Meet the Team
To meet the requirements of this project, Kittelson & Associates, Inc. (KAI) has assembled a project team that we believe provides the best balance of practical signal timing experience, an understanding of the state of the practice and the state of the art, and the ability to produce national documents of this stature. Founded in 1985, KAI currently employs a staff of over 100 people with offices in Baltimore, Maryland; Boise, Idaho; Fort Lauderdale and Orlando, Florida; Phoenix and Tucson, Arizona; and Portland, Oregon. KAI provides services in the areas of transportation design, operations, planning, and research. We recognize that the goals of efficient, economic and safe transportation depend increasingly on more effective management, operation and enhancement of existing transportation facilities. As a result, many of the projects in which we participate, in focus on making the existing transportation system safe and efficient for all modes of transportation. Traffic signal timing practice and research is one of the specialty areas of our firm.
Mr. Peter Koonce, P.E., of KAI will serve as Principal Investigator for this project (see Figure 1 for the organization of our project team). Mr. Koonce has established a reputation of bringing together multidisciplinary individuals to form successful teams. As a practitioner who also teaches at the university and short course level, he brings valuable exposure to the subject. Peter has developed and implemented signal timing plans for over 300 intersections and is considered a national leader in the implementation of transit signal priority. He currently manages the development and delivery of a short course on traffic signal timing that has been presented several times in the U.S. and is an active participant on the NCHRP 3-79 research to improve the Urban Streets Chapter of the Highway Capacity Manual. Peter is an active member of TRB’s Committee on Traffic Signal Systems and serves as the chair of the Signal Timing Manual subcommittee. He recently moderated the TRB meeting on “Best Practices for Traffic Signal Timing.” Mr. Koonce will be assisted by the following key team members from KAI, each specifically selected for the relevant expertise they can bring to this project:
Mr. Wayne Kittelson, P.E., will serve as Project Principal, providing senior guidance and Quality Assurance/Quality Control. He has been an active participant in FHWA and TRB document development for over thirty years and most recently served as the Principal Investigator for the Highway Capacity Manual Applications Guide.
Mr. Lee Rodegerdts, P.E., will contribute to the document organization and provide content throughout the document. He led or co-led the development of two widely distributed FHWA documents: Signalized Intersection: Informational Guide and Roundabouts: An Informational Guide. He also has extensive experience in developing and implementing traffic signal timing in a wide variety of communities across the United States.
Mr. Kevin Lee will conduct much of the literature review and assist in writing sections of the document. He has both practical and research experience in developing and implementing traffic signal timing and recently worked with Dr. Darcy Bullock at Purdue University.
Ms. Caroline Swartz will provide graphical support for this project. She has provided similar graphical support for Signalized Intersections: Informational Guide.
To provide the depth and breadth of experience that FHWA desires for this project, KAI has assembled a team of practitioners and researchers with a strong balance of practical experience, research knowledge, and technology transfer. These team members include the Texas Transportation Institute (TTI), the University of Maryland (UM), Purdue University, Siemens ITS, and the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE). Key contributors from these organizations are the following:
Dr. James Bonneson, TTI, will lead the preparation of the sections of the document on basic signal timing. He is co-author of the Manual of Traffic Detector Design, and Red-Light-Running Handbook: An Engineer’s Guide to Reducing Red-Light-Related Crashes and is presently leading NCHRP Project 3-79, which is establishing a new framework within the Highway Capacity Manual for analyzing the performance of urban streets.
Mr. Phil Tarnoff, UM, will lead the preparation of the sections of the document on traffic signal optimization and maintenance of timing. He recently completed the “National Traffic Signal Report Card and Self Assessment” for public jurisdictions, which offers a unique perspective to the state of the practice as well as the state of the art. . He was also project manager and primary author of the report “Signal Timing Practices and Procedures – state of the Practice” produced for FHWA and ITE, and is the current project manager of an effort intended to define a national set of performance measures for traffic operations.
In addition to the major contributors identified above, we will draw upon the specialized expertise of the following team members:
Mr. Bob DeRoche, TTI, is active in the development of NTCIP standards and will insure the manual is consistent with terminology used in the Actuated Signal Controller standard.
Dr. Darcy Bullock, Purdue University, will serve as a technical resource on detection technologies. He is the Secretary of the TRB Committee on Traffic Signal Systems and is active on the MOST (Mobile (Hands-On-Traffic) Signal Timing Training) program.
Mr. Warren Tighe, Siemens ITS, will serve as a technical resource on ITS applications. He recently completed work on the National Highway Institute’s course on Traffic Signal Design and Operation and is active in the development of ACS-Lite.
