Download - YPT Austin Fall 2011 Newsletter
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In this issue:
Letter from the Chair 1
Announcements 2
Recap of Past Events 2
Hot Topic: Car2Go 3
Member Spotlight: Allison Kaplan 3
Board Member Spotlight:
Luis Lopez 4
Highlights from Other
YPT Chapters 5
Upcoming Events 5
2011-2012 Corporate
Sponsors 6
Become Involved! 6
2011-2012
Austin Executive Board
Chair Katherine Kortum
University of Texas
Deputy Chair
Millie Hayes FHWA
Vice Chair - Administration
April Sandoval
AECOM
Vice Chair - Communication Sowmya Chandrasekhar
Alliance Transportation Group
Vice Chair - Finance
Luis Lopez FHWA
Vice Chair - Programs Stephen Ratke
FHWA
Dear Members & Friends:
Summer in Austin has come to a close. Northerners don‘t
understand when we get excited about the ―cool days‖,
where the highs are only in
the 90s; but Texans do, especially after this summer.
The hottest and driest summer on record anywhere in the US
l ed to d ramat i c and devastating wildfires around
the state, many of which were in our own
backyard. With most of the state in extreme drought conditions, please
continue to be very careful with cigarettes, matches, grills, or anything
that could provide a spark. And don‘t
waste any water!
The Jewish New Year occurs in Fall,
which has always seemed appropriate to me. Anyone with a connection to
academia knows that the beginning of September represents much more change
and ―newness‖ than January 1. Even for
those who left school behind long ago, the change of season to one with cool,
crisp air and colorful foliage brings a welcome freshness to our days.
The arrival of Fall means that the YPT
boards, both nationally and locally, are
facing changes. The year 2011
marks YPT-Austin‘s first election season, and we‘re
ready to move forward with another year of strong growth.
V o t i n g m e m b e r s a r e
encouraged to help make a difference in determining the
direction that the organization takes by choosing the board
members they consider to be most aligned with their own
wishes. Those of you who are
members– thank you, and please be sure to vote in the elections. Those who are
friends – consider becoming a member (annual dues are only $20) and help us
determine the future path of YPT-Austin.
I cannot give enough thanks to our sponsors, AECOM and Rios Engineering.
Without their generous support, YPT-Austin would not have been able to get
off the ground, much less provide the networking opportunities that we have
coordinated in the last several months.
With the support, we have been able to plan events for you and the
transportation community around Austin.
Sincerely,
Katherine Kortum, YPT-Austin Chair
L e tt er f r om t h e Ch ai r
FALL 2011 VOLUME 1, ISSUE III
Austin Chapter NewsletterAustin Chapter NewsletterAustin Chapter Newsletter THE FUTURE OF TRANSPORTATION
A n no u nc eme n ts We are pleased to announce our newest member, Jennifer Bennett-Reumuth.
Welcome, Jennifer!
For those of you who took the FE or PE Exam in October, well done! We are eager to
hear your results!
More ways to stay connected! We recently created YPT-Austin Group on LinkedIn,
and we look forward to seeing you there.
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Rec a p of P as t E ve n ts
Blues on the Green August 3, 2011
YPT-Austin braved the searing Austin summer heat for the
long running ‗Blues on the Green‘ at Zilker Park. The com-pany of members and friends, the great views of sunset at
downtown Austin, and music from the Old 97‘s made for a
fun evening.
September Roundtable Event September 12, 2011
Ms. Jana McCann, CEO of McCann Adams Studio, presented
at our September Roundtable Event. Jana updated the atten-dees on the Downtown Austin Plan, with specific attention on
the bicycle components of the plan and the vision for creat-
ing a multi-modal Austin.
Austin-Bergstrom International Airport Tour November 4, 2011
YPT-Austin gathered at the Planning and Engineering Depart-
ment of the City of Austin‘s Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (ABIA). Airport officials provided insights on maintain-
ing, operating, financing, securing, and engineering a large
commercial airport. The event concluded with a tour of the Signature–Austin aviation facility.
