The latest news from Traffic Design Group

Journeys - Summer 2012

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0700

From the age of the afro, flares and platforms to the age of….hmmm, some things change little in 35 years. (Yes, flares are back!)

October, 1976, Traffic Design Group was a one-man-band, established by present-day chairman Peter McCombs. Thirty-five years later, we have 80 staff operating from eight offices around New Zealand. Over that time, we’ve seen New Zealand’s development and growth progress through oil companies of the 70s, the commercial property boom of the 80s, the retail centres of the 90s, and alternative power generation in the 2000s.

What hasn’t changed is our commitment to excellence. Today, our expertise is still growing and expanding and our people continue to break new ground in a constantly evolving field. Now, as then, whether it’s large or small, simple or complex, your projects present the opportunity for us to create remarkable journeys. Thanks for the support and we look forward to continuing the adventure in 2012.

In this issue:

Research driving freight efficiency
Land development steps ahead
Development savings in 3D design
ITS increasingly key to clients’ bottom line
Auckland Airport benefits from transportation innovation
Simple… it’s what you want

Click here to view the Journeys - Summer 2012 digital publication.

Traffic Design Group welcomes new Director

Fri, 02 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Traffic Design Group (TDG) is delighted to welcome Don McKenzie as a Director of the company.

A Senior Associate of TDG and Branch Manager of the Auckland office since 2006, Don combines over 20 years extensive technical knowledge with strong leadership skills. His areas of expertise include specialist transportation engineering advice, expert evidence and technical leadership of transportation studies. Most recently Don has provided advice in the Environmental Protection Agency’s hearing into the Department of Corrections Wiri prison facility and has led the innovative transport-related planning for Auckland Airport.

TDG Chairman Peter McCombs says Don’s appointment adds to the breadth of technical, leadership and governance of the Board and the company’s positive momentum for the future.

Bikewise Month

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Traffic Design Group is supporting Bikewise month this February for the sixth year running.

Everyone within the company is encouraged to participate in one way or another with some regular cyclists undertaking mammoth kilometres, whilst others might be taking part for the very first time.

Each office has a local representative who devises different ways in which to get staff onto bikes, particularly on Wednesday 15 February, which is National 'Go By Bike Day'. For example, the Auckland office will be rewarding anyone who cycles to work with a free breakfast bap, and Bike Business (a local bike Shop) will be doing a free safety check, making sure the bikes are road-worthy and making any necessary adjustments.

Participation in Bikewise aligns with TDG's Travel Plan aim of targetting sustainable transportation practices.

Implications of changing the left turn rule

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Anna Wilkins, a Principal Transportation Engineer in TDG’s Hamilton office, was recently invited to present to the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) Waikato/BOP Traffic Management Liaison Group (TMLG) about implications of changing the New Zealand left turn rule on intersection performance.

Anna presented to the group about her research project that used S-Paramics microsimulation modelling to assess a range of real intersections and transport networks before and after the rule change.

Some intersection types are particularly susceptible to deteriorated performance following the rule change. Others can be expected to improve. Whilst this depends on each intersection’s layout, volumes and location in the network, the research found that intersections can generally be classified into one of four groups.

Anna’s presentation summarised the main characteristics of these groups with typical examples that road controlling authorities should be aware of as the rule change approaches in March 2012.

TRAFINZ Conference 2011

Mon, 05 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

In November Judith Makinson (TDG Hamilton) and Dave Petrie (TDG Nelson) attended the TRAFINZ Conference 2011 held in Hamilton.

The conference was attended by a broad cross-section of attendees including local authority politicians, engineers and safety co-ordinators, NZTA/MOT, NZ Police, consultants, trade representatives and other interested individuals. There was considerable focus on the NZTA’s 'Safer Journeys' strategy with presenters from many different backgrounds promoting:

application of a safe system approach to road safety
practical application of safe systems
role of sustainable travel, and
challenges facing the nation regarding the funding of these different elements of road safety under current Government programmes.

Both Judith and Dave took interest in matters from rural road risk assessment, travel planning, ‘eco-driving’ and the Model Communities trial programme being run in both Hastings and New Plymouth (where Traffic Design Group staff are involved on behalf of our local authority clients).

