Inspired transportation solutions for a complex world
At High Street, foresight is the essence of our philosophy. We help transportation practitioners understand emerging issues, solve problems, and deliver the best possible future for their constituents. We provide insight and innovation that no other company can through our dedication to seven essential attributes.
The core values we strive for:
Creativity: We are intellectually curious and apply that curiosity to deliver inventive and imaginative solutions to our clients
Excellence: We always deliver timely, high quality, thoughtful solutions
Dependability: We reliably do what it takes to come through for our clients, our partners, and each other
Collaboration: We work as a cooperative team, both internally and externally, that leverages each other's strengths
Diversity: We recognize the value that our diverse backgrounds and perspectives contribute to our products, client services, and company culture
Grit: We have the passion, perseverance, and resourcefulness to ensure we always deliver our best, even when challenges arise
Flexibility: We readily adjust to changing project circumstances, respond to evolving client needs, and maintain balance with life outside of work
Creative yet practical support for the programs, organizational structures, and business processes that are vital to the success of transportation agencies.
Performance-informed, stakeholder-focused, and scenario-driven statewide plans, developed through innovative approaches, which help agencies make better decisions about resource allocation, program structure, and policy changes to improve future transportation system performance.
Strategies for effective performance management that integrate data and analytics into agency processes and communication to achieve greater transparency and better outcomes.
Pragmatic solutions for sustainable transportation approaches through systematic integration into agency plans, projects, policies, and operations.
Empowering transportation agencies to make data-informed investment decisions through an understanding of stakeholder priorities and performance implications of different policy actions.
Guidance on artificial intelligence and machine learning solutions that empowers transportation agencies to confidently deploy these tools for automation and scale.
Development of GIS-based products and tools that bring data to life, ensuring transportation agencies are able to get the right data to the right person at the right time.
Artfully compelling visualizations, infographics, and dashboards that concisely reveal trends and patterns that shape our transportation world, and help agencies understand and share their data.
Predictive model calibration, custom development of innovative cross-asset decision tools, cost-efficient asset inventory development, facilitation and documentation of risk-based TAM strategies, and expertise integrating TAM into broader planning initiatives.
A comprehensive, data-informed approach to freight planning that includes stakeholder engagement, plan coordination, identification of critical corridors, goal-driven project prioritization, policy development, and implementation for an integrated freight system.
Cutting edge data analytics, meaningful stakeholder engagement, strategic decision making, and robust communications to help agencies develop and implement highway safety plans, programs, and processes that save lives and reduce crashes.
Engaging storytelling supported by compelling visuals and data creates successful grant applications, empowering transportation agencies to secure funding to solve more problems.
High Street is a small firm of experienced professionals who help our clients plan, develop, deliver, and evaluate transportation projects, policies, and programs. We are always on the lookout for highly competent individuals who embody our firm's core values. If you are interested in working with us in a collaborative and stimulating environment, please contact us at careers@highstreetconsulting.com expressing your field of interest.
Nebraska
240.252.5111 Ext. 102
As High Street's CEO, Kyle Schneweis is responsible for overall management of the company. Kyle joined High Street after serving for more than five years as Director of the 2,100 person Nebraska Department of Transportation (NDOT). During his tenure at NDOT, Kyle spearheaded merging the former Departments of Roads and of Aeronautics to create a multimodal Department of Transportation. Other major efforts he led while at NDOT included streamlining the environmental review process to accelerate project delivery; developing performance measures and other analytical and operational tools that have improved the agency's business and decision making; and managing through the most extensive natural disaster in the state's history in the 2019 floods after which NDOT restored 200 miles of roadway and 27 bridges in just 11 months. Before becoming the Director of Nebraska Department of Transportation, Kyle held several leadership positions at the Kansas Department of Transportation, including as Chief of Government Affairs where he played a key role in passing the state's $8 billion, 10-year T-WORKS infrastructure investment program.
Kyle earned a civil engineering degree from the University of North Dakota. He lives in Lincoln, Nebraska where he and his wife Laurel are raising two boys, Mazlo and Karver.
Pennsylvania
240.252.5111 Ext. 101
Joe Crossett is a full-time transportation thinker who works hand-in-hand with state DOTs that seek to innovate. Joe knows the value of transforming transportation data into good decisions. He co-founded High Street to help transportation agencies separate the signal from the noise when it comes to finding the best ways to plan, build and operate infrastructure. When he is not at work, you can often find him cooking for the family or crashing his mountain bike on the single track around Pittsburgh, PA
Colorado
240.252.5111 Ext. 103
Craig Secrest is a big picture thinker who enjoys exploring and developing solutions to the organizational, institutional, policy and process challenges that prevent transportation agencies from achieving their full potential. Craig is a founding Partner of High Street and has over 25 years of transportation experience, including early career positions with FHWA and the Colorado DOT. During his 20+ years as a consultant, he has provided strategic, business process, policy development, and organizational management consulting services to a diverse range of clients that include FHWA, TRB, State DOTs, MPOs, and international development agencies. Craig's forte is developing comprehensive yet simple frameworks for considering and explaining the often complex and confusing array of considerations that drive transportation investment decision-making. In his spare time, Craig can be found playing squash, biking and skiing with his two sons, or enjoying the solitude of fly-fishing the Colorado River, preferably followed by a good bottle of wine.
South Carolina
240.252.5111 Ext. 109
Jeff Carroll understands that while transportation is a simple idea, today's vast, interconnected and multimodal transportation network demands forward-thinking to keep people and goods moving efficiently. Jeff is among those at the forefront in driving state DOTs and MPOs to develop innovative plans, projects, programs, and policy solutions. Jeff recognizes the value of innovation - that through innovation we can develop new and creative solutions. Jeff's national perspectives on innovation combine proven disciplines with fresh, nimble techniques. From framing the challenge, uncovering and synthesizing policy impacts to developing and creating innovative ways to analyze data, Jeff's acuity, creativity, passion, and expertise elevate both the experience and the results of the projects he delivers. Outside of work, Jeff enjoys golfing, deer hunting, and spending time with his wife and two teenage daughters.
Florida
240.252.5111 Ext. 105
Karin DeMoors is an accomplished financial analyst who has focused her over 20-year career on assembling the puzzle pieces of financial plans for a range of public infrastructure projects. As a Partner with High Street, she serves local, state, and national governmental clients in identifying, evaluating, and implementing revenue streams and financing approaches for transportation investments. In a prior career position, she expanded her expertise in capital project finance and actively assisted municipal clients with bond issuance execution, debt management, and credit analysis. Karin finds her greatest motivation in finding financial solutions that advance our transportation system and improve communities. When not analyzing dollars and cents, Karin can be found working with dog rescues or dreaming of her next foreign excursion.
Nebraska
240.252.5111 Ext. 132
Mackenzie Bartek is your go-to creative visionary, dedicated to transforming your ideas into visually compelling narratives. With a passion for strategic communication, exceptional design, and pioneering thought, she's always on the lookout for innovative solutions to craft your story to perfection.
Before joining High Street, she spent over six years at the Nebraska Department of Transportation steering strategic messaging, spearheading media campaigns, mastering the digital marketing realm, curating publications, optimizing websites, and creating captivating social media content. She's the driving force behind seamlessly translating your ideas into captivating visuals.
Outside of work, you can find Mackenzie spending quality time with her husband and three kids, watching Husker volleyball, and planning her next home improvement project.
Pennsylvania
240.252.5111 Ext. 106
Anna Batista wants to help you make sense of the endless information coming at you. Whether it's to select and implement solid performance measures, comply with the minutiae of government regulation, pick the best projects, build the best plans, or get your stakeholders to take notice of your successes, she's ready to dive into data, reports, and technical details to unearth valuable knowledge.
Anna is a graduate of Carnegie Mellon's quantitatively driven Heinz School of Public Policy, and has worked for federal, local, and private sector employers. Anna's favorite parts of life at High Street are getting creative with Excel visuals, landing on that just-right performance measure, and answering your questions about federal performance management regulation. Outside of work, Anna can be found on the monkey bars with her children, advocating for good governance, Tweeting at local politicians, and hosting brunches with her husband.
Pennsylvania
240.252.5111 Ext. 127
Alice enjoys working with colleagues and partners to identify the heart of any transportation issue and develop innovative, evidence-based solutions to get results. She brings a wide variety of public and private sector experience and policy expertise to her role at High Street, including research on public transportation and access to economic opportunity. Alice's experiences include bridging the gap between state government and community agencies to implement energy assistance programs, managing the operations of an international sustainability firm, and conducting policy research, oversight and technical assistance with the Massachusetts Office of the Inspector General.
Most recently, Alice completed her Master of Science in Public Policy and Management at Carnegie Mellon University where she focused on quantitative methods for policy analysis, geographical information systems, and decision-making frameworks.
Outside the office, Alice likes exploring Western Pennsylvania's parks, attempting to spot and identify birds and wildlife, and taking road trips to visit friends, family, and beautiful places.
