Kittelson & Associates, Inc.

Conor Semler stopped in his tracks at the 2026 Velo-city Conference when he learned that many of Europe's most celebrated public spaces used to be parking lots. 😮 He’d expected to feel dazzled (and more than a little envious) of Europe’s advanced active transportation systems. But the kind of inspiration he came home with wasn’t just the reach-for-the-stars-and-everything-is-possible kind. It was a surprising sense that European cities face the same challenges we do. 💡 Read his takeaways here: https://lnkd.in/eC9rRuV7

⏳ Safer streets don’t have to wait. ⏳ Over the last 36 years, roundabouts in the United States have become a go-to improvement for cities looking to make roads safer and travel more efficient. Currently, more than 11,000 roundabouts have been installed in the United States, and that number continues to grow. 🔄 It isn’t surprising: This proven traffic-calming measure can reduce fatal and serious injury crashes by up to 82% and reduce traffic delays and stops by up to 74%. ✅ Still, many agencies face real limits on time and funding. A full roundabout often requires planning, design, and reconstruction that can take years and cost millions. But now a growing number of communities have discovered a faster, lower-cost solution: the quick-build roundabout. 🚧 Learn more about how these quick-builds are shaping safer streets, faster. 👇 https://lnkd.in/gWBrDCgU

Transportation systems, norms, and rules can vary widely across international borders. The time periods in which cities were built and expanded, along with population density play major roles in how they operate. 🗺️ These differences underscore a key point: success in one place does not guarantee success in another. A transportation idea can’t be copy+pasted to a place without close consideration of that place’s context and cultural norms. However, overemphasizing these differences draws our attention away from how much is fundamentally the same in metropolitan areas everywhere. 🏙️ 🤔 We assume that what works in one place could never work in another, but are major cities across the globe actually more different than they are alike? Read on: https://lnkd.in/gvdRbFyP

Our team supported the City of Sarasota to update their Engineering Design Criteria Manual. This process brought current research into local guidance, helped translate national best practices into everyday decisions, and will shape real projects to serve people who walk, bike, ride transit, and drive. ✅ We bring national research perspectives and real-world implementation experiences to help agencies bridge the gap between best practice and realistic solutions. Our knowledge is grounded in lived experience and current evidence. 🔬 We are grateful to support communities like Sarasota that are putting research to work in ways that help people move safely and comfortably. ⭐

Our team supported TDOT in developing a Project Scoping Guide that incorporates national best practices into the agency’s planning and design work. The guide’s context-based design criteria are tailored to Tennessee, covering local, collector, and arterial roads, and addressing the needs of pedestrians, bicyclists, micromobility users, motorcyclists, vehicle drivers, transit riders, and more! 📝 “The Project Scoping Guide fits seamlessly into TDOT’s new project delivery process, called the Project Delivery Network, and the guide will bring planners and designers together, support flexible decision-making, and ensure consistency across our many regions.” To support implementation into projects, our team collaborated with TDOT to conduct hands-on statewide training and updates to standard drawings. Project teams now have what they need to integrate this into projects. ✅ Manuals and guidebooks are humble but important products of the engineering industry. Changes on the ground may take years, but resources like the Project Scoping Guide can help create safer, more accessible, and more functional communities, while influencing the practice of engineering over the long term. ⭐

What if we rethink how football stadiums relate to their neighborhood and to their city? DC has an opportunity to change the game for urban American sports venues. 🏈 Back in September, the DC Council advanced a proposal to demolish the ailing Robert F. Kennedy Stadium, the District's football headquarters for several decades. The advanced proposal, which will see 190 acres of the east side of DC's urban core redeveloped into retail, housing, hotels, restaurants, and community green space all anchored by a rebuilt, state-of-the-art Commanders Stadium, has attracted responses ranging from enthusiasm to frustration. 🤔 💡 We understand the frustration, but there's hidden potential in this redevelopment: https://lnkd.in/gPXTbHca