiL | may 2014

ENGINEERING NEWSaltium’s east coast Location - À tout à l'heure ! Gwen brandon retires from acec

GeoRGia

34 GeoRGia enGineeR

this unique range of technologies Altium en-ables electronics designers to innovate, har-ness the latest devices and technologies,manage their projects across broad design‘ecosystems’, and create connected, intelli-gent products.

Founded in 1985, Altium has officesworldwide, with US locations in San Diegoand Boston, European locations in Karl-sruhe, Amersfoort and Kiev and Asia-Pacificlocations in Shanghai, Tokyo and Sydney.For more information, visitwww.altium.com. You can also follow andengage with Altium via Facebook, Twitterand YouTube. v

dewberry welcomes pamela townsend,

pe, Senior vice president

Townsend to direct strategic planning andgrowth opportunities for the firm’s Southeast op-erations. Dewberry, a privately held profes-sional services firm, welcomes PamelaTownsend, PE, to the firm as senior vicepresident and director of Southeast strategicplanning and growth.

Townsend comes to Dewberry from

AECOM, where as Senior Vice President,she has held responsibilities for the SouthernStates District operations, including theprofitability and overall direction of the $120million, 500-person division. She has alsobeen responsible for the Southern States andFlorida transportation operations

“We have gotten to know and respectPam over the years through her reputationfor client and project management and hercommunity outreach,” says Darren Conner,president of Dewberry’s southeast division.“Her passion and dedication to our profes-sion will make her a great fit at Dewberry.”

“I am excited to join Dewberry,” saysTownsend. “We’re going to be focusing im-mediately on expanding our services andgrowing our capabilities in the Southeast re-gion. It’s a good time to be here.” v

jeffrey Schechtman names deputy

Regional business manager

Jeffrey Schechtman has been named DeputyRegional Business Manager for the Southeastregion of Parsons Brinckerhoff, a global in-frastructure strategic consulting, engineering,and program/construction management or-ganization.

In his new position, Mr. Schechtmanwill work with managers in the nine statesthat comprise Parsons Brinckerhoff ’s South-east region to enhance relationships with keyclients, expand business development op-portunities, and invigorate marketing andpursuit efforts. He will work in the firm’s At-lanta office.

A Parsons Brinckerhoff Vice President,Mr. Schechtman previously served as Direc-tor of the firm’s US Ports and Marine Divi-sion. He currently is the Executive Program

Thank you for allowing me to make this

special presentation. My purpose here

ismto help honor, Gwen Brandon, who is

retiring this summer. She has served

ACEC of Georgia for many years. She has

held every position in our organization. I

love her like my own sister. In a word,

she is precious.

I would like to tell you something

about her that would be memorable. It

sort of fits with St. Valentine Day. This

summer, my wife Francie and I went to a

wedding. A very young couple was

getting married. During the service, they

read a commonly used verse for such

occasions.The beginning of the verse

goes: “Love is patient and kind.” Maybe

some of you have heard of it before. For

most people, the verse provides a road

map on how we should act towards each

other. Well, at the wedding reception,

the maid of honor got up and spoke

about the verse. She said if you replace

the word Love with the bride’s name, it

shows the bride’s true beauty.

I was thinking about this the other

day and I tried doing the same thing with

Gwen’s name. To me, it shows how

beautiful Gwen is to so many people.

Gwen is patient and kind.

Gwen is not jealous or boastful.

Gwen is not arrogant or rude.

She does not insist on her own way.

She is not irritable or resentful.

She does not rejoice at wrong but

rejoices in the right.

Now you know why I think she is so

precious. Please join me is thanking her

for her long and loyal service to the ACEC

of Georgia.

Sincerely,

Chris Quigley

À tout à l'heure ! Gwen brandon retires from acec

pamela townsend

35apRiL | may 2014

Manager for the South Carolina State PortsAuthority Program, responsible for manag-ing the firm’s activities associated with thedelivery of a $1.5 billion ten‐year capital pro-gram to modernize and expand various portfacilities owned and operated by the Port Au-thority.

Mr. Schechtman received an M.S. incivil engineering from the University of Cal-ifornia at Davis and a B.S. in civil engineer-ing from Columbia University. He is amember of the American Society of CivilEngineers, American Road and Transporta-

tion Builders Association, and American As-sociation of Port Authorities. v

matthew Weston joins

t. Wayne owens & associates

T. Wayne Owens & Associates, PC, is pleasedto announce the addition of Matthew Weston,CPA, to the team as a Senior GAAP Auditor.

During his time with the sixth largestCPA firm in the U.S., Matt honed his GAAPexpertise at the national level. He bringsTWO clients strong financial audit skills aswell as a substantial range of financial state-ment knowledge.

Matt sees his role with each client aspartner, advocate and teacher. His approachwith clients is to collaborate on solutions thatwork for both the audit requirements and forthe client’s business. He always has an eye outfor ways to tweak and improve an A/E firm’scurrent process, create efficiencies andstrengthen the overall business.

Matt received his Bachelor of Science inBusiness Administration from AppalachianState University. He went on to earn a Mas-ter of Science in Accountancy from the Uni-versity of Notre Dame. A high-achiever, he

achieved both his undergraduate and gradu-ate degrees with cum laude honors, andmade the dean’s and chancellor’s lists. He is aCertified Public Accountant and is involvedwith several organizations, including theAmerican Institute of Certified Public Ac-countants and the North Carolina Associa-tion of Certified Public Accountants.

T. Wayne Owens & Associates, PC, is aCPA firm with a singular focus on the designindustry, providing accounting services, over-head audits, financial statement audits, taxreturns and more to A/E/C firms. Learnmore: www.twocpa.com.v

jeffreySchechtman

matthewWeston

Georgia has always been a leader in trans-portation infrastructure. From the foresightthat Mayors William B. Hartsfield and May-

nard Jackson showed in building, expandingand growing the Atlanta Airport into the avi-ation center that it is, to the continuedgrowth and investment that the GeorgiaPorts Authority is showing in expansion ofthe Port of Savannah today, we have bene-fited from visionary leaders who have in-vested in our transportation infrastructure.