Missouri
240.252.5111 Ext. 138
Rebecca loves a challenge. She excels at taking a blank document and a bit of data and turning it into something that's clean, organized, and understandable.
Rebecca graduated from the University of Missouri-Columbia where she earned her bachelor's degree in journalism. She's worn a lot of hats in her career such as a news reporter, photographer, graphic designer, social media coordinator, event planner, and marketer.
When she's off the clock, Rebecca enjoys reading, building LEGO sets, and spending time with her husband and two dogs.
Illinois
240.252.5111 Ext. 131
Ashton is a graduate of the University of Chicago's Harris School of Public Policy where she earned a Master's degree in Public Policy. The multifaceted world of transportation and mobility is where her passions lie. She loves to always learn and is often reading transportation-related articles or listening to mobility and urban planning podcasts.
Ashton enjoys applying her quantitative and design-based skills to the transportation sector by creating maps, performing data and statistical analyses, and creating meaningful data visualizations. Before joining High Street, she worked for the Chicago Transit Authority's Strategic Planning department, the Metropolitan Planning Council in Chicago, and completed a GIS Fellowship at the University of Chicago. Ashton is excited to promote data-driven methods and design solutions that are easy to use and understand, no matter how complex their methods.
Outside of work you can find her exploring Chicago neighborhoods, finding new music, working out, or curling up with her cat and a good book. When it's warm in Chicago, she loves hanging out and taking a swim in Lake Michigan.
Pennsylvania
240.252.5111 Ext. 110
Brittany Gernhard likes to translate numbers into plain English. She knows the value of using data to inform action and has used her quantitative training in public policy to help clients make difficult decisions. She saw wildly imaginative possibilities in transportation safety and efficiency become reality while working at Carnegie Mellon University's Transportation Center. In 2015, she joined High Street and is thrilled to be supporting clients as they leverage data to reach lasting solutions for the transportation systems they manage. Outside of work, Brittany can be found road tripping with her husband and son, cooking something reckless in her kitchen, and singing to her brand new son.
Colorado
240.252.5111 Ext. 133
Damon has over 20 years of experience managing complex studies and collaborative projects for a variety of transportation organizations and state and federal agencies. He is a national thought leader in sustainable transportation and infrastructure, with experience leading projects covering transportation electrification, infrastructure resilience, emission reduction strategies, innovative vehicle technologies, energy resources, and social equity. Prior to his career in consulting, Damon was Program Manager for Environment at the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO). Before that, he supported the Chief of Staff in the Director's Office of the Oregon DOT, where he conceptualized, designed, and implemented the nation's first structured state DOT sustainability program. Damon is a master organizer, inspiring team leader, and highly effective program manager, with a successful track record implementing high-level policy and program initiatives as well as in-depth research and technical analyses. He has an undergraduate degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Nottingham in England, a graduate degree in Interdisciplinary Studies from Oregon State University, and is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP). Outside of work, Damon enjoys skiing, snowboarding, camping, and hiking in the mountains of Colorado with his wife and two young kids, and before moving to Colorado was a motorcycle safety instructor for the State of Maryland.
Montana
240.252.5111 Ext. 114
At High Street, Mark is leading the way in bringing the best of private sector data mining and data science techniques to the transportation world, helping agencies extract insights from data using machine learning, statistical methods, and interactive visualizations in novel application areas. His recent work includes developing a travel time reliability forecasting methodology with multiple state DOTs, helping a client DOT attract more bidders to its projects through statistical analysis of historical bid data, and supporting and promoting cross-asset performance-based planning.
A former operations executive and entrepreneur, Mark pivoted to data science via a master's degree program in business intelligence and data analytics at Carnegie Mellon University's Heinz College, named by INFORMS as the top analytics education program in the world.
From his home base in Bozeman, MT, Mark is an active ultrarunner and ski mountaineer.
Illinois
240.252.5111 Ext. 115
Although it may be because of his alleged Chicago accent, people often wonder if Kevin's true first language is data. Dr. Ford has spent his career empowering customers to make data-informed decisions, optimize performance outcomes, and effectively communicate the implications of different strategic policies. With a background in performance-based planning & programming, engineering, and asset management, and having worked in both professional services and software development, Kevin brings a unique perspective to his customers while always striving to advance the state-of-the-practice. Over his career, Kevin has helped publish guidebooks for the National Academies, developed custom analytical tools based in data science principles, and led various long- and mid-range transportation plans by leveraging his subject matter expertise in predictive performance modeling, project prioritization, and cross-investment resource allocation. When not changing diapers or battling with his two rescue dogs for bed space, Kevin can be found running around the neighborhood or attending soccer matches with his better half and baby girl.
Illinois
240.252.5111 Ext. 143
Jason Biernat attacks problems from multiple angles. As a €˜plangineer' he understands the big picture but can dive into the details and pinpoint key pieces of information. Jason uses this information to enrich decision-making at every level and step along the way. Through his experience, he recognizes that making connections to wider organizational goals is often the key to success.
Variety best describes Jason's extensive public sector experience prior to joining High Street. He has worked at the state, regional, and local levels covering everything from policy development to construction. This variety has led to Jason's Swiss army knife skill set which he now incorporates into his data analysis approach.
Jason spends much of his free time with family and friends or tinkering on home improvement projects. Despite always being cold, he never misses out on an ice fishing trip to northern Wisconsin.
Pennsylvania
240.252.5111 Ext. 104
With experience that combines engineering design and construction with transportation planning and policy, Erin Dean brings a unique understanding of transportation to High Street. She has worked with private consulting firms for over 13 years, providing support on projects from plan development through the construction of projects. Specific experience includes highway design, stormwater management design, long range transportation plans and freight plans. Erin enjoys using her technical expertise and understanding to help inform plans and bring a sense of practicality to the planning process and strives to assist clients with meeting their transportation system goals. When she's not working, Erin enjoys the art of dance, bicycle rides with her family and quality time with her three children.
Georgia
240.252.5111 Ext. 117
Peter enjoys connecting the insights of data analysis with transportation decision making. With nearly 10 years in the field, he focuses on understanding cause-and-effect relationships connecting trends and decisions with system-wide outcomes. Peter combines policy and on-the-ground experience as a civilian Army logistician with an analytical focus from his Georgia Tech research background. He has examined transportation from the scale of a single project to national and even global phenomena, and his past work has included clients such as state departments of transportation, city governments, private companies, and federal research programs. Peter is particularly fascinated by the paradigm changes that alter fundamental assumptions about travel. As one example, he investigated transformations in logistics networks precipitated by the growth of e-commerce, as well as suitable forecasting methods and data collection efforts. When not studying transportation and reading up on trends, he loves cycling, studying history, and learning how to cook foreign cuisines.
Florida
240.252.5111 Ext. 118
Rodrigo is a passionate freight transportation planner and project manager that understands the value of establishing working relationships with diverse stakeholders for mutually beneficial solutions. He is a Civil Engineer with doctoral and master's degrees in transportation engineering and infrastructure systems. His Ph.D. is from Purdue University.
With more than 14 years of experience in transportation planning, data analytics, and freight logistics, he recognizes the importance of integrating multidisciplinary approaches into strong solutions that are intuitively communicated to their final users.
While his skillset includes several industry-relevant digital tools, Rodrigo is autodidactic and innovative. He has co-authored multiple transportation papers in research journals, developed technical documentation for diverse agencies, delivered technical insights and information at transportation conferences and meetings, and developed training materials on advanced transportation subjects for future STEM professionals.
Outside work, Rodrigo enjoys designing thrilling road trips for his family to exotic locations, reading non-fiction literature, discovering experimental arts, playing guitar, supporting his wife's entrepreneurial endeavors, and spending quality time with his son.
California
240.252.5111 Ext. 137
Itai Intrater is a GIS Analyst with a focus on automation and network analysis. He has experience in both the public and private sectors, having worked as a Transportation Specialist Intern at the Federal Highway Administration and as a GIS Technician at Apple. He holds a Master of Science in Geospatial Information Sciences and Cartography from the University of Maryland and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science with a minor in Public Affairs from the University of California, Los Angeles. He has a strong background in developing web and desktop applications and deploying innovative digital solutions. He also has experience working on walkability and network analysis, specifically using ArcGIS API for Python to redistrict school attendance zones to minimize walking distance.
In his free time, Itai enjoys playing Ultimate Frisbee and exploring the beautiful parks in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Pennsylvania
240.252.5111 Ext. 144
Ngani Ndimbie is a highly motivated transportation professional experienced in policy analysis, legislative strategy, organizational strategy, and communications. Her expertise lies in translating ideas and values into actionable policy. Ngani is passionate about solving emerging problems in transportation and bringing dignified, reliable mobility to all. As a policy specialist at the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, Ngani helmed conversations related to electric bicycles, electric scooters, personal delivery devices, electric vehicles and even hyperloop technologies.
The foundation of Ngani's career is in working with underinvested communities as an organizer and in bike and pedestrian advocacy. Ngani has more than 15 years of experience in leading diverse stakeholder groups to tackle pressing issues and their intersections with pervasive social problems. Her work steering PennDOT's Dismantling Systemic Racism and Inequities Report and integrating consideration of disability accommodations into transformational technologies was recognized by a PennDOT Star of Excellence Award.