November Roundtable Event November 14, 2011
Mr. Patrick Hays, PE, SE, Associate Vice President at AECOM,
presented at our November Roundtable Event. Pat discussed the pursuit, risk mitigation, and management of design/build
transportation projects, reflecting on his experience on the
SH130 and SH161 projects in Texas.
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Allison Kaplan is from Aiken, South Carolina, a city of about 30,000 people.
After graduating from Clemson University in 2008 with a degree in
Language and International Trade, she
moved to Austin in 2009 to attend the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the
University of Texas at Austin. She graduated from the LBJ School in May
2011 with a Master of Global Policy Studies degree.
A l l i son became inte res ted in
transportation issues after returning from Bamberg, Germany where she
was studying abroad in 2005-2006. She lived without a car, and used her
bicycle for most trips. Upon her return
to the US, she found using her bicycle
difficult as a mode of transportation for three reasons: fewer bicycle facilities,
auto drivers did not respect bicyclists‘ right to the road, and bicyclists did not
follow the rules of the road. She was
determined to spread the word to both drivers and cyclists about their rights
and responsibilities.
Soon after moving to Austin, Allison
was involved in a crash. A car right-hooked her on her bicycle, and sent
her to the hospital. This incident
encouraged her to seek out the bicycling advocates and nonprofits in
Austin, to give them her energy and passion. She recently completed an
(Continued on page 4)
M e mb e r S po tl i g ht : A l l i s o n K apl a n
Car2Go is a new mobility concept
headquartered in Austin. Three-hundred of the Smart ForTwo vehicles
are scattered around the city, all avail-able to be rented by the minute, thus
reducing the need for personal vehicle
ownership.
Simply walk up to any vehicle (or re-
serve one in advance). Swipe your membership card over the electronic
reader in the corner of the windshield to unlock the vehicle. Enter your PIN
on the dashboard touch-screen com-
munication system to unlock the glove box and retrieve the keys, and then
drive away at 35 cents a minute. Whenever you are done with the
rental, you can leave the car in a legal
parking space for someone else to rent.
Vehicles must be returned within the 52-square mile ―geofence‖ area that
defines the Car2Go parking area, but the vehicles can be driven as long and
as far as desired; rentals simply cannot
end until they are once again within the geofenced area.
Membership in Car2Go is simple – pro-vide your driver‘s license, submit a
credit card for billing, and hop in a ve-
hicle and drive away.
More than 16,000 Austin-area residents
have become members of the pro-
gram, including many of those who live downtown, near campus, and in cen-
tral Austin.
The distinctly-branded vehicles are in
motion far more than the average per-sonal vehicle, as rentals occur at all
hours of the day. Rentals peak during
the 11 AM to 1 PM period as members run lunchtime errands and take other
mid-day trips. The opportunity for one-way trips, currently unique among car-
sharing programs worldwide, allows a
level of spontaneity and flexibility un-matched by any other travel mode,
including personal vehicles.
Car2Go also has European operations
in Ulm and Hamburg, Germany, and
Amsterdam, Netherlands. It has re-cently expanded services within North
America in Vancouver, Canada, and San Diego, US. Both Amsterdam and
San Diego operations include a fleet of electric vehicles.
Carsharing is not a new concept, as it
has been around for decades, but Car2Go likes to call their innovative
one-way rentals and flexibility in scheduling— ―Carshare 2.0.‖ Other
existing carsharing organizations have
taken notice of this new business model, and carsharing is anticipated to
flourish in Austin and beyond.
H o t To pi c: C a r2 G o Contributed by: Katherine Kortum
Image from: http://www.car2go.com/austin/en/get-in/find/
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Luis Lopez is an Area Engineer for the Texas Division of the Federal Highway
Administration (FHWA), based in Austin. He has six years of experience
in the federal oversight and
construction management fields. Luis currently provides oversight for the
North Houston District.
In addition to serving as the YPT-
Austin Vice Chair for Finance, Luis is a
member of ASCE and Young Member of the Transportation Research Board
(TRB) Committee on Construction Management.
Luis holds a Bachelor of Science in Civil
Engineering from the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez (UPRM). He
also earned his Master of Engineering
Management degree from Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico (PUPR). He is
a Licensed Professional Engineer registered in Puerto Rico.