These leaders can be found in the pri-vate sector too. Georgia is home to 15 For-tune 500 companies, all of which depend onour existing and future infrastructure to con-tinue to build business. There are some thatare obvious—Delta comes to mind—butothers also rely heavily on transportation toaccomplish day-to-day operations. ThinkUPS. Think Home Depot. Think Southern

Company. All of these companies have hadvisionary leaders who have chosen to stay inGeorgia and to bring more and more em-ployees here, growing our economy and alsoour need for an excellent transportation andtransit network.

Our Georgia engineering companies,including the members of ACEC Georgia,rely on these companies as well—along withthe Federal, State and local government lead-ers—to continue to invest in our state, ourregion and our country. And finally, the al-most ten million residents of the state ofGeorgia rely on our leadership, our employ-ers and our government to continue the im-portant investment in transportation thatkeeps us all moving forward.

acec Georgia

Political Advocacy• Advocating at all levels of government to advance policies that impactthe business of engineering in Georgia.

• Monitoring the regulatory issues and government agency actions thataffect engineers.

• Working for a more pro-business climate and defending against unfairbusiness practices.

• Fighting to protect the professional engineering practice.

Business Development• Providing networking opportunities, meetings, and programs that putyou in contact with potential clients, industry peers, and the leaders ofthe engineering profession.

• Hosting the Georgia Engineers Summer Conference, TransportationSummit, P3 Summit, and other programs that expand your professionalknowledge and network.

• Offering informative and relevant seminars, programs, and webinarswith presentations from leaders who affect our industry andcommunity.

Firm Operations• Providing a forum for the exchange of business and professionalexperiences.

• Offering programs and resources on best business practices formember firms.

• Sponsoring the Future Leaders Program to build the next generation ofleaders within member firms and the engineering profession.

• We provide executive development training for emerging leaders andfirm management.

The Value of ACEC GeorgiaServing your firm’s business

interests through:

News

Jay Wolverton, PEChairACEC Georgia

36 GeoRGia enGineeR

Board of DirectorsJerry (Jay) Wolverton, ChairmanDarrell Rochester, Chairman-Elect

Roseana Richards, Treasurer / Charles Ezelle, SecretaryDon Harris, Vice Chair / John Heath, Vice Chair / Doug Robinson, Vice ChairDavid Wright, National Director / Edgar (Eddie) Williams, Past Chairman

Anita Atkinson / Jim Case / David Estes / Scott Gero / Rob Lewis / David McFarlin / Kevin McOmber / Taylor Wright

StaffMichael “Sully” Sullivan, President & CEO

Gwen Brandon, Chief Operating Officer

Jennifer Head, Member Services ManagerMia Wilson, Finance Manager

CommitteesDarrell Rochester, Government Affairs/PACDavid Wright, ACEC PAC ChampionRob Lewis, Business DevelopmentJim Case & Don Harris, Firm Operations John Heath, Coalitions Doug Robinson, CommunicationsBrannen Butts & David McFarlin, Leadership Development Charles Ezelle, MembershipEddie Williams, NominatingEddie Williams, Past Presidents/Chairmen David Estes & Rob Jacquette, Programs Scott Gero, Transportation Forum

ForumsBill Griffin, Building Systems

Corky Welch, Environmental

Chris Marsengill, Transportation

Brannen Butts, Leadership

Transportation literally (forgive thepun) drives us forward. The trucking indus-try moves through our great state with goodsand produce to supply and feed the country.The aviation industry flies through theworld’s busiest airport every day. And ourresidents rely on our transportation andtransit network daily to get to school, workand play.

We MUST continue the building of ourinfrastructure and investment in our future.We must continue to elect visionary leaderswho can see the future of transportation andkeep us moving forward. Improving trans-portation infrastructure requires a three-legged stool of federal, state and localinvestments to keep us all driving into thefuture, and we, in partnership with ACECNational, must continue to advocate forthese improvements.

Our future as a region requires that weplan, and have back-up plans in place, tofind funding, to build our next generation ofengineers and leaders and to do what needs

to be done to make sure mobility is never aquestion in Georgia.

ACEC is on the transportation indus-try’s side! We are advocating with the Geor-gia state legislature and with Congress inWashington, DC. We are working to im-prove the political atmosphere for our in-dustry while also creating a better workingenvironment for engineering companies inGeorgia and nationwide.

So what can you do? First, you can letyour leadership—elected and appointed—know that our transportation and transitneeds are important and must be addressed.Second, you can continue to support ACECGeorgia through your membership and yourattendance at important industry events, in-cluding the Annual Convention and Leg-islative Summit, April 27-30 in Washington,DC, where we will meet with our represen-tatives from Congress to discuss transporta-tion. And finally, you can participate in ourstate and national Political Action Commit-tee (PAC) where we use funds to support

candidates who drive important decisionssuch as transportation. v

ACEC GEORGIA MEMBER FIRMS

uSe a company you can tRuSt

With youR tRanSLation pRoject,

“Gort! Klaatu Borada nikto.”

(770) 521-8877

because a little mistake

in another language

can have unpleasant results.

37apRiL | may 2014

Snowmageddon, as it was called, Atlantaburied in snow and ice the second week ofFebruary. We were more prepared for Win-ter Storm Pax this time as compared to twoweeks earlier when Atlanta came to a stand-still, literally, for two to three days. Living innorth Georgia myself, Dawson County, I amvery familiar with when to leave the office, inAlpharetta, to make it home before chaos ar-rives. I got home in about 35 minutes thatday, and then heard the nightmarish storiesof co-workers stuck at the office or in trafficfor endless hours. All I cued in on, with thepictures and video provided from local newschannels, were not only cars, but more sig-nificantly tractor trailers lining the highways.Wow, what a mess! I hope everyone is nowback on track and hoping this kind of mess

does not happen again for a while, though Idid enjoy the luge/sledding run I made in myfront yard. I think I got my run down to14.5 seconds; Olympics, here I come.Great new projects have been advertised byGDOT recently, Engineering Design Serv-ices – Batch #1, Design Services for TIABand 2 Projects, I-24 Accelerated BridgeConstruction DB and the Grade SeparationDB of Walther Blvd at SR 316. We have alsohad Counties and Municipalities put someprojects on the streets; hopefully this indi-cates growth in the right direction.Our ASHE Student Chapter at Georgia Techis looking for presenters. We are looking forcompanies to sponsor and present at theirmonthly meeting. We want to expose our upand coming engineers to all the differentfacets in highway engineering in which theircareer can take them. Please contact JenniferStephan (Jennifer.Stephan@tylin.com) if youor your company would like to sponsor andparticipate in a future meeting.