When not working, Ngani can be found biking to and from farmers markets, friends' houses, and visits with family.
Texas
240.252.5111 Ext. 140
Crystal is a transportation performance analyst with a passion for transforming data into useful information to advance the integration of performance-based planning and programming principles. Crystal uses transportation planning, data analytics, GIS and spatial analysis to develop tailored solutions for local transportation agencies. She also has a knack for creating visualizations to communicate analysis results and inform action through information graphics, data dashboards, and interactive tools.
Before joining High Street, Crystal used her data analysis skills in Engineering Education to increase the number of STEM-degree students at The University of Texas at El Paso. Crystal then went on to earn a Master's in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University, where she helped develop a decision framework for PennDOT to optimize the allocation of maintenance funds for bridge replacement. When she is not crunching numbers, Crystal is probably playing with her dog, crafting the perfect cup of coffee, or experimenting in the kitchen. She is also an avid reader in three languages.
Georgia
240.252.5111 Ext. 120
Rebecca Van Dyke grew up in the "V States." She's originally from the Blue Ridge Mountain region of Virginia, but has spent most of her adult life in Burlington, Vermont. She recently moved back to the South to attend the School of City and Regional Planning at the Georgia Institute of Technology where she just earned her Master's degree. Rebecca serves as the Region II Representative on the American Planning Association Student Representatives Council Executive Committee, a position she will hold through December 2019.
Rebecca is a planning generalist with a special love for equitable and sustainable transportation. She got her start at a small car-sharing non-profit where she developed a passion for helping people get around. She joined High Street in June 2018 and is excited to meet with clients near and far while applying her recently acquired R, GIS, and data visualization skills.
Rebecca is a mountain biker, artist, dancer, explorer, and cook with extreme wanderlust (love, actually). Her current list of favorite things include tomato and mayo sandwiches, sharp pencils, Zadie Smith, roaming cities, and talking to strangers.
Virginia
240.252.5111 Ext. 125
Ashley Bott comes to High Street with a background in financial management, project control, human resources, and customer service. Much of her experience lies within government contracting and she has worked with clients from many branches of the military and the aerospace industry. Her most recent role was in local government managing the town's finances. One of her biggest accomplishments there, was identifying and implementing a new financial management software and automating processes that vastly improved the overall accounting functions. A graduate from George Mason University, majoring in Finance, her passion is exploring the complexities of financial software, spreadsheets and analyzing numbers.
When she is not working, she loves volunteering and rescuing animals, singing in the Praise team at her church, and chasing after her two boys and two rescued fur babies. She is the proud wife of a Military Veteran!
Virginia
240.252.5111 Ext. 124
Chapman has spent his career building tools and analyzing data. After working for a financial software company on an application development team, Chapman pivoted towards the transportation industry. Before High Street, he worked for the Idaho Transportation Department, starting as the Highway Performance Monitoring System (HPMS) coordinator and eventually leading a team of developers and analysts as the departments Data Analytics Manager. Chapman brings both private and public sector programming, analysis, and database experience to High Street where he is part of a highly talented data analytics team.
Chapman loves to build tools that help the transportation industry operate more efficiently and make data-informed decisions while continuing to build out his own programming repertoire.
Living in Boise, Idaho with his wife and son, Chapman can be found riding his mountain bike in the foothills, playing with his kid at the park, and attempting to build stuff in his shop.
Georgia
240.252.5111 Ext. 130
Lauren has over seven years of experience in accounting, with over four of those in government contracting. She enjoys utilizing her strengths in time management and attention to detail to ensure accuracy, efficiency, and timeliness in all financial processes. She is actively working to complete her degree in Accounting from Colorado State University.
Outside of working hours, Lauren enjoys spending time with her husband and four dogs. She also enjoys reading, going on walks, and exploring new places. Her desire to always learn something new has helped her grow in both her personal and professional life and she hopes to continue this growth through her work at High Street.
Georgia
240.252.5111 Ext. 122
Bryce is a graduate of the Georgia Institute of Technology's School of City and Regional Planning where he studied transportation planning and the nature of megaregions. Bryce is fascinated by connections between everything from transportation design to local agriculture to science fiction philosophy, and his bookshelf reflects that wide range of interests. In general, Bryce has spent his academic and professional career working to understand the trends emerging in our local communities from our global economy.
Before coming to High Street, Bryce worked for the Atlanta Regional Commission developing strategic models and visualizing regional metrics for staff, elected officials, and the public. Now, he is excited to be working with communities of all sizes to improve quality of life through data-driven narratives and storytelling.
In his free time, Bryce loves spending time with family, exploring the Atlanta food scene, practicing on his "new" spinet piano, or playing table-top and board games with friends. If the weather's right and there's time to kill, you might even find him in a hammock out in the woods.
Pennsylvania
240.252.5111 Ext. 136
Brian strives to make transportation safe and accessible for everyone whether they travel by car, bike, foot, or scooter. He is very interested in data focused transportation analysis used to pinpoint troublesome areas and make targeted transportation improvements to enhance the quality of life for residents. Brian has experience with traffic engineering, planning, GIS, and data analysis.
Brian earned his Masters of Science in Civil Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University where he focused on Advanced Infrastructure Systems (AIS) that centered on utilizing data to identify trends that enable policy makers and engineers to make more informed decisions.
Outside of tackling transportation issues, Brian likes trying out new restaurants, visiting new places, and the outdoors. Most of all, he loves making things and can most likely be found at the makerspace in his free time.
Illinois
240.252.5111 Ext. 139
Yousef Dana uncovers meaning in transportation data to solve complex planning and safety issues. He has experience assessing statewide transportation needs with predictive safety analysis, performance-based planning, forecasting, and data-driven project prioritization. Yousef focuses on delivering strategic approaches intended to produce measurable results. He often expresses that we live in a data revolution and it's his ethical responsibility to use data to advance transportation safety and planning.
Over his career, Yousef has worked on projects as a transportation engineer and data scientist with various government DOTs and private clients. He utilizes his knowledge and experience in Python, R, GIS, and SQL. Yousef holds a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from the University of Illinois at Chicago.
You can also find Yousef appreciating the grain of concrete outside of transportation through his passion for skateboarding. Although he has sustained three fractures so far, he found success through creating a community skateboarding start-up through a mobile tech application that had over 25,000 users.
Minnesota
240.252.5111 Ext. 126
Ryan Loos has spent his career in the transportation industry with an emphasis on freeways, system evaluation, and economic analysis, aiding public agencies to make decisions on the infrastructure they improve and maintain. To continue being a leader and meet client demand for data driven decision making and performance-based planning, Ryan obtained his master's degree in data science from the University of La Crosse €“ Wisconsin. Ryan has emphasized understanding client needs to establish the optimal analytical approach to ensure that outcomes provide real business value in the form of cost savings and customer satisfaction. Ryan prides himself on being able to use interactive visualizations to communicate analysis results to stakeholders to help build confidence and consensus between stakeholders as they strive to make decisions. His unique intersection of transportation domain knowledge, machine learning and statistical analysis methods, and visualization skills make him uniquely suited to assist agencies in optimizing their systems.
When not diving into data projects Ryan can be found flexing his green thumb, hitting the Twin Cities biking trails, or corralling his two corgis.
Illinois
240.252.5111 Ext. 116
Yazan completed his PhD in Transportation Engineering from Iowa State University. Yazan has transportation engineering experience ranging from asset management, traffic safety, analysis, GIS analysis, traffic simulation, and transportation planning.
Before joining High Street, he worked as a Graduate Assistant at the Institute of Transportation at Iowa State University supporting a variety of projects and serving as a Teaching Assistant. His PhD thesis was "Operations Research and Data Mining Applications in Pavement Management". He has also published articles on "Traffic Safety in Developed and Developing Countries" and "Connected Vehicles: An Innovate Transport Technology".
Prior to obtaining his PhD Yazan has worked as a transportation planner / traffic engineer and a site engineer.
Virginia
240.252.5111 Ext. 129
Renee is an experienced accounting and finance professional. Over the span of her career, she has worked in various industries including airport administration, healthcare, manufacturing, and service & retail. She is a graduate of Christopher Newport University where she received her Bachelor of Science in Accounting. She is an established Certified Public Accountant and enjoys using her talents to provide meaningful analysis to manage the financial well-being of High Street's growth. Most recently she has volunteered and served as Treasurer for a local non-profit organization for two years. One of Renee's proudest accomplishments is being a mother to two young men, one is a Lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps and the other is an active teenager. Renee enjoys spending time with her family, cultural events, and relaxing and working in her yard.
Kentucky
240.252.5111 Ext. 134
Ahjung is a geospatial developer with a special interest in automation tools and web GIS. Before joining High Street, she worked at Kentucky transportation cabinet and more recently, in consultancy. In both sectors, she served as a GIS developer, in which she developed web and desktop applications and deployed innovative digital solutions. She also provided enterprise GIS support while serving as a subject matter expert for multiple sub-categories of GIS and enjoyed mentoring junior individual contributors.