The conference’s social programme was also considered a roaring success involving an opening night icebreaker with team challenges, and a conference dinner complete with Elvis impersonator, fancy dress, a chamber music quartet and Bollywood themed activity! Who said transportation conferences were dull and boring!

Andrew Metherell presents at Oceania Cube User Conference

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Andrew Metherell, a Principal Transportation Engineer at TDG's Christchurch office, recently attended Citilabs' Oceania Cube User Conference held in Adelaide. TDG is the NZ representative for the distribution of Citilabs transportation planning software.

The conference provided a great opportunity to learn from Citilabs about the latest developments in one of the industry's leading transportation modelling software suites, Cube. Citilabs have included a range of new features in Cube 6 that will further enhance the functionality and performance of the software.

There were also a series of informative user presentations about transportation model development and application. Andrew contributed to this knowledge-sharing with a presentation on the transportation modelling undertaken by TDG to assist post-Earthquake transport network planning in Christchurch.This modelling was required to understand the impacts of the major land use and transport network changes resulting from the earthquakes.

Click here to download the PowerPoint from Andrew's presentation.

Click here for more information on Citilabs' Cube software.

TDG Staff Win Award

Sat, 01 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Angus Bargh and John Kelly were awarded the NZAA “Best Overall Paper” at the 2011 IPENZ Transportation Group Conference. In recognition of this award, ARRB invited them to publish an article in their “Road & Transport Research” journal.

Their article, titled “Transportation Modelling for Model Walking and Cycling Communities”, discusses the development and application of a multi-modal wide-area transportation microsimulation model that TDG built on behalf of Hastings District Council. This model played a key role in Council’s successful bid to become the NZTA Model Community for walking and cycling, for which they received $3.5m funding.

Their article can be found in the September issue of the ARRB “Road & Transport Research” journal.

Staff Member wins International Competition

Tue, 01 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Tony Wicker, a principal transport engineer based at our Auckland office, recently won first prize in an international post-processing scripting contest.

The contest was held by CITILABS, a software development firm specializing in the design, development, marketing and support of products for transportation planning, and the company behind the CUBE software suite.

Tony bested a field of programmers from around the world to develop an application that creates KML versions of model output for visualization in Google Earth along with a number of LOS measures. In the words of the competition judges, Tony's work “was really well scripted and presents a flexible interface for any other users who want to apply it to their own models."

Further information can be obtained from the CITILABS website.

TDG Engererates Finalist

Sat, 01 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Lee Pike, a Principal Transportation Engineer in our Auckland office, is a finalist in the 2011 Engenerate Photo Competition, which is run by the Institution of Professional Engineers, New Zealand (IPENZ).

Lee has been a finalist in three out of the four years the competition has been running which shows a consistent high standard of achievement. Lee’s photograph for 2011, as well as his other winning photos for 2009 and 2008, can be viewed on the IPENZ website.

Brett Harries elected Fellow of ITE

Sun, 01 May 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Brett Harries Elected to Fellow of Institute of Transportation Engineers

The Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) is the international professional association of transportation professionals who are responsible for meeting the public’s mobility and safety needs.

Founded in 1930, ITE is a community of transportation professionals including, engineers, planners, consultants, educators and researchers. It is a professional network of over 17,000 members, working in more than 90 countries. In New Zealand there are some 50 members and our own Chairman of TDG Peter McCombs is current International Director on District 8.

Many senior staff from TDG have been members of ITE for a number of years and it is pleasing to now report that Brett Harries our Managing Director has been promoted to the class of Fellow.

Fellows are ITE members who have made a significant contribution to the transportation profession, its practices and the ITE organisation itself. Fellows must have:

attained significant professional stature
had responsible charge of important transportation and traffic engineering work
demonstrated an active commitment and contribution to the work of ITE and the profession.

all of which Brett has most certainly achieved over the past 25 years of professional engineering (all of it with TDG!). Brett therefore represents the most experienced part of the ITE family and we are particularly proud of Brett’s recognition not only here in NZ but also on the international transportation stage.

Congratulations Brett.

Journeys - The TDG Publication

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 12:21:58 -0800

Twice a year, Traffic Design Group publish their acclaimed Journeys periodical. Packed full of informative articles on the latest developments in traffic engineering and transport planning, Journeys is a must-read for traffic engineers, students, urban planners and property developers.

Archived News

Mon, 07 Nov 2011 13:22:19 -0800