Recent events

We’ve had some great social events the pastfew months, including Happy Hour at Gib-ney’s Pub following the Transportation Sum-mit. The activity was well attended and willbe slated for next year’s events. In Decem-ber, we had our annual Holiday Social tothank all of our sponsors and members. We

president ~ Michael Bywaletz, GreshamSmith and Partners

first vice president ~ Brian O’Connor,T.Y. Lin International

Second vice president ~ Rob Dell-Ross,City of Roswell

Secretary ~ Mindy Sanders, LoweEngineers

treasurer ~ Richard Meehan, LoweEngineers

co-treasurer Rick Strickland, MichaelBaker Corporation

past president ~ Ron Osterloh, Pond &Company

national director ~ Nikki Reutlinger,Atkins

director ~ Shawn Fleet, Heath andLineback

director ~ Karyn Matthews, GDOT

chairsnominating committee chair ~ TimMatthews, GDOT

program chair ~ John Karnowski, ForesiteGroup

membership chair ~ Scott Jordan, CobbCounty

Scholarship chair ~ Sarah Worachek,Gresham Smith and Partners

aShe Student chapter Liason ~ JenniferStephan, T.Y. Lin International

technical chairs ~ Dan Bodycomb,AECOM; Chris Rudd, GDOT

communications chair ~ Jenny Jenkins,McGee Partners

Social chair ~ Holly Bauman, ARCADIS

Golf tournament chair ~ Ashley Chan,HNTB

Web site chair ~ Pervez Iqbal, Parsons

aShe Georgia

Michael Bywaletz

President

American Society

of Highway

Engineers /

Georgia Section

News

At January’s meeting, GDOT Commissioner Keith Golden spoke to a full house on the

“State of the Department.” Finally, our Annual Poker Tournament was another big

success. Congratulations to Tim Brown, winner of this year’s tournament, and to

Tim Matthews, 2nd place.

GeoRGia enGineeR38

The Georgia Engineering Foundation (GEF)was chartered in 1971 to benefit young peo-ple desiring engineering or engineering tech-nology careers.

GEF President’s Message: Now is thetime to expand the visibility and programsof the Georgia Engineering Foundation! AsPresident of GEF for 2013-2014, I am ded-icated to the continued reinvigoration of ourorganization. GEF provides great benefits toall of our participating Engineering Organi-zations. Our goals for the next two years aredesigned to dramatically increase our pro-grams and support to all the Engineering So-cieties that participate.

Our membership committee plans toincrease our Engineering Organization

membership by 25% this year. You can ex-pect GEF to meet with your EngineeringOrganizations this year in order to encour-age additional organizational members andto welcome your members to our commit-tees. We can always use additional commit-tee members to participate in our Planning,Public Relations, Program, Ways and Means,Finance, Banquet, and Scholarship Com-mittees. If you are a President of an Engi-neering Organization, we will be contactingyou soon.

Another major GEF effort this year is toincrease our ability to provide scholarships tothe future engineers now attending college.We are very proud that in 2013 we provided$66,600 to Georgia students attending col-leges in Georgia and nation-wide, but we aresure that the great State of Georgia can dosubstantially more. As you probably know,GEF annually conducts a ScholarshipAwards Banquet where we recognize thescholarship recipients, their families, andscholarship sponsorsIn addition, GEFawards scholarships from endowments pro-vided by many of our great benefactors, mostof whom are generous local engineers. TheScholarship Banquet is an enormous effortand returns great appreciation from the stu-dents and their parents each year. The Ban-quet provides tremendous visibility to all of

the individuals and organizations donatingthe scholarships, so we hope you will join usat the Banquet this year. We plan to growour endowed Scholarship funds by 25%thisyear to push our endowment towards the$1,000,000 mark, and would appreciateyour help in reaching this important goal.

While we will be stretching ourselves tomeet the above goals, we will continue tosupport the many mentoring engineeringfunctions that we participate in and sponsoreach year, including Local High SchoolSTEM programs, Future Cities Competi-tion, Georgia Science and Engineering Fair,MATHCOUNTS, and the Exploring Engi-neering Academy. We can always use morehelp in supporting these activities and weTHANK all the engineers and EngineeringOrganizations that participate with GEF onthese efforts. These activities are great op-portunities for your membership to mentorfuture engineers.

I am planning a very busy year for theGeorgia Engineering Foundation and lookforward to the help and support from allGeorgia Engineering Organizations in con-tinuing the success of GEF.THANKS Jimmy Crowder, President, work(770) 781-8008 v

Gef News

James R. Wallace

President

Georgia

Engineering

Foundation

had a successful toy drive at this event forToys for Tots and even hosted our NationalPresident, Thomas Morisi, and 1st Vice Pres-ident, Samir Moody.

up coming events

• We look forward to seeing our membersand possible future members at upcomingevents, including the annual ASHE/WTStennis tournament in April, as well as thepopular golf tournament in May. If youwould like to join in the networking, com-radely and fun of ASHE, please contact ourmembership chair, Scott Jordan (scott@con-crete-pipe.org James R. Wallace v

apRiL | may 2014 39

Greetings Georgia Engineering Magazinereaders! This is the inaugural 2014 Presi-dents Letter from the Georgia Institute ofTransportation Engineers (ITE). I would liketo begin the 2014 year, our organization’s52nd in existence, by thanking the previousleaders, boards and members for making ITEone of the finest organizations to be a partof. Year after year, ITE provides not onlyvital educational and professional develop-ment opportunities, but provides mentor-ship, leadership and service opportunitiesthat sustain and grow our membership. It istruly humbling to serve in a role held bymany of the esteemed individuals in thetransportation industry, and I’m committedto do my best to continue in this great legacy.For starters, I would like to thank our previ-ous president, Dwayne Tedder, for his greatleadership and goal prioritization skills im-parted. I admired how Dwayne set achiev-able goals and continually pressed to ensurethat those goals were met throughout theyear. Don’t go anywhere Dwayne—we havemore work for you to do this year! Dwaynealso had the privilege to preside over our50th year gala event in March 2013, whichincluded presidents from each of the past 5decades—including our very first president,John Edwards, who is still an active memberin ITE, for which we are blessed.