When she is not online, she can be found running or cycling around with her dog in beautiful parks of Louisville, KY, or browsing in vintage vinyl record stores or picking up a new book about language, technology, science and writing.
Pennsylvania
240.252.5111 Ext. 135
Sydney is a policy and data analyst who is dedicated to translating qualitative and quantitative analysis into actionable insights that help create community change. She is passionate about developing data-driven, culturally competent solutions that address inequities across racial, gender, and socioeconomic lines.
Sydney earned her Bachelor's degree in Government and Psychology from Claremont McKenna College, where she conducted research on social policy, poverty alleviation, and conflict management. She had the good luck of graduating during the 2018 midterm elections, and returned to her hometown of Pittsburgh to work on political campaigns. Sydney then went on to earn a Masters in Public Policy Management and Data Analytics from Carnegie Mellon University's Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy. Before joining High Street, she worked for the Allegheny County Department of Human Services' Office of Analytics, Technology, and Planning.
Outside of work, you can find Sydney spending time with her dog, going to concerts, and doing home renovation projects.
Pennsylvania
240.252.5111 Ext. 142
Grace typically describes herself as a human swiss army knife and has spent her career customizing her skills to adapt to organizational needs, while exploring different areas of interest.
A graduate of Kutztown University, Grace moved to Park City, UT after College and started as an Event Planner for a local Celebrity Chef, working on such notable events as the Sundance Film Festival.
While out West, she moved into the field of Executive Assistance and spent 15 years developing and expanding her career, becoming a strategic partner to C-Level executives.
Through her passion for problem-solving and her people-oriented nature, Grace began exploring the field of Human Resources and moved into a combination role that married executive support with HR management.
Before joining High Street, Grace worked for the Pennsylvania Institute of Technology in one of those combo roles, where she formalized and managed the College's first Human Resources department.
Outside of work, Grace and her husband Joe are kept busy running after their three children, Logan, Harper, and Cooper, and their Bulldog Ruby.
California
240.252.5111 Ext. 123
Amy Link loves helping leaders deliver meaningful results through policies that are both well-crafted and well-explained. A good idea that no one understands or a bad idea that everyone does€¦ will meet the same poor fate. Amy specializes in engaging with audiences thoughtfully and creatively to implement strategies that improve people's lives.
Before joining High Street, Amy served as the director of strategic initiatives at the Kansas Department of Transportation where she helped launch the Kansas Infrastructure Hub, which allows for statewide collaboration of all infrastructure sectors to better deliver Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act projects and aids communities seeking additional grant dollars. She led communication strategies resulting in the passage of a $10 billion statewide Eisenhower Legacy Transportation Program, the administration of $1 billion in CARES funding in under six months, and the passage of the $8 billion Transportation Works for Kansas program. Amy has served as a speechwriter for Governors, DOT Secretaries, and community leaders helping them promote accomplishments, navigate crises, and build consensus for positive change.
In her free time, Amy loves taking adventurous and leisurely trips with friends and family and enjoying all Los Angeles has to offer.
District of Columbia
240.252.5111 Ext. 121
Ryan Caro is passionate about using data to make positive change. Ryan holds a Master of Urban and Regional Planning from the University of California Los Angeles. While at UCLA, Ryan focused on transportation planning, data visualization, and GIS. He worked with the University of California Institute of Transportation Studies to research transit agencies' responses to homelessness during the COVID-19 pandemic, and his thesis focused on using data science to automate equity analyses at the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA). Before studying at UCLA, Ryan worked as a data analyst in the Customer Experience Department at the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) in Boston.
Ryan also holds a BA in linguistics from Yale University. He speaks Portuguese, Spanish, Turkish, and Italian, and is often teaching himself a new language.
Pennsylvania
240.252.5111 Ext. 141
Meet Donner Kahl, a dedicated advocate for enhancing the lives of others through transformative transportation solutions. With a profound belief in the importance of communicating data-driven approaches and outcomes to diverse audiences, Donner applies his experience from the private sector and a master's degree in public policy from Carnegie Mellon University to collaborate with public and private stakeholders in fostering safety, resilience, commerce, and thriving communities.
Donner's journey began with honors, graduating from Loyola Chicago with a bachelor's degree in statistics, leading him to consult at Global Economics Group, where he built models and drafted reports subjected to expert and legal scrutiny. His passion for service drove him to pivot his focus, eventually earning his master's degree and falling in love with transportation systems.
Equipped with a diverse skill set, Donner adeptly employs statistical languages, such as R and Python, and geospatial information systems to serve his clients effectively.
Beyond work, you can find him embracing an active lifestyle, engaging in water polo, dancing, hiking, and giving back through volunteering.
Atlanta
240.252.5111 Ext. 145
Seth is dedicated to building just and sustainable transportation futures by telling stories with data to inform meaningful policy development. They received their master's degree in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of California, Los Angeles Luskin School of Public Affairs and specialize in GIS and data science with an emphasis on developing interactive data visualizations to support data-driven decision making. They are particularly excited by projects that center the intersection of climate resilience and sustainability with transportation.
Prior to becoming a transportation planner and data analyst, Seth worked as an educator and non-profit program manager. When not developing innovative ways of communicating with data they can be found playing guitar or violin, finding a new recipe, or out on an adventure in nature.
Houston
240.252.5111 Ext. 146
Jamik is a transportation planner with a specialty in active transportation, policy regulations, and metropolitan planning. Prior to his employment with High Street, Jamik spent time in the public sector working for the federal government with the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). He has also served as a federal liaison for several regions in Texas as well as Rhode Island.
He was born and raised in the central region of Virginia, throughout his adult life he lived in the states of Rhode Island and Alabama. Currently Jamik resides in Houston, Texas. He's a graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) where he received his bachelor's in urban and regional planning with a concentration in metropolitan Planning.
He is a big sports fan and loves to watch football. During his free time, he likes to travel and spend quality time with his son.
Nebraska
240.252.5111 Ext. 147
Kelsey Hilton is a dynamic professional driven by results, with a keen interest in streamlining processes, fostering meaningful relationships, and maintaining an unwavering positive attitude. With her thorough attention to detail and strategic approach, Kelsey excels in optimizing efficiency and effectiveness across various business facets.
Prior to joining High Street, Kelsey navigated versatile landscapes, showcasing her adaptability in roles ranging from supporting executive leadership at the Nebraska Department of Transportation to spearheading the operations of a startup business.
Kelsey possesses a natural talent for building enduring connections with colleagues, clients, and stakeholders. Her infectious positivity creates a collaborative and uplifting work environment, fostering a culture of success. With a Bachelor of Science from the University of South Dakota, Kelsey's academic foundation complements her practical expertise, positioning her as a well-rounded professional.
Outside of work, you can find Kelsey enjoying quality time with her husband and three sons, unwinding by the lake, or taking in a round of golf.
Indiana
240.252.5111 Ext. 148
Nathan Phillips hails from South Bend, Indiana and is a Contracts Manager at the High Street Consulting Group. His core responsibilities at High Street include the drafting and management of contracts related to a portfolio of 60+ contracts across all aspects of the contract lifecycle; reviewing and negotiating contracts with commercial levers and contracting regulations; monitoring compliance with contract terms and conditions, including reporting requirements; reviewing requests for proposals (RFPs) for compliance with terms and conditions; supporting the development of pricing proposals; change management procedures for contracts in-flight; and business administrative support.
Prior to his current role, Nathan was a Contract Specialist at Accenture LLP, a global professional services company. Nathan worked in Chicago and Seattle for client accounts across several industries, including communications, media, and technology; government, health & public service; products; and resources. In addition, Nathan was the founder and host of a contract management podcast for the Legal team. Nathan is a certified practitioner in contract and commercial management (CCMP) and a business management certificate (BMC) holder from the University of Washington Foster School of Business Executive Education.
A graduate of the University of Notre Dame (BA, 2003) and the University of Chicago (MA, 2005; Ph.D., ABD), Nathan worked for close to 15 years in higher education. In his spare time, Nathan is passionate about hiking and exploring with his wife Alison and their two boys, working on his family’s farm, rooting for the local football team, training for the next trail race or marathon, and, whenever it's possible, trying to find the next great book.
High Street served as external management and policy advisors to the MDT director and deputy director. Activities included interviews with MDT senior staff to identify strategic, organizational, and administrative issues, planning/facilitating annual leadership team and bureau chief retreats, facilitating the development of unit business plans, and research on various management topics such as enterprise risk management and DOT administrative budgeting practices.
High Street led development of Full STEAM Ahead, Arkansas DOT's 2023-2028 Strategic Plan. The plan itself was condensed into just one page to concisely communicate ArDOT's purpose, core values, goals and strategic objectives to the ArDOT team, stakeholders, and the people of Arkansas. A supporting guidance document was also developed to assist agency leaders as they developed actionable business plans to support the larger strategic vision.
