Transportation Priorities

Washington State Governor Christine Gregoire has formed a task force to develop comprehensive options for a statewide legislative transportation package including finance options such as public private partnership and tolling.

The Task force includes the broad range of transportation interests across the state and have already met three times.  They will be meeting two more times with a goal of providing recommended strategies to the 2012 legislature in January.

They are seeking your ideas and suggestions through this short on-line survey.  An even more in-depth survey from the Washington State Transportation Commission is located at this survey. 

So come on Cascadia, what is important to YOU?

Like the Apple Macintosh computer, I was born in 1984.  When I was in kindergarten my dad bought an Apple Macintosh and made me play Math Blasters.  I believe this, and Family Math Night at Hillcrest Community School, started me on my path towards a love of math.  By 4th grade, I had a fellow nerd penpal on AOL (future engineer also, surprise) and a top score on OutNumbered!.  In high school, I convinced my dad to get a purple apple desktop.  The first colored iMac G3.  When I left for engineering school in 2002, it came with me (or at least traveled in the back of a Jeep across the US and met me there). 

My College Dorm Desk with My Purple iMac

In 2004, my apartment in college was robbed, but they didn’t take MY computer because it was so big and heavy, they wouldn’t have gotten it out the window without getting caught.  The next year, after saving my money from engineering internships, I made my first big purchase… an iBook G4.  They were offering a deal for $200 off an iPod (then cost $270), so I went for that too.  I believe I had the back engraved for free with “Ifyoustealthisyouwilldie.”  I still wake up to that iPod every morning and my iBook STILL works.  Steve Jobs has impacted my generation profoundly.  His presence in the tech world will be missed, but he lives on in all the young creative engineers he inspired.  Thanks to two great Steves in my life for getting me where I am today as an engineer.  Steve Jobs for designing that first Apple, and my dad Steve Elkins, for buying it and Math Blasters for me.

Sperm Bike delivers the goods

When is a bike more than a bike? When it is the impetus for inventive and creative transport.  Bike Month (May) spotlights that enduring and reliable mode for commuting.  Starting near and dear to my heart 85 CH2M HILL employees from 16 offices rode 1,120 miles during bike to work week.  Intra-office competition resulted in the Seattle office team (Spokes for Brains) biking 110 total miles, and the So Cal office with the best name (Engineers without motors). 

If that doesn’t put a smile on your face, check out the “Sperm Bike”.  This bike from a sperm bank in Copenhagen <Nordisk European Sperm Bank> not only transports “the goods” in a cryogenically cooled tank, but serves to advertise their services.  Thanks Copenhagenize. PS How do you steer that thing?

I read an interesting article this morning about how the company IDEO is stepping in to help governments improve.  I almost feel that the problems facing government are the same issues facing the engineering industry.  I once heard a man say that he becomes “less and less impressed with outside-the-box thinking” as he gets older, and he wasn’t even an engineer.  Similar to current government culture, we don’t change, we don’t adapt, and we have a hard time relating to other humans.  About a year ago, I saw an article on a female project manager and how innovative she was.  That got me pretty excited…  Until I read the article.  Apparently, everyone thought that doing construction at night to limit traffic was incredibly innovative.  Really?  When I think of innovative, I think of  Utah sliding a new bridge into place in the middle of the night or Minnesota and FIGG using children’s artwork (mosaic tiles) on the new 35W bridge while teaching them about concrete.

Skytran PRT

So what can the ideas of a company like IDEO do for the transportation design industry or even the civil engineering industry in general?  A few years ago, I was lucky to be invited to a workshop at the Palo Alto office of IDEO for a Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) brainstorming session hosted by a PRT technology research firm.  This was probably the only session ever done for transportation at IDEO, but the experience left a lasting impression on me.  I was a part of a group in charge of brainstorming ideas for the user experience inside a PRT vehicle.  Using post-it notes, my group compromised of people from all walks of life started coming up with some crazy and amazing ideas.  How about a pod car that has room for your luggage or groceries?  That would definitely encourage people to use public transportation.  Or a pod car that lets you dock your ipod, so that your music is playing while the interior of the car changes colors to match the mood of your music.  We talk about how to make transit more accessible, more convenient, and even sexy (check out my session tweets from TranspoCamp West, #sexytransit), but what have we done to facilitate that?  Why isn’t Apple looking at PRT to link its new Space Ship campus in Cupertino to Caltrain?