This year’s board is also terrific. Withthe enthusiasm and energy Secretary-Trea-surer Sean Coleman brings, and the steady

and thoughtful leadership that Vice-Presi-dent Andrew Antweiler brings, how hardcould this year really be? Actually, we haveendured several significant challenges al-ready. Our first all-committee board meet-ing was the day of snow-mageddon (ourboard survived their long journeys home,probably cursing at me most of the way), andour first monthly meeting had to be bumpeda day due to the second snow storm (whichcaused Sean and Andrew to work overtimeto make happen). Because of these accom-plishments, I decided to cancel the boardteam-building weekend ‘cause we’ve alreadybonded through trial by fire (or in this case,snow). Now, for the upcoming year: In followingthe tradition of one of our past presidents,Carla Homes, who was GREAT in 2008, Iam feeling really KEEN about 2014. This isa way to remember the four goals I have setforth for this year: Keep growing, providemeaningful Educational and Engagementopportunities, and be Notable as an organi-zation. Here is a summary of those goals:1. Keep Growing. As any organization

should strive towards, our ITE mem-

bership continues to grow each year,and last year was no exception. We havemore members than any year past, andset records for attendance at our Sum-mer Seminar and several monthly meet-ings, which averaged over 80 inattendance each month. I am con-vinced we attract members and willcontinue to attract new members byproviding value to our members in allthings we undertake, and use the latestin tools and technology to communi-cate events and opportunities to ourmembers.

2. Provide Educational Opportunities. Ed-ucational opportunities are probablywhat we do best at ITE so it becomeshard to improve upon. As an organiza-tion, we strive to provide more thanenough PDH’s to fulfill engineeringcontinuing education hours. Our pre-miere event is the annual Summer Sem-inar held at the beautiful King andPrince hotel on St. Simons Island. If youcan make only one event all year, savethe date of July 20th through July 23rd

Jonathan Reid, PE

Georgia Section,

Institute of

Transportation

Engineers

News

more fun at

Summer Seminar

ite Georgia

40 GeoRGia enGineeR

to come and join us! We always have thebest speakers in the industry and the ac-tivities, socializing and accommodationscan’t be beat. Plus we’ll be celebrating the5th year of Survivor St. Simons! Wehave already partnered with ASHE toconduct a two-day Winter Workshopconference in early March, and we willbe partnering with another state ITEchapter for a one day technical exchangelater in the year. Together with ourmonthly meeting opportunities, we pro-vide some of the greatest opportunitiesto stay informed on the latest trends andtechnology in the transportation indus-try. This year is also special for GeorgiaSection ITE as we were the host state forthe annual Southern District ITE meet-ing, held near Greensboro, Georgia, onLake Oconee, March 30th through April2nd.

3. Provide Engagement Opportunities. Tobalance out our nerdy engineering side,we also like to get out for some fun so-cial engagements and service activities.Our activities committee has a ton ofoutings planned for members of all ages,and it is through these activities thatbonds are often made. Whether itstrivia night, helping out at the AtlantaFood Bank or just sharing a lovely coldbeverage, it’s always fun to be withfriends and colleagues. This year we willalso be re-instituting the mentorshipprogram, paring our younger memberswith seasoned professionals to provideguidance on career paths and involve-ment in ITE.

4. Be Notable as an Organization. Lastly,this year we will strive to make ITE evenmore notable in the community weserve. Whether is helping GDOT orother local transportation entitiesthrough a technical research committee,sharing our collective experiences andknowledge at technical conferences andworkshops, we want to do even betterat making ITE a notable part in discus-sions about the future of transportationin Georgia and become an identifiablebrand in our communities.

If you are a transportation professional of anystripe and have never heard of ITE (perhapsit’s just another acronym to you), we hopeyou check us out sometime this year. Youmay have a co-worker that attends ourmonthly meetings that you could ask to join.Or come to one of our many technical ses-sions to earn PDH’s (why wait to cram at theend of the year?) Our Web site,www.gaite.org, is up-do-date and is full ofevents and opportunities. Become an ITELocal Affiliate (LAF) member and you willbe included on our e-blast list and receive in-formation on event opportunities and regis-tration links for our section. It is veryinexpensive to become a LAF member andyou will receive more in event discounts thanthe cost to join.

I hope you can see how much ITE hasin store in 2014 year (and why I am so keen

about it). Thanks for your interest in read-ing about ITE, and I personally hope youcan join us for activities throughout the year!The Institute of Transportation Engineers isan international educational and scientific as-sociation of transportation professionals whoare responsible for meeting mobility andsafety needs. ITE facilitates the applicationof technology and scientific principles to re-search, planning, functional design, imple-mentation, operation, policy developmentand management for any mode of groundtransportation. Through its products andservices, ITE promotes professional develop-ment of its members, supports and encour-ages education, stimulates research, developspublic awareness programs and serves as aconduit for the exchange of professional in-formation. v

Board Position Member E-mail PhonePresident Dwayne Tedder dwayne.tedder@urs.com (404) 406-8791Vice President Jonathan Reid reid@pbworld.com (404) 364-5225Secretary/Treasurer Andrew Antweiler aantweiler@roswellgov.com (678) 639-7540Past President John Karnowski jkarnowski@foresitegroupinc.com (770) 368-1399District Representative David Low dlow@roswellgov.com (770) 594-6422District Representative Carla Holmes carla_holmes@gspnet.com (678) 518-3654District Representative Jim Tolson jim.tolson@arcadis-us.com (770) 431-8666Affiliate Director Patrick McAtee pmcatee@thompsonengineering.com (404) 574-1985