High Street provided support to the Northeast Corridor Commission (NEC) executive committee and agency senior staff to help them identify and address organizational, institutional, and procedural issues that create barriers to greater NEC success and productivity. The effort has included developing a diagnostic review of current organization business processes and facilitating a series of retreats to revamp several key agency decision-making approaches.
High Street helped support the Governor appointed Commission on the Future of Transportation in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to develop recommendations on transportation policy across the state in response to disruptive changes like electrification, an aging population, and autonomous vehicles. The consultant team used information about key €˜driving forces' as building blocks for a set of distinct stories that distill voluminous data into a digestible set of plausible directions the future might take.
High Street conducts financial capacity assessments on FTA Capital Investment Grant (New Starts, Small Starts, Core Capacity) projects including the evaluation and rating of the project against the grant program's financial criteria. Through review of the applicant's financial plan and models for the proposed project, system operating and capital budgets, annual financial reports, and other documents, High Street analyzes the ability of the applicant to deliver its non-federal share of funding, operate and maintain its core transit services, and complete project construction by the revenue operations date, including cash flow and timing of receipt of funds. Projects for which High Street has completed assessments include Orlando SunRail, Boston MBTA Green Line Extension, San Diego MidCoast Corridor, Fort Worth TEX Rail, Arlington Columbia Pike Street Car, Santa Ana OCTA Streetcar, Chicago CTA Red Purple Line Modernization, Durham and Orange Counties GoTriangle Light Rail Transit, and Indianapolis Bus Rapid Transit.
High Street played an integral role in the development of TRB's NCHRP Research Report 873: Guidebook to Funding Transportation Through Land Value Return and Recycling. The Guidebook presents guidance on ways to mobilize some portion of property-value increases to fund maintenance and operations as well as investment in the infrastructure. Local government typically has authority to deal with matters related to land use and land-related revenue-generating mechanisms, therefore access to land value return and recycling—a subset of real estate€“based value capture methods—may require enabling legislation or partnering with local agencies. This report includes examples of applications of land value return and recycling as well as model legislation and institutional structures to facilitate the strategy.
View the Report
High Street develops long-range revenue forecasts for the state DOTs and MPOs which include all sources of transportation revenue and take into account projected changes in demographics, driving behavior, vehicle mix, and fuel efficiency standards and region-specific factors. The forecasts evaluate scenarios of existing revenue sources as well as potential new or increased revenue sources and other funding options. Each client's preferred use and approach to debt financing also is factored in to analysis of the available resources for transportation investment.
High Street helped develop a report for the Asian Development Bank (ADB) which provides policy recommendations in response to China's Fuel Tax Reform. The People's Republic of China (PRC) implemented a "Fuel Tax Reform" in 2009 that made significant changes to the way the country funds and delivers its "ordinary road" program. High Street provided policy recommendations for the following issues:
• The lack of a mechanism to regularly adjust tax rates for inflation and other factors;
• The need for additional revenues to meet planned ordinary road maintenance and construction targets;
• Use of debt financing for ordinary roads;
• Long-run feasibility of fuel taxes as a road funding source;
• Rationalization of roles and responsibilities of different levels of government;
• The need for a new national-level programmatic approach to road development and management;
• Improved fund management and allocation processes;
• The need for enhanced organizational capacity; and
• Development and application of performance management practices in the sector.
High Street created a report as part of NCHRP Project 20-24(83). The report provides a big picture snapshot of why and how DOT leaders are re-designing their organizations. The report breaks down the primary drivers of these changes and characterizes the current state of DOT organizational design. New organizational ideals for DOTs are presented along with observations about key success factors for initiating meaningful organizational change.
View the Report
High Street interviewed industry leaders in innovation and synthesize their finding in an online report, NCHRP 20-108 Effective Practices for Creating and Maintaining an Innovation-Delivery Culture within Departments of Transportation. The report is a guidebook that features a set of practical tactics that encourage department of transportation employees to remain inspired and empowered to innovate. Included in the guidebook is a self-assessment to help DOTs determine where their agency falls in the continuum of innovation efforts, a getting started guide to help jump start your efforts, and an examination of the five building blocks to build and sustain a culture of innovation.
View the Report
High Street led the development of the 2040 Maryland Transportation Plan. High Street led the development of goals and objectives aligned with MDOT's vision for One MDOT as well as plan implementation strategies and demonstration of regional illustrative projects. High Street also developed long-term transportation needs for MDOT, Maryland Transportation Authority (MDTA) and all transportation business units (TBUs), the 20-year revenue forecast, and the federally required system performance report. Additionally, High Street oversaw the branding, public and stakeholder involvement, internal MDOT meeting facilitation, and existing conditions research and reporting. The public involvement process included the use of the MetroQuest survey tool and development of various presentations and boards for MDOT staff to use as they presented in regional meetings. The High Street team coordinated with MDOT and its consultant on the development of Attainment Report performance measures in alignment with MTP goals and objectives. High Street led the development of the technical reports and the final 2040 MTP designed document which was successfully adopted by MDOT in January 2019.
High Street led the development of New Mexico's long range transportation plan which included the development of long term goals, objectives and performance measures, an assessment of the existing system performance, identification of trends and issues that will impact transportation in the future, revenue forecast, development of strategies, and stakeholder outreach. The development of the plan strategies included a scenario planning exercise. High Street worked with NMDOT to develop four scenarios. High Street presented the quantitative assumptions and qualitative narrative around each scenario to the stakeholders in three regional and one tribal virtual meeting. The stakeholders were asked to think about the needs of the transportation system under the scenarios, the positive and negative impacts each might have, and their concerns. The High Street team gathered the feedback obtained in the virtual meetings to develop and refine long term transportation strategies to prepare New Mexico for the uncertain future.
View the NMDOT Long-Range Transportation Plan Website
High Street was on a team that developed Michigan Mobility 2045, the statewide long-range transportation plan for the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT). The work was conducted in two phases. During Phase I, High Street led efforts to identify national best practices in statewide planning, infrastructure conditions, performance measures, scenario planning, and impacts of new technologies on the transportation system. High Street also led the Scenario Planning task where we worked with MDOT and its partners to develop four exploratory scenarios to examine further in Phase II. In Phase II, High Street led efforts to work with MDOT leadership and stakeholders in developing the 2045 vision, goals, objectives, performance measures, and strategies that will guide the implementation of the LRTP. High Street led the Modal Needs task that identified 25-year multimodal needs in addition to the Scenario Planning task where High Street will explore the quantitative and qualitative impacts of the four scenarios developed in Phase I. High Street conducted a virtual Zoom scenario planning workshop with MDOT and its partners to examine the four scenarios and discuss and identify what kinds of transportation networks are needed; what new investment strategies or policies are needed; what policy changes are needed; what parts of the transportation network is most vulnerable; and how might internal business processes and structure need to change.
View the Michigan Mobility 2045 Website
High Street developed the Oklahoma 2045 Long Range Transportation Plan, which is a policy document that will guide ODOT in the development, management, and operation of a safe and efficient transportation system for the next 25 years. The planning process included working with ODOT and its modal stakeholders to update the vision, goals, objectives, and performance measures. During this project, High Street identified 25-year modal needs, developed a 25-year revenue forecast, and explored funding options that would help close the funding gap. The 2045 LRTP establishes transportation policies and strategies for various modes of travel and commercial freight movement in the state including highways, passenger and freight rail, public transit, bicycle and pedestrian travel, ports and waterways and airport access.
View the Oklahoma 2045 LRTP Website
High Street supported the Arkansas Long Range Intermodal Transportation Plan (LRITP). The planning process included a visioning process that led to development of plan goals and objectives to guide future investment decisions. High Street worked with ARDOT staff to establish goals, objectives, and performance measures, define multimodal needs, forecast baseline revenues, and identify future funding options. As part of the alternative future scenario process, Decision Lens software was used to establish the State's priorities for transportation investments. The software applies Analytic Hierarchy Process, a proven methodology used to capture and synthesize data and judgments for group collaboration. The Decision Lens software aggregated the results and generated a priority graph showing relative weights (percent) of goal areas and performance measures at the group level. The LRITP is a policy document that addresses transportation issues in Arkansas for the next 25 years and is the State's first performance-based plan. Through an extensive public and stakeholder involvement process, the plan sets a strategic direction on the future of the transportation system and the level of transportation investments required.
View the Arkansas LRITP Website
High Street led all the technical tasks associated with updating the LRTP. With the input of more than 7,700 Missourians and transportation planning partners across the state, the analyses provided in this plan inform future transportation decisions in Missouri. The team facilitated a CAV workshop, where participants explored current and emerging technologies, provided input on the actions required to facilitate implementation, and discussed the responsibilities of state and local officials in developing policies and regulations.
