In+Motion_Fall 2013

New Senior Associate

President’s Column

SAN FRANCISCO - At this year’s annual shareholder’s meeting, S ebastian Gladney, P.E. was named Lea+Elliott’s newest senior associate. Since joining Lea+Elliott in 2000,

Transit Trend Setters Impact America

Honolulu Rail Transit may just be starting a new trend in

Sebastian has led a variety of projects from APM planning for Seattle-Tacoma and LAX airports; performing analysis of transit service alternatives for the San Diego International Airport, project planning and facilities design for the BART-Oakland Airport Connector, and detailed design review for the New Doha International Airport APM; to participating in the planning through implementation of the Las Vegas CityCenter APM—an award-winning project for which he served as deputy project manager. Based in the San Francisco office, he has spent time in Seattle working on the Seattle Monorail Project and in Hawaii working on preliminary design and engineering for the on-going Honolulu Rail Transit project. Sebastian is currently traveling to Hong Kong serving as Lea+Elliott’s project manager for Hong Kong International Airport’s Third Runway Infrastructure and Concourse Scheme Design project and the APM System Expansion and New APM Depot Design Consultancy Services project. Lea+Elliott was a proud sponsor of the 7th Annual Podcar City Conference in Washington D.C. held Oct. 23–25, 2013. The conference was hosted by the International Institute for Sustainable Transportation (INIST). Sponsors included the U.S. Department of Transportation, Swedish Transportation Administration, KOMPASS Network, Mineta Transportation Institute, Advanced Transit Association, and George Mason University. The concept of Personal Rapid Transit (PRT), small automated vehicles providing direct, non-stop origin-to-destination service, has been promoted for over 35 years. Recently, system implementations are becoming a reality; one operating at London Heathrow Airport, another at Masdar City in Abu Dhabi, and lastly the newest system at Suncheon Bay in South Korea. Lea+Elliott Principal David Little, AICP served as a session moderator on “Planning in Practice” for PRT Systems. Other Lea+Elliott speakers included Michele Jacobson, AICP ; Jeff Davis, P.E. ; and Sanjeev Shah, P.E., J.D. Conference Round-up

America. Their transit system, now underway, will be the first driverless rapid transit system built in the United States since the JFK Airtrain began service in 2003. Driverless systems first gained some acceptance in the early 1970s and were used for airports, activity centers and downtown areas; but the concept of no driver in the cab of a rapid transit vehicle caused many people to back away from the idea. UITP: the Observatory of Automated Metros affirms that safety actually increases since it eliminates the potential for human error, and a clean track record has further verified the concept’s viability. Driverless rapid transit has caught on now in Europe and Asia; but in North America, only Vancouver, Canada has really embraced the concept. They now have a fourth line under construction. In Honolulu, Lea+Elliott is proud to serve as the core systems consultant for the project, and we are seeing the real, tangible benefits of driverless transit. Automated transit lines have the potential to cut operational costs significantly. In addition, implementing a new system or retrofitting an existing one allows the owner to invest in control technology that can optimize cost savings, improve system performance and increase the quality of the equipment and processes. With new automated train control technologies, passenger capacity can be vastly expanded by operating at shorter headways (frequencies), which reduces or eliminates the need for major capital investment in new infrastructure. I believe Honolulu is on the right track, and I expect to see it set an example for other new starts nationwide. We are considered the leaders in consulting on driverless transit systems and have plenty of data available and lessons learned on the topic. If you would like to learn more about it, let me know and I will put you in touch with our subject matter experts.

Jack Norton

In Motion

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