Committee Activities Chair(s) E-mail PhoneActivities Meredith Emory meredith.emory@kimley-horn.com (404) 201-6133Annual Report Jim Tolson jim.tolson@arcadis-us.com (770) 384-6570Audio/Visual Mark Boivin markboivin@alltrafficdata.net (404) 374-1283Awards/Nominations John Karnowski jkarnowski@foresitegroupinc.com (770) 368-1399Career Guidance Amy Diaz amy.diaz@jacobs.com (678) 333-0283Clerk Elizabeth Scales escales@thompsonengineering.com (404) 574-1985Comptroller Jim Pohlman pohlmanj@bellsouth.net (770) 972-9709Engineers Week Steven Sheffield steven.sheffield@co.clayton.ga.us (678) 479-5391Finance Charles Bopp charles_bopp@hotmail.com (678) 380-9053Georgia Engineer Magazine Dan Dobry ddobry@croyengineering.com (770) 971-5407Georgia Tech Liaison Chris Rome crome@foresitegroupinc.com (770) 368-1399Historian Charles Bopp charles_bopp@hotmail.com (678) 380-9053Host Vamshi Mudumba vamshim@laiengineering.com (770) 423-0807Legislative Affairs Bill Ruhsam bill@jbwr.net (404) 931-6478Life Membership Don Gaines dgaines@gcaeng.com (404) 355-4010Marketing Shannon Fain s.fain@delcan.com (404) 771-7479Membership Sunita Nadella sunita.nadella@parsons.com (404) 969-2304Monthly Meetings Jonathan Reid reid@pbworld.com (404) 364-5225Newsletter Vern Wilburn vwilburn@wilburnengineering.com (404) 423-0050 Past Presidents Todd Long tlong@dot.ga.gov (404) 631-1021Public Officials Education Scott Mohler scott.mohler@urs.com (678) 808-8811Scholarship Mike Holt holtmr@pbworld.com (404) 364-2662Southern Poly Liaison Bryan Sartin bryan_sartin@gspnet.com (678) 518-3884Summer Seminar Sean Coleman sean.coleman@kimley-horn.com (404) 419-8781Technical Abdul Amer aamer@areng.com (770) 690-9255 Web site France Campbell france_campbell@gspnet.com (678) 518-3952Winter Workshop Larry Overn larry.overn@stantec.com (770) 813-0882

41apRiL | may 2014

42 GeoRGia enGineeR

I want to thank the membership of ITSGeorgia for selecting me to serve as chapterpresident for the next two years. I look for-ward to communicating with you throughthis column and letting you know about thegreat work of the chapter and its members.A key tenant of our mission statement is to:“through a coordinated, comprehensive pro-gram “get out the word” on ITS to con-stituencies that might not otherwise considerthe relevance of ITS to their transportationsystem.”

A key constituency targeted by ITSGeorgia to understand the relevance andvalue of ITS, is elected officials. For the thirdyear in a row we have been involved in an ef-fort to reach out to elected officials at thehighest levels of state and local governmentto “get out the word” on ITS.

During this year’s legislative session, wepartnered with Georgia Section of the Insti-tute of Transportation Engineers & Ameri-can Society of Civil Engineers GeorgiaSection and hosted the GDOT board, sev-eral state senators and representatives and At-lanta Mayor Kasim Reed in the city hall

atrium. Thanks to Mayor Reed for hostingus and providing welcoming remarks.

One of the hot topics was the two re-cent snow storms to hit north Georgia thiswinter and the fallout, both good and bad,from them. Both Mayor Reed and GDOTChairman Jay Shaw admitted that there wasnot much anyone can do when a millioncommuters hit the roads as once rain, snowor shine.

Following the storms, members of theITS community came forward and discussedwhat was done and could be done in the fu-ture to mitigate weather-related congestionusing ITS solutions.

Just as GDOT’s Traffic ManagementCenter (TMC) became the state’s trans-portation emergency operations center,County and City Traffic Control Centers(TCC) serve the purpose locally. This meansthat the right people are in one place with

access to the latest information in real time.At the state level, that means 560 cam-

eras scanning the roads for incidents and al-most 300 cameras at the local levelidentifying icy spots, power outages and ac-cidents. The cameras kept proving them-selves over and over as we could see and sharethe information they provided with publicsafety staff, other agencies, the media and di-rectly with the public. Cameras also allowedfor quicker dispatch of assets from snowplows to HERO units to signal techniciansand the power company. Newly installedtracking technology tells managers where thevehicles and crew are and what they’ve beenworking on.

News

Tom Sever, P.E.

ITS President

ITS GEORGIA CHAPTER LEADERSHIP

president

Tom Sever, Gwinnett DOT

vice president

Grand Waldrop, GDOT

Secretary

Jennifer Johnson, Kimley-Horn

treasurer

Ashlyn Morgan, Atkins

immediate past president

Scott Mohler, URS

directors

Mark Demidovich, GDOT

Eric Graves, City of Alpharetta

Winter Horbal, Temple, Inc.Keary Lord, Serco

David Smith, DeKalb County TransportationPrasoon Sinha, ARCADIS

Mike Holt, Parsons Brinkerhoff, Yancy Bachmann, World Fiber,

Kenn Fink, Kimley-Horn, Kristin Turner, Wolverton Associates

State chapters Representative

Shahram Malek, Arcadis

ex officio

Greg Morris, Federal Highway AdministrationAndres Ramirez, FTA

itS Georgia missionWe believe that ITS is a valuable tool forimproved management of any transporta-tion system, regardless of the inherentcomplexity of the system. ITS can helpoperate, manage, and maintain the systemonce it has been constructed.

We believe that ITS should be system-atically incorporated into the earlieststages of project development, especiallyinto the planning and design of trans-portation projects.

We believe the best way to achieve thissystematic incorporation into the processis through a coordinated, comprehensiveprogram to ‘get out the word’ on ITS toconstituencies that might not otherwiseconsider the relevance of ITS to theirtransportation system.

