Page 8 - 40th Anniversary Book 10.5x13.5 FINAL

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Lea+Elliott, Inc.So there they were, these two companies, striving
to grow and expand as experts in automated
transit. DEA worked predominantly on airport
people movers and NDL worked predominantly on
urban people movers: both firms could sense that
competition was inevitable. Rather than pursuing
that course, Dennis Elliott and Chuck Elms decided
to pool resources and work together. The first
opportunity to do so arose with the advent of the
Downtown People Mover program sponsored by
the UMTA . They first worked as co-subcontractors
on the Miami and Detroit Downtown People Mover
projects—two of the first federally funded urban
automated transit systems.Working side-by-side, the engineers of the two
companies found they enjoyed collaborating. More
importantly, they realized that both companies had
equally high ethical and professional standards.
With much to gain strategically, it just made
sense to join forces. Pooling their experience and
their expert staff allowed the merged company
to become a leader in automated transit—a
leadership position that Lea+Elliott has maintained
to this day.The new field of transit automation was fast-
moving and challenging, but the Lea+Elliott staff
met it with intelligence, curiosity, and a sense of
Administration (UMTA). UMTA provided funding for
Airtrans and wanted to obtain system reliability data
as a means of promoting this new transport mode.Seeing the opportunity to segue into consulting,
Dennis resigned from DFW and began harvesting
Airtrans data for UMTA. Boxes of information,
stacked nearly to the ceiling in a warehouse, housed
meticulous records and logs kept by the Airtrans
operator, LTV. The information UMTA was seeking
was there, hidden deep in the data. The work allowed
Dennis to establish a foothold as a new consultant
while looking for additional work.Soon, another opportunity arose. Braniff Airways,
then the largest carrier at DFW, began an ambitious
expansion program: adding new routes and airplanes
and a new, rooftop people mover within their
terminal. Being selected to design this new system,
provided Dennis the revenue and security to invite
others to join his budding firm.Don Ochsner and Harley Moore came on board,
both of whom had worked with Dennis on the DFW
Airtrans project. “It was a huge leap of faith for all of
us,” said Dennis. Assuming that the new firm could
survive on the Braniff work while establishing a
reputation and bringing in new assignments, Don and
Harley moved to Dallas. But things didn’t work out as
planned.Just a few months into the project, Braniff fell on
hard times and cancelled the project, leaving nothing
but a big hole in the ground where their new terminal
building was to be built. “Suddenly we were in danger
of seeing our dream die,” Dennis recalls. Having hired
two additional engineers (Andy Wetzel and Wade
Scott) and an office manager (Betty Wethington), the
small firm scrambled to get new work. Thankfully,
the contracts did come in, the crisis was averted, and
Dennis Elliott & Associates, Inc. (DEA) continued to
grow.
Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport Airtrains (1973)