40th Anniversary Book 10.5x13.5 FINAL

Being Lea+Elliott Moving Forward

“Our ideas about the future of transportation haven’t changed much since The Jetsons aired in the 1960s,” says futurist Ed Finn, director of the Center for Science and the Imagination at Arizona State University: “ it’s still flying cars and floating modern cities.” When Dennis Elliott and Chuck Elms first started in the APM industry, automated transportation systems were almost that futuristic: a technology that came from the aerospace industry, which visionaries were just beginning to apply in civilian settings. The idea of moving people short distances in small, driverless vehicles was in its infancy. Lea+Elliott was there at the beginning: creating some of the specifications, adapting regulations from aerospace, working through the kinks, and watching a budding technology flourish into the almost ubiquitous technology it is today. Airport APMs took off—and Lea+Elliott has worked on two thirds of those currently in service, including the largest airport APM in the world. We worked on the only personal rapid transit (PRT) system in operation in the 1970s—the Morgantown PRT, and we have continued to help keep that system updated and improved ever since it opened. We turned the future into the present. Automated transportation began in the United States and has since spread around the

world; and we travel with it. While we began providing services in the United States, 30% of our revenue is now derived from international projects. Automation began on airport APMs and has since spread to other modes of transit, and so have we. While we started as a company working predominantly on airport APMs, over 30% of our revenue now comes from rail transit projects. In fact, today, we are working on the two largest transit projects in the United States: Honolulu Rail Transit and the Dulles Corridor Metrorail projects. The automated transportation industry has come so far in the past 40 years, and we have stayed ahead of the curve. A flexible company, we easily adapt to the changing dynamics of the global market. So where do we go from here? How we talk about the future of transportation has changed over the years: Transportation

“Customers are focused on making improvement to their infrastructure. Because of our expertise, we can help them—not by taking over their role, but by giving them good advice that will inform their policy decisions, enabling them to make better decisions for their markets and countries.” Sanjeev Shah | Principal, Regional Director

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