Control TechnologiesUtilicomTempleArcadisAtkinsWorld Fiber TechnologiesKimley-Horn & Associates

Southern Lighting & TrafficSystemsDelcanGresham Smith & PartnersGrice ConsultingJacobsParsons Brinkerhoff

Quality Traffic SystemsURSTranscore

OUR 2013/2014 SPONSORS

itS Georgia

The ITS Georgia Chapter supports studentinvolvement in the engineering profession,and hopes to encourage future Georgia ITSEngineers through the Wayne ShackelfordEngineering Scholarship Program.

Our 2013 winner of the fifth annualITS Georgia Wayne Shackelford Engineer-ing Scholarship is Chieh ‘Ross’ Wang, whosecurrent research at Georgia Tech focuses ondeveloping a risk-based decision makingprocess for prioritizing pavement preserva-tion projects in a more systematic and holis-tic fashion.

The question answered by this year’s ap-plicants was: What is the best strategy to pro-mote public acceptance of ITS initiatives?Below is the winning abstract.

To promote public acceptance of ITSinitiatives, it is necessary to understand rea-sons that hinder the acceptance of these tech-nologies. Some commonly known barriers

to ITS initiatives are public perception, sys-tem reliability, costs of implementation, andprivacy. Most of these barriers are the resultsof insufficient information and lack of un-derstanding and knowledge, on both ends oftransportation agency and the general public.For transportation agencies that expertise inthe planning, development, implementation,and maintenance of transportation systems,an understanding of market dynamics isoften neglected. For the general public, thefear of change and insufficient informationoften prevent them from objectively exam-ining the benefits of these technologies. Toaddress these issues and promote public ac-ceptance of ITS initiatives, we propose threesimple but effective strategies shown below:

prior successes strategy

One of the best strategies—and probably themost straight-forward one—is to have suc-

cessful and replicable cases that people caneasily see and relate. Either a huge success inanother city or small successes in local

43apRiL | may 2014

With more and more connectivity withtraffic signals, we were able to adjust the tim-ing to accommodate the disrupted traffic pat-terns, and perhaps more importantly, quicklyget them back to normal operation when theice and snow melted.

Communications with the motoringpublic is always important. This was our firsttwitter weather event and all means of com-munications were used for both storms to in-form the public. In addition to twitter,facebook, 511 and all 115 message signs weregiving the latest information. The news maybewasn’t always what you wanted to hear, but atleast you knew what was ahead.v

GDOT Board Chairman Jay Shaw

addresses the 2014 Transportation

Reception.

Mayor Reed welcoming guests at the

2014 Transportation Reception.

our chapter meetings are the fourth thursday of each month january—august. join us for networking and informative topics.Thursday, March 27, 2014 Timothy McGuckin of GeoToll Tolling Technologies confirmed Advanced Protection

Technologies/Pete Ganci

Thursday, April 24, 2014 Allan Davis Signal Software Scanning Tour confirmed Billy Stalcup-360 Network

Solutions, LLC

Thursday, May 22, 2014 Bill Andrews Highway 9 ITS confirmed

Thursday, June 26, 2014 Kari Watkins/John Bartholdi OneBusAway/Georiga Tech confirmed Wavetronix/Mike Kline

Thursday, July 24, 2014 To be announced

Thursday, August 28, 2014 To be announced

ITS Georgia Board member Kristin Turner

presents the 2013 Shackelford award to

Chieh ‘Ross’ Wang.

Wayne Shackelford engineering Scholarship program

44 GeoRGia enGineeR

The SAME Atlanta Post has gotten off to an

exciting start in 2014. Lou Karably, our

Past President, stepped down in January.

As his Vice President, I was sworn in as

President at the January luncheon. I will

continue to be your President through

May 2015. I look forward to making my

term a success by continuing the great

programs started by those before me and

fostering some positive changes in our

luncheons and networking events. I am

excited about our continued dedication to

awarding scholarships, our involvement

with the SHARE Military Initiative at the

Shepherd Center, and our new golf tour-

nament format.

I would like to thank Lou Karably, PE,

PG for his service to the Atlanta Post and

wish him well on his future endeavors! I

would also like to thank Beth Harris for

stepping up to serve as our Interim Vice

President until we nominate new officers

in June 2014.

The SAME Atlanta Post has moved our

monthly meetings to a new venue this

year—the Dunwoody Country Club. Our

luncheons are typically the second Tues-

day of each month and you can register to

join us at sameatlantapost.org.

On Friday, March 7 we held a joint

meeting with ASCE Georgia Chapter in

Norcross. At this event we presented our

2013 award winners. This year’s winners

were:

• Member of the Year – Beth Harris,

CPSM

Pamela

Little, P.E.

President,

SAME Atlanta

Same Georgia News

demonstration projects can promote the useof the technology. For example, the GoogleSelf-Driving Car has been permitted to beoperated or tested in several states includingNevada, Florida, and California. Success ofthe Google Car demonstrates the readinessof government agencies to consider invest-ment in autonomous vehicle technologies.This success can very likely increase the pub-lic’s overall confidence in such technologies,which therefore, makes a vast difference inits public acceptance.

one step at a time strategy

At times, implementing ITS initiatives re-quires a huge amount of capital expenditureor a big change in the way that people travel,which inevitably hinder the excitementand/or benefits these technologies bring. Infact, the magnitude of opposition is usuallypositively correlated to the magnitude ofchange. It takes time for the general public,policy makers, and potential investors to ad-just and accept a role in promoting these ini-tiatives. Therefore, the one step at a timestrategy is proposed to minimize the impactof implementing large scale ITS initiativesand to allow the public to accept smallchanges over time. For example, it is veryunlikely to implement a fully automated au-

tonomous highway system (AHS) even if thetechnology is ready because the huge changethat must be done to the infrastructure andto the travel behavior of the general public.In this case, specific and dividable compo-nents of an AHS, such as onboard driver as-sistance systems, vehicle to vehicle (V2V)communication, and vehicle to infrastruc-ture (V2I) technology, can be implementedfirst by utilizing the one step at a time strat-egy to move closer to the ultimate goal.

