Transportation Planning and Traffic Engineering
Transportation Planning
S&ME understands the inextricable relationship between transportation and land use. Our planners, urban designers, landscape architects, scientists and engineers are committed to an interdisciplinary approach that emphasizes safety, mobility, aesthetics and economic development in our plans and designs.
Robust public engagement is a fundamental component of S&ME’s planning process. Our team is committed to public involvement throughout the planning process and in various forms including both in-person workshops and meetings as well as digital outreach efforts such as online surveys and project-based websites.
21st Century development requires planning for multiple modes of transportation and context sensitive design. Our diverse team of planners and engineers work collaboratively to coordinate the needs of automobile traffic, bicyclists, pedestrians, transit users, as well as the elderly and disabled. S&ME provides corridor planning and context-sensitive, conceptual complete street design at the highest level. Our team understands that a Complete Street results from a transparent and inclusive public planning process and includes the following characteristics:
- Safe and accessible
- Provides civic balance (a public realm that embodies proper function and aesthetic)
- Multi-modal
- Value enhancing (for both residential and commercial)
S&ME has an extremely long resume of projects for some of the largest and highest quality developments in the U.S. The detailed and highly technical analyses of transportation planning is often the basis by which a wide range of project types such as roadways, buildings, parks, public meeting spaces, entertainment venues, and other land development projects begin. While transportation planning often begins in the crucial first stages of the development process, its successes are often appreciated only at the end of the process. Each of us can tell the differences between a well-planned community and one that is not. Was it easy to drive to and through? Was parking where it was needed? Did it present a walkable pedestrian-friendly experience that was safe and with aesthetically pleasing architecture and landscaping? The effectiveness of the transportation planning is reflected in the quality of a community.
The staff at S&ME take great pride in having a number of built projects in which an enjoyable travel experience to and from the community, retail center, neighborhood, or office complex forms the invisible basis of the enjoyment of a site. An unnoticed transportation experience means we have done our jobs in planning and helping to design livable communities that consider all modes of travel and apply context sensitive solutions to the transportation elements of the project.
Traffic Engineering & Analysis
Our traffic engineers have extensive experience with travel demand forecasting, traffic simulation and animation software, optimizing signal systems operations, safety and timings for individual signals. These services have been provided throughout for municipal, county and state government agencies, as well as for many of our major community development clients. Our staff is thoroughly knowledgeable of industry standards and is experienced in integrating local standards within projects subject to regulatory oversights by state or federal agencies and the application of the Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD). Our traffic engineering team supports a wide variety of transportation planning and roadway design services including:
- Multi-modal transportation studies
- Interchange modification studies
- Interchange justification studies
- MPO traffic modeling
- Highway capacity analysis
- Travel time studies
- Access management planning
- Corridor and needs studies
- Access management studies
- Land use planning studies for comprehensive transportation planning
- Safety studies and audits
- Traffic circulation and network analysis
- Traffic signal warrant studies