When did you realize you wanted
a career in transportation?
Maybe I didn‘t realize at first, but I did
well in transportation courses during my undergraduate program at UPRM.
My capstone and final group project were dedicated to transportation. For
good or for bad, I found that the topic
was within my comfort zone.
In Puerto Rico, the civil engineering
undergraduate program is five years. During my fourth year, I was accepted
in the FHWA Summer Transportation
Internship Program for Diverse Group. I was assigned to Region 10 (Long
Island) of the New York State Department of Transportation to do
safety studies. My fifth year, I received a partial scholarship from FHWA to
attend the TRB Annual Meeting in
2005.
Had you not followed your current
career path, what other profession would you have pursued?
During middle school and high school,
my initial career choices were accountant, architect, or civil engineer.
I began to discover that accounting was boring, and that I couldn‘t draw a
straight line to be an architect. Civil
engineering was way too cool to let it
go!
As a young professional, what
advice would you give those expecting to graduate or just
entering workforce?
Probably it sounds cliché, but my recommendation is that you have to go
for your dreams.
You have to do what makes you
happy. Learn and read as much as you can. Take risks if they are worth it.
Also, remember that you work to live;
you don‘t live to work.
Last advice: Join YPT. You are going to
meet a lot of enthusiastic people with similar career goals, but with different
backgrounds and stories. Have fun,
meet other professionals like you, and share experiences.
Now that college is over, what do you do for fun?
I really like to play sports, such as soccer, volleyball, and basketball. I
recently competed in the ‗San Antonio
Rock & Roll Marathon‘ in mid-November.
Now that college is over, I discovered that I like to cook. Two or three times
a month, I take a full day to make
something different in the kitchen. I like food, happy hours, and dance. I
take my wife to dance salsa and merengue.
B o ar d M emb e r S p otl i gh t : L ui s L o pe z
internship with the City of Austin‘s
Bicycle Program, where she learned about the rules of the road from a
government‘s perspective.
The Bicycle Program culminated in a technical paper on bicycle promotion.
She researched two case studies in depth: the cities of Malmö, Sweden,
and Portland, Oregon.
In the first case study, the Malmö 2010
campaign informed its residents that
50% of all car trips in Malmö were ―ridiculously short‖ (three miles or
less). As a result, bicycling in Malmö
increased by 11%.
In the second case study, Portland use a transportation demand management
model, called SmartTrips, to encourage alternative transportation choices. The
program resulted in the reduction of
drive-alone trips by 9 to 13% (in different areas), while bicycling nearly
doubled between 2004 and 2008.
Allison is currently working for ―Please
BE KIND to Cyclists‖, an Austin nonprofit with the mission to increase
harmony and tolerance between
drivers and cyclists. She is also a m e m b e r o f t h e W o m e n ‘ s
Transportation Seminar (WTS), where
she tries to put in a bicycle commuter‘s
―two-cents‖ whenever she can.
Allison hopes that the strong Austin
bicycling community can help change the car-centric trend. Her goals are to
help make the city more bike-friendly
and give more people the option to walk, bike, carpool, or take public
transport.
Her experience in Germany taught her
that not only is bicycling in the snow possible, living without a car is also
possible given the right infrastructure
and attitude. Allison‘s vision is to bring the right infrastructure and attitude to
Austin.
(Continued from page 3)
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U p co mi n g Ev e n ts
Holiday Networking with the WTS Heart of Texas Chapter
We are teaming up with WTS again this year to help benefit Travis County Brown Santa, which gives toys to boys and girls (ages 0-
14). Please bring new and unwrapped toys, or non-perishable food items.
Where: NXNW Restaurant and Brewery at the Arboretum
Time: 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
4th Annual Lights Of Love 5K And Kids' K
Members and friends are welcome to volunteer for the annual 5K to benefit Austin‘s Ronald McDonald House & Family Rooms— a
―home-away-from-home‖ for families with seriously ill or injured children.
Where: Mueller Hangar
Time: 5:00 PM
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DEC
Hi g hl i g h ts f r om O th e r YP T C ha p te r s
US Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood speaking at the July Leadership Seminar for YPT-DC.