Rightness of cause strategy

ITS initiatives must be compared amongstother alternatives and should be imple-mented because they present the best alter-native in meeting specified objectives, suchas traffic safety, efficiency, system reliability,as well as other urgent and important needs.In such case, a rightness of cause strategy canbe applied. This strategy is most effective ifthe urgency and importance of implement-ing the solution is not only well conveyed,but also when there is a demonstrated needto implement such a solution. For example,transportation agencies designed their emer-gency response operations around, primarily,climate-related events, such as hurricanes,storms, and floods. However, after the eventsof September 11, 2001, there was an urgent

need to reshape the entire emergency re-sponse system to be able to respond to man-made disasters. ITS initiatives, such as theNext Generation 9-1-1, a system that is ca-pable of providing an integrated, wirelessplatform for emergency response communi-cations via voice, data, video, and othermeans, was much needed. In this case, therightness of cause strategy can be utilized tonot only ensure public support, but alsoagency engagement. Note that this strategymay be the most passive one comparedamongst all three proposed strategies; and itshould be used in the most critical cases,such as emergency response and traffic safety.

As described in the examples, each ofthe proposed strategies can be utilized to ef-fectively promote public acceptance underdifferent circumstances; in other words,there is no single universal solution. In fact,the best strategy may very likely be subjectto various factors such as the time, the juris-diction, and the field of application. There-fore, to determine the best strategy orcombination of strategies, considering thesefactors at different levels of decision makingprocess is important.v

• Young Member of the Year – B. Phil

McHugh, CP, CMS, GISP

• Large Business Sustaining Member of

the Year – Pond & Company

• Small Business Sustaining Member of

the Year – EcoWise Civil Design and

Consulting, Inc.

We also presented members of the

Exploring Engineering Academy with a

$5,000 donation to the 2014 program that

teaches 50-70 high school students about

opportunities in STEM careers during a

one-week summer camp. We are excited

to be able to promote this unique en-

deavor and encourage all engineers to get

involved with the camp as you are able.

We are also looking for volunteers! If you

are a currently an SAME member or if you

are thinking of becoming a member please

reach out to a Board Member or Com-

mittee Chair. We have opportunities on

our financial committee, veteran’s and

community outreach committee, commu-

nications committee, programs commit-

tee, golf committee and scholarship

committee. We will also be pulling to-

gether a slate of nominees for the 2014-

15 officers including new Board members

and a new Treasurer.

upcoming events:

The SAME Savannah Post South At-

lantic/South Central/Carolinas Joint Engi-

neer Training Symposium will be held on

June 24-26 in Savannah, GA. This event

will be headquartered at the Savannah

Riverfront Marriott. Please see

http://www.2014jetssasc.org/ for more

information on this event.

The SAME Atlanta Post Golf Tourna-

ment will be held on August 25, 2014 at

the St Marlo Country Club in Johns Creek.

All proceeds from this event will be do-

nated to the SHARE Initiative at the Shep-

herd Center a comprehensive

rehabilitation program for service men

and women.

If you are interested in being more in-

volved with the Post or if your company is

interested in sponsoring an event please

let us know! We can use your assistance

in making our Post rewarding for our

members and for our community. v

45apRiL | may 2014

SAME Atlanta Post presented the Exploring Engineering Academy with a $5,000 dona-

tion at the March Luncheon (l-r) Angie McDaniel, Pamela Little, Lew Sisson, Richard

Morales

Beth Harris, CPSM 2013 Member of the

Year Award Winner.

Pamela Little, President SAME Atlanta

Post presenting John Cassidy of Pond &

Company with the 2013 Large Sustaining

Business of the Year Award

Scotti Bozeman, F.SAME presenting

Pamela Little of EcoWise Civil Design and

Consulting, Inc. with the 2013 Small Sus-

taining Business of the Year Award.

2014 has started out a little slow with thesnow days, but we are quickly getting caughtup. Since the last WTS Corner article in theFall of 2013, we have hosted a very success-ful scholarship luncheon, gathered all newmembers together for a welcome reception,conducted a holiday party, held a trans-portation YOU quarterly meeting with ourLittle Sisters in the Grady High School Ro-botics program, met for a lunch and learn atCobb DOT and conducted two Mentor-Protégé lunch programs.

In February, the membership of WTSAtlanta was invited to hear Faye DiMassimo,Director of Cobb DOT, speak at our quar-terly lunch and learn. She talked about thecurrent program in Cobb County and theupcoming projects that are in the works dueto the Atlanta Braves move up to Cobb. Ms.DiMassimo explained to the group that theCumberland area has seen ongoing upgradesand improvements for many years in antici-pation of a major development being con-structed there in the future; well, now thatplanning and preparation is here and it is inthe form of the Atlanta Braves! Besides theBraves stadium projects, there are manyother exciting projects on the horizon forCobb County. Ms. DiMassimo’s desire forCobb is to make it a very desirable place tolive and work.

The Mentor-Protege program just heldanother luncheon in February where speakerJahnee Prince, of the Collaborative Firm,spoke about Overcoming Obstacles in our

profession. This program is very importantto both young professionals in the trans-portation industry, as well as those more sea-soned members. Speaking with many of thementor-protégé pairings involved in this pro-gram, it would seem that both the mentorsand protégés find value in learning from eachother as they meet on a monthly basis, if notmore often, and grow together in the profes-sion.

Another program that is in full swing in2014 is the Transportation YOU program.This very active committee already has sev-eral events planned with the Grady HighSchool Robotics Team for the remainder ofthe school year and is always looking for ad-ditional volunteers to help as it continues togrow and evolve. Grady High School hasbeen an excellent partner in making this pro-gram a success and we would like to thankall those involved for their commitment anddrive. Every year, each WTS chapter thathas a Transportation YOU program aroundthe country, sends at least one Big Sister/Lit-tle Sister pairing to the DC Summit. TheSummit, organized by WTS International, isan action-packed trip to Washington, DCfor several days in June, where the girls meet

many top leaders in the transportation in-dustry, learn about how they can impact theindustry and grow into leaders. WTS At-lanta is proud to announce that we will besending two Big sister/Little Sister pairingsto the DC Summit this year.