View the Missouri LRTP Website
High Street developed the Kansas 2045 LRTP using an innovative scenario planning exercise in the first round of Local Consult meetings. Participants were asked to consider a set of conditions that could be true 25 years from now related to population and workforce patterns, extreme weather events, and the use of technology such as Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) to deliver freight. Participants then discussed what the state's transportation system would need to include to be ready for those plausible future scenarios. In late fall 2019, Local Consult participants were asked to help KDOT better understand current and near-future priority needs for highway expansion and modernization projects in each region of the state. In 2020, High Street help developed the LRTP goals, objectives, performances measures, and implementation strategies and the final plan was completed in July 2021. High Street also has supported KDOT on several initiatives associated with implementing the plan. This has included organizational design research for KDOT's program management office, planning a "Digital Futures" workshop to help agency staff better understand emerging data needs and application opportunities, assistance refining KDOT performance measures and setting targets, and strategic advisory services to assist KDOT senior leadership with plan implementation approaches.
View the Kansas LRTP Website
High Street was part of the team that assisted ODOT in developing performance measures, needs forecasts, and revenue scenarios as part of the development of Access Ohio 2040. The firm also developed and evaluated investment scenarios and innovative finance strategies to support plan finalization.
High Street also supported a related initiative to update the scoring system used for prioritizing major projects over $12 million. The project teams' recommended changes enabled Ohio's Transportation Review Advisory Council (TRAC) to better account for local economic development initiatives, investment in complementary programs, and equitable treatment of distressed areas in the project selection process. The project included national best practice research on state DOT programming processes and creation of new ways to develop and apply technical travel model and transportation performance measures within the context of an economically meaningful prioritization approach.
View the Access Ohio 2045 Website
High Street led the development of the 2040 Nebraska Statewide Transportation Plan (LRTP) with a multidisciplinary team of consultants. The planning process included data-driven scenario planning that led to development of a scenario tool and recommendations to guide future investment decisions. High Street worked with NDOT staff to establish goals, objectives, and performance measures, defined multimodal needs, forecasted baseline revenues, identified key future trends and emerging technologies, and identified tipping points to make Nebraska an adaptable leader for the future of statewide transportation.
View the NDOT2040 LRTP Website
High Street led the development of the Texas Transportation Plan 2050 (TTP 2050), along with scenario analysis for the plan. High Street worked with the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) to define alternative future scenarios built around broad external factors that would have a long-term impact on the transportation system, namely technology development and the global economy. High Street led the consultant team to quantify assumptions around these external factors and to research their transportation effects, which allowed for the development of multimodal performance forecasts for different configurations of these external factors and under different TxDOT investment strategies. High Street led and supported modeling performance changes under these external factors and investment scenarios for the various program areas. The outputs of the process provided TxDOT with a vision of trade-offs among investment strategies and identified areas of transportation system performance at risk under alternative futures.
View the Texas Transportation Plan Website
In this project for the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), High Street developed a series of web-based training sessions (WBTs) and €˜TPM Essentials' Videos to explain core TPM principles and requirements to practitioners at state and local transportation agencies. WBT and videos provide an effective and accessible format to learn more about new or complex topics. The format of these media is more engaging than simple fact sheets and presentations yet can be viewed at the pace and time-frame available to the user. These formats also allow the participant to hear directly from FHWA staff, other experts, or peer agencies, and often provide a richer context for information than static materials.
View the TPM Training Website
View the TPM Videos Website
High Street developed three guidebooks for state DOTs and Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) that support implementation of transportation performance management. The guidebooks are a bridge for helping states and MPOs understand FHWA's 2017 rule language on pavement and bridge condition measures; and for system performance, freight movement and air quality (CMAQ) measures with established state and MPO-led performance management, long-range planning, and programming practices. They provide a mix of practical insights, best practices, tips and case studies.
High Street assisted ALDOT with calculation, target setting, and reporting for the state's FAST Act highway system performance measures. Our work included writing and implementing processing scripts and statistical methods to calculate ALDOT's performance measures (combing five data sources and 100m+ rows of travel time data), and pioneering a new methodology for forecasting future performance based on planned capital program investments.
High Street has helped Maryland DOT's State Highway Administration (SHA) prepare for and implement federal transportation performance management requirements. Our work included analysis of rule language, creation of a €˜road map' to guide critical activities, coordination of internal staff responsibilities, assistance with data handling, aid in coordination with Maryland's MPOs, and production of brochures, newsletters, and website content to assist in information sharing. High Street also provided data analytics assistance for use of congestion data (NPMRDS) in setting baseline measures and targets for federal travel reliability measures.
This multi-year research project uncovered the people- and data-driven processes and habits that are key to meaningful performance improvement through the use of regular feedback. Insights were gained from performance practitioners through a series of peer exchanges across the country and synthesized into guidance, case studies, a video series, and other resources. The research produced new ways to conceptualize performance along with concrete strategies and tactics that performance professionals at any agency can implement immediately and in the long term to strengthen the frequency and quality of performance-related feedback and institutionalize the most successful processes.
Effective Methods of Target Setting explored transportation agencies' approaches to target setting across the national performance areas during the first federal performance period. The project's focus on sound methods for data-driven target setting led High Street to conduct an in-depth statistical analysis of safety performance forecasting models to compare predictive capabilities. The guide provides recommended methods, discusses trade-offs associated with each, and walks users through how to implement each recommended method. While sound, data-driven methods were the foundation of the research, the team's extensive conversations with practitioners also uncovered importance of coordination, processes, and conversations in making the entire target setting process effective or not, regardless of the target setting approach adopted by an agency. In particular, the research found that taking opportunities to have "hard conversations" with partners and leaders about adverse outcomes-- whether they are actual outcomes reflecting a missed target or potential outcomes associated with a worsening target being established -- are a notable characteristic of agencies' ability to use the target setting process to drive efforts at performance improvement.
This guidebook and a companion digital performance benchmarking platform prepared by High Street for NCHRP show transportation practitioners how to use benchmarking to help continuously improve their agencies by comparing performance outcomes among peers via compatible measures and data as part of a wider organizational culture that embraces performance management. Benchmarking gives valuable context to individual agency performance results. Done right, it reveals noteworthy improvement opportunities and motivates group-wide advances in performance. A web tool companion to the guidebook helps agencies find appropriate peers, compare performance across selected measures, and most importantly, connect with other practitioners to share what works for improvement.
The High Street team gathered nearly 200 environmentally focused measures after extensive research and discussions with transportation practitioners. All measures were evaluated against a set of six criteria to identify those with the most promise. The measures spanned five major focus areas that included Air quality, Energy and climate, Materials recycling, Stormwater, Wildlife and ecosystems.
Each of the report's recommended measures was tested with real data from state DOTs across the country, and further evaluated against four additional criteria. The result is a suite of core environmental performance measures designed to help state DOTs better understand and communicate the impacts of transportation on the environment.
High Street is leading the development of Nebraska DOT's Carbon Reduction Strategy (CRS) for submittal to USDOT in response to new federal Carbon Reduction Program (CRP) requirements. High Street is consulting with internal staff, MPOs, and other external stakeholders to develop the CRS that is aligned with existing transportation planning processes. The project involves foundational research; interviews with peer states, NDOT staff, and statewide stakeholders; and in-person consultations with MPOs. The CRS will identify projects and strategies to reduce transportation emissions and may quantify total carbon emission reductions.
High Street led the team that supported the New Mexico Department of Transportation (NMDOT) in development of a State Plan for Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Deployment ("Plan"). The Plan describes how NMDOT intends to use its apportioned National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) formula program funds and complies with guidance issued by FHWA and the Joint Office of Energy and Transportation ("Joint Office"). With High Street's support, NMDOT was the first state to submit their Plan to the Joint Office.
High Street executed the process for identifying roadway vulnerability to flooding hazards under alternative futures with different levels of hazard severity. The process considered three hazards (i.e., storm surge, sea-level rise, and inland riverine flooding) under three high, medium, and low severity levels, based on impact probabilities. Vulnerability for road ways and bridges was assessed at the segment and structure level based on exposure to these hazards under each severity level, as well as the infrastructure's sensitivity and ability to adapt to disruptions. Sensitivity depends on infrastructure type (e.g., asphalt vs concrete pavement), infrastructure condition, as well as other factors such as historical weather-related damage or closure. Adaptive capacity depending on traffic volumes, functional classification or bridge importance factors, the presence of a navigable waterway under a bridge, whether or not the road or structure is part of a hurricane evacuation route, and presence on major interregional corridors. High Street developed guidance for the website team to use to develop an interactive online tool that allows users to adjust the weights of components of vulnerability and recalculate the vulnerability score.
High Street developed a cost estimate and plan for introducing electric vehicles into the fleet of eight rural and small urban transit providers in Oklahoma. The final deliverable included a preliminary plan and high-level assessment of the feasibility, benefits, and costs of EV vehicles, maintenance, and infrastructure to help the agency work with state legislators to obtain and apply funding.