YPT-Boston partnered with the
Transportation Research Board (TRB) Young Member Council for their Sum-
mer Meeting in July. The meeting was followed by a networking reception.
In September, they offered members a
tour of the Rose Kennedy Greenway, a series of parks and public spaces in
downtown Boston that runs above In-terstate 93. Peter Gori, from the Bos-
ton Redevelopment Authority, and
Linda Jonash, from the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway Conservancy, led
the group. The tour was followed by a networking happy hour at Boston
Beer Works.
YPT-Boston at Rose Kennedy Greenway. YPT-New York at George Washington Bridge.
YPT-DC hosted their July Leadership
Seminar, featuring the most senior transportation official in the country,
the Honorable Ray LaHood, the U.S. Secretary of Transportation. The mem-
bers-only event attracted several new-
comers to the organization.
In August, they joined the Women‘s
Transportation Seminar (WTS) of DC, Transportation Research Forum (TRF),
and the Reason Foundation for an eve-
ning reception on ―VMT: Could a Mile-age-Based Fee be the Next Transpor-
tation Funding Mechanism?‖
The summer ended with a members
outing to a Washington Nationals baseball game.
YPT-New York organized a series
of tours throughout the summer called ―Summer Vacation‖. Members visited
various engineering landmarks located around the City, including:
Grand Central Terminal
7 Subway Extension
World Trade Center site
NYCT Power Control Center
NYCT Rail Traffic Operations Con-
trol Center
Michael J. Quill Bus Depot
NYCT Substation 13 in Manhattan
NYC DOT Brooklyn Bridge Restora-tion Project
George Washington Bridge
Brooklyn Marine Terminal in Red Hook
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DEC
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Mail: PO Box 300753
Austin, Texas 78703-0753
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: https://sites.google.com/site/yptaustin/home
Join us on Facebook and LinkedIn!
If you would like to submit an article or
advertise your business in our quarterly
newsletter, please contact April Sandoval ([email protected]).
2 011 - 2 01 2 C o r p or a te S p o ns or s
Become Involved!
At AECOM, our global network of planners, engineers,
project managers and supporting technical specialists
provide high quality services to public and private sector
clients around the world. We deliver expertise in the
following market segments and technical practice areas:
Travel by land, by sea or by air, and you will encounter
transportation systems and facilities that AECOM has
planned or designed – whether a new subway system for
New York City, a massive urban development project in
the United Arab Emirates, a major container terminal in
the port of Hong Kong, a 25-mile toll road in Western
Sydney, or the capital improvement program at Los
Angeles International Airport – they are all part of AE-
COM's award-winning global transportation experience.
AECOM delivers comprehensive services over the full life
cycle of a project to benefit the government and private
industry clients that it serves. We have a genuine appre-
ciation and understanding of the operating structures and
business needs of the transportation industry. AECOM's
transportation professionals are constantly looking for
more acceptable, safer and sustainable ways to move
people across cities, countries and continents.
(Source: http://aecom.com/What+We+Do/
Transportation)
Rios Engineering, LLC, is an Austin-based consulting firm that offers professional civil engineering service in the
State of Texas. Rios Engineering consists of a team of well-qualified experts committed to providing quality, client-focused, customized solutions from concept to
construction. We specialize in a broad range of support, including:
Computer-Aided Drafting and Design (CADD)
Roadway Design & Schematics
Advanced GEOPAK Criteria and Cross-Section
Development
Earthwork Processing
Digital Terrain and 3D Modeling
Plans, Specifications, and Estimates (PS&E) Assem-
bly (Retaining Wall & Bridge Plans; Traffic Control Plans; Erosion Control Plans; Drainage Plans)
Rios Engineering realizes that the client plays a critical role in each of our projects. We are known for working closely with our clients throughout the project life cycle in
order to deliver a high quality product on time and on budget. We are dedicated to building lasting relationships to ensure future success.
Rios Engineering is registered with the City of Austin as a Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) and Minority-Owned Business Enterprise (MBE). The firm is also
certified as a Texas Historically Underutilized Business (HUB).
(Source: http://riosengineering.com/)