Why in transportation design do we just accept things?  Like that buses and bikes should share the right lane.  I watched a biker almost get nailed by my MUNI bus this morning.  The largest and the smallest vehicles together, really?  Why don’t we start putting more bike lanes with a buffer on the right side of parked cars like they’ve done in Minneapolis and Portland?

Bike Lanes in Portland Photo by: Paul Schommer

The IDEO Post-It Wall

So what do you think?  Do you think it’s possible to incorporate true IDEO style brainstorming into transportation design?  Can we get all the transportation project stakeholders in a room armed with magic markers and post-its at the beginning of each project?  I’ll be waiting with my markers and post-its.  Who’s with me?

A “green sticker” program is currently in development and is expected to be launched with the release of hybrid plug-in vehicles next year.  The program should run until 2015 and encourage the purchase of more environmentally friendly vehicles like the hybrid sticker program did.  Also remaining will be the white sticker program, which allows zero-emission vehicles such as hydrogen fuel cell, all-electric, and some compressed natural gas vehicles access to the carpool lane until is also expires in 2015.

I’ve been hearing murmurs (mostly disgruntled) related to this topic as I have attended transportation conferences over the last year.  Usually, it’s someone in the industry that has a friend about to lose the carpool lane access privilege.  The ironic part is that is seems that most of the people highly concerned with this new change are those with obscenely long commutes that would be impossibly time consuming without access to the carpool lanes.  These are people that would not buy a low emission vehicle without the carpool access benefit and are now contemplating chucking their hybrid for an EV or natural gas car in order to keep this privilege.  Now, what’s interesting are the comments coming up about this in various articles reporting on it, like this one from the SF Chronicle.  The question comes to this: at what point should you re-evaluate living more than 50 miles away from your place of employment?  Does it really make sense to live far from your place of employment, even if you drive an emission-free vehicle?  I think most urbanists would argue that the act of carpooling, taking transit, or living closer to work would have a much greater positive impact on the environment.  Something to think about.  What do you think?

Functioning similarly to their full-size counterparts, low-speed electric vehicles cost only 2 cents per mile to operate and are street legal on most roads with a speed limit of 35mph. This makes them the perfect accessory for any short trips, like running errands or going to work or the gym, in urban areas when taking out the SUV isn’t a necessity.

In fact, the average distance traveled on most car trips was just more than 10 miles in 2009. When you’re only going a short distance, low speed electric vehicles make more sense than your full-size car because they’re easier to maneuver around, more cost and gas efficient, and don’t emit any of the toxic emissions.

For personal use, low-speed electric vehicles resemble golf carts, but to date, the biggest use of electric vehicles has been from a commercial standpoint. Electric utility vehicles, like patrolling police cars or buses and shuttles, are the better alternative for government agencies or college campuses to keep fuel and energy costs low.

“Using low-speed electric vehicles just makes sense these days,” said Justin Jackrel, owner of Road Rat Motors, a retailer of low-speed electric vehicles. “With some of the models costing as little as 1 cent per mile to operate and the current tax rebate of 10% of the total purchase price, you can’t go wrong.”

Still, a low-speed electric vehicle isn’t something that you buy on a whim. It’s a commitment, and there are a few things to help you decide if, and which style, is the right for you.

• Open vs. closed: In warmer climates, open NEVs (neighborhood electric vehicles) because you get more space without feeling like you’re in a smaller, enclosed car. But, you are subjected to weather forces.
• Cost: While most low-speed electric vehicles are far less expensive than cars, they aren’t considered cheap, with most coming in between $8,000 and $16,000. However, considering that it costs 1-3 cents per mile to operate, the long-term savings outweigh the initial price tag.
• Why buy? If you live in an urban setting where you’re typically only traveling short distances, NEVs will pay for themselves multiple times over in cost savings on gas and maintenance.
• Not just golf carts: Street legal golf carts are not the only type of low-speed electric vehicles. In fact, most NEVs have features similar to any full-sized car, just on a smaller scale.