High Street is leading the team that is developing the New Mexico DOT Resilience Improvement Plan (RIP) to meet the requirements of the Promoting Resilient Operations for Transformative, Efficient, and Cost-saving Transportation (PROTECT) federal program. The team assessed the vulnerability of roadways (including bike/ped and transit infrastructure), bridges, and culverts to hazards including wildfires, flooding, drought, extreme heat, dust storms, debris flow, and rockfall. The team assessed the criticality of assets using criteria that include economic (tourism); operational (traffic volume, redundancy, freight significance, and transit service); health and safety (evacuation routes); and social and equity (social vulnerability score). The team developed a GIS-based mapping tool that displays asset, hazard, and criticality data layers to identify vulnerable "hot spots" for multimodal resilience improvements. The team supported NMDOT districts in identifying potential projects that respond to these hot spots and describing what project funding could be provided through the PROTECT formula program.
To improve awareness and utilization of existing active transportation plans, High Street worked with TxDOT to create a self-service statewide inventory of plans and an intuitive user interface to quickly access plan information. This tool created a centralized, map-based online inventory of all active transportation plans in Texas to enable easy access to these planning documents, appropriately incorporate bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure into project planning and scoping and facilitate the development of safe bicycle and pedestrian networks. The Active Transportation Plan Inventory is comprised of three components: 1) an online submission portal, 2) a management portal where TxDOT staff can approve or modify plans, and 3) the tool's public-facing website where users can search, filter, and browse active transportation plans in Texas.
High Street developed the financial model used in an analysis of transition to an all-zero emission vehicle (ZEV) transit fleet in Colorado. The analysis examined cost differentials between traditional and ZEV transit vehicles, anticipated time to cost parity, cost of associated charging infrastructure, assumptions on vehicle replacement, and varying adoption rates and condition scenarios.
Drawing on High Street's experience implementing multimodal performance measures, High Street created for the Wasatch Front Regional Council (WFRC) a GIS-based analytical tool that allows the agency and its planning partners to calculate changes in regional accessibility for individual candidate transportation investments. Accessibility is quantified in terms of Access to Opportunity (ATO) which measures how well residents can access jobs, or how well employers can access the labor force. The solution leverages Esri ArcGIS's Network Analyst to sum the distance-discounted number of households and jobs reachable within a defined travelshed. Projects are simulated via changes to the underlying network and assumptions on impedance values. ATO impacts are estimated for roadway, transit, active.
High Street supported TxDOT in complying with state legislation by developing an impact-oriented project prioritization process used to score TxDOT's 10-year $75B+ capital program. High Street's Dr. Ford proved the concept of using data-informed scoring by combining site needs scores with an estimate of project impacts on preservation, safety, mobility, the environment and economy based on work scope. His prototype was then translated into software as part of a statewide data-sharing program with TxDOT districts and state MPOs.
After discovering some imprecise work scope descriptions, High Street then helped enhance the scoring process. This involved collaboratively developing a framework with TxDOT's Unified Transportation Program (UTP) staff to evaluate major projects in the state by blending three analytical approaches: 1) historically observing actual benefits for similar projects over the past ten years for nearly 10,000 projects with respect to safety, preservation, and mobility criteria, 2) predicting the likely impact consistent with leading industry tools and best practices, and 3) eliciting expert judgment.
High Street developed an interactive dashboard to summarize the results of the newly implemented project prioritization framework at CTDOT. With the goal of advancing performance-based planning and programming principles throughout the Department, the dashboard enables CTDOT to communicate the likely performance benefits of their planned transportation investments more effectively by displaying ranked projects, criteria scores, project information and a map of the project area.
In response to the 2005 Texas Bicycle Tourism Trails Act (Texas Transportation Code § 201.9025), TxDOT collaborated with its Bicycle Advisory Committee to investigate the development of a statewide bicycle tourism trail network. High Street was contracted to develop an objective prioritization methodology to inform its development. The tool has three prioritization scenarios:
1) The Signature Segment scenario results in groups or clusters of segments that score similarly based on nearby attractions and existing and potential demand,
2) The Safety and Bicycle Level of Service scenario tends to result in scattered priority scores across the example network with fewer clusters. Scores are largely driven by measures at the intersection-level including potential for conflict and documented crashes.
3) The top scoring segments in the Low Hanging Fruit scenario are grouped along planned TxDOT projects and prioritized by lower cost and windows of opportunity for development.
TxDOT administers Transportation Alternatives (TA) funds for locally sponsored bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure projects in communities with less than 200,000 residents. There are often five or six times as many requests as there is available funding. High Street developed a tool for TxDOT that allows planners to see how their weighting of different criteria impacts the project application rankings and geographic distribution.
In 2021, High Street completed an effort linking CMCOG's long-range plan to its project selection for highway projects. Through this effort, High Street developed a prioritization tool that automates the project evaluation scoring process to develop CMCOG's Staged Improvement Program. To achieve this, fiscally constrained projects were overlaid with collected performance data and forecasts. Project ratings were determined for each identified data-driven criterion. The criteria were established to achieve CMCOG's strategic priorities and improve alignment with SCDOT plans. The criteria included considerations for project impact on infrastructure condition, safety risk reduction, mobility improvements, emissions reductions, transit impacts, and economic benefits. Criteria were diversified to be representative of geographic regions within the CMCOG planning area.
UDOT has been bolstering their predictive modeling of their future projects and their impact to Federal and State performance metrics in order to try to gain more insights about the tradeoffs between various funding opportunities. High Street has led the effort to develop the models, present results, and coordinate between the planning office and the various divisions within UDOT to determine reasonable assumptions regarding deterioration, project impacts, and changes to the transportation system within UDOT. High Street has done this for multiple different categories including bridges, signals, ITS equipment, safety, pavement, and mobility based on up to date literature and best engineering practices.
High Street is helping AKDOT&PF secure better transportation performance outcomes for Alaska residents, businesses, and visitors by institutionalizing PBPP principles and applying state-of-the-art data science techniques to explore, mine, and visualize key information for policy decisions. Our role has included collectively developing a strategic roadmap [inclusive of developing a historical before/after dataset] and implementing performance-based prioritization frameworks through toolkits for a wide assortment of programs including capital state-of-repair, ice roads, community bridges, coastal resiliency, and sustainability programs, among others.
High Street supported ODOT in calibrating and validating its performance-based prioritization process for its 8-year Construction Work Program to ensure the most impactful projects were rising to the top. To support this effort, High Street worked with ODOT to update its decision criteria, facilitate the development of representative priority weights, create a pre-processor application to translate raw performance data into meaningful project impact ratings, and upload results into a decision support software that enables various what if? analyses. The team further provided training for ODOT district and leadership staff on prioritization and broader performance-based planning and programming best practices.
Missouri DOT is building its confidence and capability with AI and ML with High Street's assistance. This engagement includes training, capacity building, and pilot projects with benefit-cost analysis to understand the value of incorporating AI.
In support of a broader NDOT initiative to improve pedestrian safety, High Street combined artificial intelligence with roadway video log imagery to develop a cost-effective, turn-key statewide inventory of painted pedestrian crossings.
Accurate estimates of maintenance and rehab project costs are a critical component to effective asset management. High Street's machine learning model estimates future project costs based on prior project costs for 11 different work types across thousands of statewide locations.
High Street's automated solution updates short term traffic count site seasonal factor group assignments annually as on-the-ground traffic patterns change in the fast-growing state. The solution leverages unsupervised and supervised machine learning packaged into a desktop GIS workflow.
High Street led development of the Arizona Sun Cloud Data Portal — a centralized repository for transportation planning datasets for the fast-growing Sun Corridor megaregion. The Sun Cloud Data Portal incorporates unique equity, broadband, access, safety, environmental, and mobility datasets to help rural, suburban, and urban communities make meaningful transportation decisions. Analysis tools within the data portal help streamline needs assessment, generates performance metrics, and aids in prioritizing needs using a customizable set of scoring criteria.
View the Arizona Sun Cloud Data Portal
Replacing a cumbersome spreadsheet-based process, ArDOT's new STIP Management software, developed by High Street, centralizes collection of STIP projects, automates overlap detection and cost estimation, and facilitates selection and prioritization of projects.
High Street provides FHWA a "Data Visualization Center" to support offices throughout the agency with a wide range of data analytics and visualization needs. The DVC accepts on-demand requests from any FHWA staff, and has developed products such as "Turner Fairbanks Project Summaries," a series of fact sheets containing information on small business innovation research, Transportation Pooled Fund Program, Exploratory Advanced Research, Technology Evaluations Programs, Federal Outdoor Impact Laboratory, and more.
High Street provides FHWA a "Data Visualization Center" to support offices throughout the agency with a wide range of data analytics and visualization needs. The DVC accepts on-demand requests from any FHWA staff, and has developed products such as the Wow Wednesday factoids. This is an ongoing project where the High Street team produces social media infographics weekly plus on demand. These can be seen on FHWA's social media accounts.
The gas production supplied report is a weekly indicator report for the Office of Highway Policy to view changes in the gasoline market. The report is an automated Power BI report which pulls information directly from the EIA's data API for gasoline product supplied in the United States. Using the most current data, it refreshes plots and textual information allowing the viewer to intuitively see how gasoline production supply has changed from this week to the previous week, the percentage change over years, and how that has impacted our total supply of gasoline in the United States.