Looking ahead, we are excited about ourupcoming membership meeting to be heldin March to help our members learn how toget more involved in WTS on a local and in-ternational level. This meeting was initiallysupposed to be held in January, but had tobe postponed due to the snow and ice.AECOM has been very accommodatingwith rescheduling this luncheon and we lookforward to seeing record numbers at this an-nual meeting.

In April, we are anticipating schedulinga joint meeting with the Georgia Tech stu-dent chapter to discuss an exciting topic be-fore the spring semester ends. The programand date are still to be determined, but de-tails will be sent out within the next coupleof weeks, so be on the lookout for an-nouncements in our periodic newsletterblasts.

We always have a great turnout at theGDOT Board luncheon that we host every

Angela

Snyder, P.E.

President, WTS

Atlanta

WTS ATLANTA 2013 BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Angela Snyder President angela.snyder@wolverton-assoc.com Wolverton & Associates Inc.Marissa Martin Vice President, Membership marissa_martin@gspnet.comGresham, Smith and PartnersTonya Saxon Vice President, Programs tsaxon@itsmarta.comMARTAKirsten Berry Secretary kberry@hntb.comHNTB CorporationJennifer Stephan Treasurer jennifer.stephan@tylin.comT.Y. Lin International GroupBeth Ann Schwartz Director-at-Large baschwartz@baker.comMichael Baker CorporationHelen McSwain Director-at-Large hmcswain@matcjv.comAtkinsRegan Hammond Director-at-Large rhammond@arc.comAtlanta Regional CommissionShelley Lamar Director-at-Large Shelley.Lamar@atlanta-airport.comHartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International AirportJennifer King, P.E. Immediate Past President jjking@hntb.comHNTB Corporation

WtS Atlanta News

46 GeoRGia enGineeR

year. For 2014, we are tentatively schedulingthe luncheon for June, during a time withthe GDOT Board will be meeting in At-lanta, and will most likely be held at HotelMelia, which is adjacent to the Georgia De-partment of Transportation. Details aboutthis widely attended event will be comingout soon, so please reserve your spot early asit tends to reach capacity very quickly.

For those interested in being involvedbeyond our local chapter, the WTS interna-tional conference is being held in Portland,Oregon on May 14-16 this year. The keynote speaker this year will be award-winningCokie Roberts, political commentator forABC News, providing analysis for all net-work news programming, as well as for NPR.

There will also be many professional andtechnical seminars available throughout thethree-day conference to foster developmentof any professional involved in the trans-portation industry. For more informationabout the conference, please visithttps://www.wtsinternational.org/network-ing/annual-conference/.

We are also in the midst of our Corpo-rate Partnership campaign for 2014. If any-one is interested in becoming a corporatepartner or inquiring about the benefits,please email me at angela.snyder@wolverton-assoc.com or call (678) 405.3118 and I willbe able to send you more information.

Finally, WTS International has seenmuch success over the past year with the Ap-

pointments Committee. This is a committeemade up of representatives from each WTSchapter to encourage and promote femalesto high ranking positions within the localand national level of the transportation in-dustry. WTS International celebrated the in-vitation for General Motors CEO, MaryBarra, and trucking company founder,Andra Rush, to sit with First Lady, MichelleObama, at this year’s State of the Union Ad-dress. If promoting female participating intohigher levels of office is something that youfeel passionate about, and would like to learnmore information about the AppointmentsCommittee, please reach out to me as soon aspossible. v

47apRiL | may 2014

inder, Georgia, is the home

to a new and dynamic proj-

ect by the Georgia Depart-

ment of Transportation.

Concrete precast panel

pavements, the first of its

kind in Georgia, is set to re-

vitalize downtown Winder. The project

completely rehabilitates nearly a mile of

pavement that surrounds the county

courthouse.

A USDOT Highway for Life grant, as

well as some state and local beautifica-

tion funds, are funding the nearly $5 mil-

lion project, which includes the

installation of concrete precast panels to

replace the existing roadway as well as

enhancements to the sidewalks, curb

and gutter, benches, lighting and land-

scaping. The Georgia DOT chose concrete

precast panels for a multifold of reasons.

First was the need for a rigid pavement

to handle the substantial truck traffic

from the multiple state roads converging

on downtown Winder. This traffic over

time has caused severe asphalt rutting

(more than two inches) throughout the

downtown center making the smooth-

ness of the road unbearable for local car

traffic.. In addition, many historical build-

ings are in very close proximity to the

road. The use of the precast panels elim-

inated the need for heavy vibrating

equipment that could have possibly dam-

aged the buildings.

The project also had to contend with

underground utilities and concrete pre-

cast panels allowed for limited subgrade

disruption that would have been re-

quired in a full-depth repair. Further-

more, conventional rehabilitation would

have caused traffic disruption interfering

with local businesses during the holiday

season. The precast panels were fabri-

cated offsite and installed during night-

time lane closures to minimize impact to

traffic during rush hour. Allowing the

traffic to resume and flow as normal

throughout the day was a key driving fac-

tor for many locally elected officials and

residents.

“The Georgia Department of Trans-

portation continues to look for innova-

tive ways to deliver quality

transportation infrastructure. The pre-

cast concrete panel and downtown

streetscape project is a perfect example

of such innovation. The outcome of this

project will be a long lasting pavement

nestled in beautiful downtown setting

where the citizens and businesses will

not have to worry about future mainte-

nance for a long time,” said Russell Mc-

Murry, PE, chief engineer at Georgia

DOT. “I’m very proud of our GDOT Road-

way Design team, Keck and Wood for the

integration of Street Scape design, Foley

Concrete Products in concert with Fort

Miller Company, and G.P.’s Enterprise for

all of their efforts to make this the proj-

ect a success. Most importantly, we

thank the City of Winder and the down-

town businesses for their support while

this innovative work was being per-

formed.”

Because the project received a fed-

eral grant to complete the project, the

Georgia Concrete Paving Association had

numerous opportunities to host project

visits for transportation and elected offi-

cials as well as participate as a host spon-

sor for the Highways for Life Workshop.

This brought national attention to the

project and GDOT. v

Concrete Precast Panels Revitalize Pavements in WinderBy Steve Davis, Executive Director | Georgia Concrete Paving Association

W

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