Erin Everhart oversees the Web marketing for Road Rat Motors, a leading retailer of low speed vehicles for both commercial and residential purposes. Road Rat Motors has a full-line of affordable electric vehicles for sale, street legal golf carts, racing go karts and motor scooters.

This is a program similar to the structure of Zipcar, where the company provides a vehicle, and members pay an annual fee, and then a set price for the amount of usage for a vehicle. This works well for households without vehicles already, but the question is what to do with all of the other personal vehicles already out there?

Two companies are currently running a neighbor-to-neighbor car sharing program, Getaround and Relay Rides.

Relay Rides has an established car network in Boston and San Francisco. Drivers join the network, and then are able to reserve cars similarly to the Zipcar system. The network takes care of insurance and gas for a flat fee and hourly usage rate. The twist is that car owners can also put their car to be shared, and as extra incentive, earn money as their car is used in the system.

Getaround is more of a neighborhood network, and emphasizes the community of drivers who are screened, and the system provides a feedback system for both the driver and vehicle owner to rate their respective experiences.

Thanks in effect to newer technologies, including smart cards, mobile apps and smart tracking devices for security; car sharing is becoming easier to implement. I can’t wait to share my beater truck, though I can imagine the poor person who has to deal with the unique operational aspects of a 1971 Ford truck…

Green Parking

Paved paradise put up a parking lot with green moss, a rain garden and crime prevention through environmental design.  Okay, I never said I was good at song parodies but to some green parking may sound like an oxymoron.   Nevertheless, you might want somewhere to park your EV.  Wouldn’t it be nice if that pavement was pervious, and followed exceptional natural drainage principles.  These types of facilities are being developed and designs are evolving to reduce maintenance issues and increase durability.  Natural drainage eliminates the need to collect and treat stormwater, and plantings within the streetscape may meet landscaping requirements.  Many agencies have developed guidance in the design and implementation of green parking like Seattle and Minneapolis.  As for old style impervious lots, don’t it always seem to go that you don’t know what you got til it’s gone?

Potential Oyster-tecture Canalscape Environment (Image source: SCAPE)

Back in December, an architect from NY named Kate Orff gave a TEDWomen talk on “oyster-tecture.” She worked with a team that came up with some brilliant new words/concepts such as FLUPSY which is a ”floating raft with an oyster nursery below.”  The main purpose of Kate’s team was to transform a highly polluted coastal area in New York City, the Gowanus Canal, by revitalizing a long-lost natural oyster reef.  As oysters are natural ocean cleaners or “filter feeders,” the idea is to introduce oysters to a highly polluted environment, where oysters used to thrive, in order to rebuild and create more natural coast lines and public spaces.

On the flip side are mollusks that destroy the natural environment such as the Zebra and Quagga Mussels.

Source: USGS

Although this issue has affected the Great Lakes region the hardest, Zebra Mussels have recently spread to the west coast, now affecting water treatment facilities and local habitats throughout the country.  The reason controlling the spread of Zebra Mussels is so important is that it is beginning to affect our potable water supply.  As the mussels spread, they grow and clog storm water run-off outlet pipes and water treatment system pipes potentially cutting off the water supply and the ability capture runoff.

SOURCE: LA Times

Of critical importance in controlling the spread of Zebra Mussels is the limiting of ballast water discharge by vessels or introducing ballast water filtration systems.  Entire ecosystems can develop in the ballast tanks for ships over the years of port to port movement.  As a ship releases ballast water, which is needed to help the ship balance as it loads and unloads goods, the ecosystems of the ballast tank are released into the local ecosystem creating new issues.  Zebra mussels are considered “invasive species” particularly because of the negative impact they have on the natural environment.  They are known for killing off native species, stealing their food sources and starving them.  They can also create new algae which are eaten by birds and then cause the spread of e-coli, which causes beach shut downs and other nasty repercussions.

What can you do?  Well, if you have any water recreation vehicles, make sure you clean it every time you use it, so that you don’t take any “aquatic hitchhikers” with you.  Check out other Aquatic Invaderresources and the latest info on the spread of Zebra and Quagga Mussels at USGS.

If you just enjoy eating mollusks, but are afraid of where the products you’re purchasing are coming from, check out I Love Blue Sea.  They’re a great new company based in San Francisco that sells only sustainable seafood, and I can personally vouch for the high quality and yumminess of their oysters.