High Street is leading the update process of the BTS Freight Facts and Figures (FFF) website. Decision-makers across the country have come to rely on the FFF stories to better understand data on freight movement and performance. Through this effort, High Street is ensuring that FFF includes the latest data from its many sources and is making visual improvements along the way to the existing charts and maps. The team is pulling the latest data, conducting quality assurance checks on the new data, and then updating the visuals and text on the FFF stories. The visuals are mostly Tableau-based, with some maps designed in Esri or Mapbox. Visual improvements ensure that clear titles are given to the charts, context is provided so non-freight experts can easily understand the data, and the layout is intuitive with filters and legends in a separate side pane.
High street developed an Esri StoryMap to support the Maricopa Association of Governments with communicating their investment decisions for major mobility projects. The StoryMap uses data from a select link analysis, visualizing origin and destination data for all daily traffic going through a sample project location in the downtown area (the I-10 deck park tunnel). The visuals, which include interactive maps and an animated map, demonstrate how the larger metro region relies on access through the tunnel, and such major capacity improvements are selected to enhance regional connectivity. The animated map is particularly helpful in showing the wide geographic spread of trips by volume and by hour of day. The storymap was partnered with a one page summary sheet which was provided to stakeholders.
In response to an urgent request from the Secretary prior to a legislative session, High Street developed a predictive pavement asset planning tool around a new performance metric more indicative of structural integrity. In under two months, High Street staff generated optimized performance vs. investment level curves for the new metric and financially constrained work plans. High Street then deployed a pavement investment planning dashboard that allows users to set allocations between highway classifications and view the anticipated future system state-of-repair.
The success of this effort led to a follow-on activity to create a statewide dashboard that enabled exploratory tradeoff analysis of statewide metrics spanning pavement, bridge, safety, mobility, and multimodal performance. High Street brought this interactive web tool to a leadership meeting to engage KDOT staff on their allocation preferences and to assess the anticipated minimum investment level to achieve desired performance outcomes. Results were captured in real-time at a workshop and used as a discussion point to help build consensus around mid-range investment strategies.
High Street updated Oklahoma Department of Transportation's Transportation Asset Management Plan (TAMP) by updating asset management data and corresponding narrative/graphics, improving data visualizations and communications, integrating business process and financial sections, incorporating resiliency considerations, reviewing for compliance with updated federal requirements related to the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) and preparing ODOT for anticipated requirements in upcoming TAMP update cycles.
View the Oklahoma DOT TAMP
High Street updated the Maryland TAMP for the 2022 submission. Key areas of improvement to the existing document and asset management planning process included increased stakeholder engagement and incorporation of partner owner input, integration of risk throughout the plan, a more robust risk register, clarified investment strategies, an overall restructuring of the document, and more seamless integration of the TAMP with other planning processes.
High Street led the financial plan and investment strategies task and supported stakeholder engagement. High Street helped estimate funding levels, documented funding sources, and assessed system value. At a workshop with ARDOT staff, High Street led a discussion around projected federal funding, interstate/non-Interstate NHS funding splits, debt service, and asset valuation using replacement costs and percent remaining life.
View the Arkansas DOT TAMP
High Street's Dr. Kevin Ford co-authored NCHRP Report 806 which included a state-of-the-art approach to performance-based decision-making. The developed methodology links planning to programming through a data-driven framework that allows agencies to prioritize projects and optimize allocation decisions based on performance preferences while accommodating varying levels of agency maturity. High Street additionally created a supplemental tool to prove out the concept - workshopped at multiple AASHTO and TRB events - that includes genetic algorithms to estimate the minimum cost to achieve different objectives.
High Street led the IIJA-compliant 2045 New Mexico Freight Plan Update, which included research and analysis to update freight data, incorporate truck travel time reliability forecasts, and document efforts to identify Critical Rural and Critical Urban Freight Corridors. High Street ensured consistency with the New Mexico 2045 Plan (long-range statewide transportation plan (LRSTP)) strategic direction and scenario analysis which were also completed by High Street. The Freight Plan Update included updates to the freight investment plan, updated freight plan strategies, reconvening the freight advisory committee (FAC), engaging the public/stakeholders, and developing the final plan development.
High Street co-led an IIJA-compliant update Arizona's Statewide Freight Plan. The effort included defining ADOT's freight-related goals and objectives, analyzing system performance, commodity flows, and other relevant trends and issues, and developing forecasts of future freight movements and associated infrastructure needs. In addition, High Street led a resource allocation exercise with the freight advisory group to determine the appropriate truck parking funding as well as a prioritization process to identify a data-informed project list for National Highway Freight Program funds. The engagement included a significant stakeholder outreach component and the final plan provided both recommended strategies and a road map for implementing the final plan update.
View the ADOT State Freight Plan website
High Street led tasks for the development of the Kansas rail and freight plans including identifying and documenting the existing freight policies and decision making processes and analyzing relevant trends and issues which are likely to impact freight movement in Kansas. High Street also led development of the Kansas Long-Range Transportation Plan and served as a liaison between the three planning efforts ensuring consistency in the overall strategic direction.
View the KDOT Freight and Rail website
High Street is part of a three-year project working with the Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) to guide the implementation of the 2020-2024 SHSP and develop a strategy for the next SHSP update. High Street conducted a thorough diagnostic of current SHSP implementation processes, identified issues, and suggested potential refinements to create an approach for supporting KDOT with SHSP implementation in the coming years. This work included a review of all SHSP documentation; interviews with KDOT safety staff, leadership, members of the Executive Safety Council (ESC), FHWA staff, and other safety-related stakeholders; best practices research; and developing a findings and recommendations report. High Street also developed a quantitative strategy prioritization methodology, led a strategy prioritization workshop with stakeholders, proposed changes to the ESC and Emphasis Area Team (EAT) structure and function, and developed guidance for EAT annual reports and action plans. High Street staff manage the Pedestrians and Cyclists EAT, which involves planning for and facilitating quarterly meetings with a group of stakeholders and advisors and developing an action plan for the EAT's top tier strategies.
To assist NDOT with highway safety analysis and modeling, we ported custom code developed to calculate horizontal curves using linear referencing system data. The code conversion allowed for horizontal curve analysis to be performed within NDOT's ArcGIS Pro software.
High Street led development of the Arizona Sun Cloud Data Portal — a centralized repository for transportation planning datasets for the fast-growing Sun Corridor megaregion. The Sun Cloud Data Portal incorporates unique equity, broadband, access, safety, environmental, and mobility datasets to help rural, suburban, and urban communities make meaningful transportation decisions. Analysis tools within the data portal help streamline needs assessment, generates performance metrics, and aids in prioritizing needs using a customizable set of scoring criteria. View the Arizona Sun Cloud Website
The Oklahoma Department of Transportation (ODOT), in partnership with the City of Moore, Oklahoma, and the Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) Railroad were awarded $10 million to facilitate the grade separation of State Highway 37 from a BNSF railroad crossing in Moore, Oklahoma. The RAISE grant will also improve multimodal mobility through construction of a bicycle and pedestrian bridge and multiuse paths. The project represents a public-private partnership resulting from comprehensive collaboration to improve the safety, mobility, quality of life, and reliability of the residents, motorized and nonmotorized travelers of Moore, Oklahoma. High Street led the development of this 2022 RAISE Grant that included developing the project description, project history, cost estimates, and responding to the Safety, Environmental Sustainability, Quality of Life, Economic Competitiveness and Opportunity, State of Good Repair, Mobility and Community Connectivity, Partnership and Collaboration, and Innovation merit criteria.
The Oklahoma Department of Transportation (ODOT) was awarded $85 million in 2023 MEGA funds to enhance safety and mobility in West Tulsa along the I-44 and US-75 corridors. Completing this project will accelerate vital work to transform this aging and unsafe Interstate corridor. Its outcomes will include a safer, less congested link to the nation's economy for the fast-growing Tulsa region's businesses and to the region's many jobs, services, schools, and other opportunities, while reconnecting adjacent and historically disadvantaged communities. High Street led the development of this 2022 INFRA/MEGA Grant that included developing the project history, project budget, and responding to the to the Safety, State of Good Repair, Economic Impacts; Freight Movement, and Job Creation; Climate change, Resiliency, and the Environment; Equity, Multimodal Options, and Quality of Life; and Innovation project outcome criteria.
The Arizona Department of Transportation requested $72.9 million in Bridge Investment Program (BIP) Large Bridge grant funding. This one-mile corridor is a major bottleneck on Arizona's portion of the future Interstate (I-11) corridor and the final obstacle to a continuous freeway route between Phoenix and Las Vegas. High Street led the development of this 2022 Bridge Investment Program (BIP) Large Bridge grant that included developing the project description, project costs, project schedule, project readiness, developing the BCA, and responding to the BIP Program Goals, and addressing the State of Good Repair; Safety; Mobility and Economic Competitiveness; Climate Change, Resiliency, and the Environment; Quality of Life; and Innovation program criteria.
