Session 5B: Innovative Planning and Procurement for Freeway Congestion Relief Projects

Session Description: In a time of increased congestion on our nation’s freeways and dwindling funding resources, state DOTs have moved towards employing different planning, procurement, and funding strategies to reduce congestion on our clogged freeway system.

Moderator: Mahmood Shehata, RK&K

• Public Perspective on Traffic and Revenue Forecasts for Public/Private Partnerships, Stephen Weller, Travel Demand Forecasting Lead, CH2M
• I-270 Innovative Congestion Management, Sean Campion, Assistant Division Chief, Innovative Contracting Division, Maryland State Highway Administration
• Integrating TSMO Approaches to Highway Project Planning in the Mid-Atlantic, Barry Brandt, Director, Traffic Engineering, RK&K

Speaker Bios:

Stephen Weller graduated from Penn State with a master of engineering degree in December 1996. Steve has specialized in urban and inter-city travel demand forecasting and transportation planning. He has been involved in a wide variety studies focusing on toll roads and managed lanes, multi-modal highway corridor analysis, inter-city high-speed passenger rail, local transit feasibility and operations, and FTA New Starts projects. His traffic and revenue forecasting projects have included investment grade forecasting to support the concessionaire in the development of the Capital Beltway and I-95 HOT lanes, supporting VDOT in Transform I-66 Express Lanes in Northern Virginia, and the investment grade forecasting for the $5.7 B purchase of the Indiana Toll Road concession. He has also supported OCTA’s planning for the SR 91 corridor in Orange County, California, various planning level analyses for MTA Bridges and Tunnels in New York City, and many preliminary and intermediate level traffic and revenue studies and due diligence reviews in California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Ohio, Texas, and Virginia.

Barry Brandt is the director of the Traffic Engineering Design Group. His responsibilities include ITS planning and design, traffic control device design, traffic engineering and capacity analysis, and highway safety engineering. Barry has experience in the deployment of ITS devices such as CCTV cameras, dynamic message signs, vehicle detectors, roadway weather stations, variable speed limit signs, and EZPass tag readers. He is one of two directors responsible for RK&K’s firm-wide traffic engineering and ITS practice which includes over 75 team members.

Sean Campion has been an employee of the Maryland Department of Transportation State Highway Administration (MDOT SHA) Office of Highway Development (OHD) for 11 years. During his time in OHD he has worked in the Highway Design Division (HDD) for four years and the Innovative Contracting Division (ICD) for seven years. He is currently the assistant division chief of ICD. Sean graduated from the University of Delaware in 2006 with a bachelor of science in civil engineering and is a registered professional engineer in the state of Maryland.