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Volpe’s Public Lands Team is working with FHWA Western Federal Lands Highway Division to develop research about electric-powered bicycles (e-bikes) in a public lands context. The team completed a literature review and gap analysis covering issues related to natural/ecological impacts, safety, and social dynamics and published a final report, which is available here.
As part of the FHWA/Volpe project, the Volpe team also conducted a novel field experiment with volunteers to collect primary data on the potential differences in behavior between people riding conventional bikes and e-bikes on a natural surface multi-use trail in the NPS Minuteman National Historical Park in Concord, MA, using an Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning (AI/ML) model to analyze participant behavior (Figure 1).
The Federal Lands Highway Innovation Research Council recently selected the study team’s proposal for a Phase 2 project that will include three additional field studies to continue collecting primary data and apply AI/ML analysis techniques, tentatively on Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, and Pennsylvania State Department of Conservation and Natural Recreation lands.
 Figure 1: Video still showing use of AI/ML model to detect "passing event" on a trail. Credit: Volpe.
Project contact: Jonah Chiarenza
Over the past two years, Volpe’s Public Lands Team has worked with the National Park Service (NPS) Park Planning and Special Studies Division (PPSS) to develop a resource to guide park units towards the best methods for collecting data about their visitors. The resulting NPS Traveler Data Guidebook is an internal resource that helps regional and unit-level staff understand which data are needed to study different issues — such as congestion, visitor travel patterns, and alternative transportation.
The guidebook identifies the best methods to collect the right data needed to make informed planning decisions and to prioritize operations and infrastructure investments. The guidebook covers eleven data collection methods ranging from well-established tools like traffic counters to emerging sources like crowdsourced “big data.” The guidebook also includes nine case studies, which demonstrate how real-world data collection strategies often combine multiple methods to help generate a complete picture of visitor behaviors.
Jonah Chiarenza led development of the guidebook, with research and technical support from Eric Englin, Jason Sydoriak, Noah Levine, and Mary Geschwindt.
Project contacts: Jonah Chiarenza and Eric Englin
The Public Lands Team has been working with FHWA Federal Lands Highway to identify and address obstacles to partnerships between public land management agencies (PLMAs) and state and local government agencies responsible for transportation planning in and around public lands. The research documented challenges, such as incompatible data platforms and vaguely-defined roles and responsibilities, through a literature review and the development of 12 case studies from across the United States. The case studies included planning and data sharing across agencies at various levels of government, involved different modes of transportation, and covered a variety of PLMAs as well.
Common themes from the case studies were developed into 11 tools to enhance the ability for PLMAs and transportation agencies to better support the formation, coordination, and continuance of planning and data-sharing partnerships between local government agencies and PLMAs. These tools include compiling a list of existing data resource tools, data sharing agreement template materials, a synopsis of laws and regulations related to data management and sharing, and work plans for communicating funding opportunities to support these partnerships and ongoing technical support.
Disseminating information about the research and toolkit is among the work plan recommendations. This newsletter article is one of the first steps in that process. We hope newsletter readers will keep an eye out for the toolkit to be published in the National Transportation Library and linked to on the Federal Lands Highway website here in mid to late summer 2023.
Project contacts: Heather Richardson and Ben Rasmussen
As part of a jointly funded study for the Department of Interior, the US Forest Service, and the US Army Corps of Engineers, Volpe’s Public Lands Team completed the second phase of a gap analysis on the availability of charging stations (i.e., electric vehicle supply equipment or EVSE) on the roadways that connect visitors to our Federal lands. Whereas the first phase categorized and mapped parking lot locations on Federal lands based on their proximity to the nearest EVSE, the second phase:
- Summarizes proximity to existing EVSE at a unit level in table format, and
- Drills down and analyzes high-priority corridor gap segments serving Federal lands that could benefit from receiving more EV charging infrastructure.
Because the FLMAs needed summary information on EVSE access at a unit level (i.e., a national park, national forest, national wildlife refuge, etc.), the Volpe team analyzed the distance of EVSE to FLMA units. Since some of the units are very large in geographic extent, it was difficult to assign an overall access score. Accordingly, the team developed a table of information summarizing distances to DC fast charging (DCFC) EVSE for parking lots within each unit and provided this output to the FLMAs (Figure 2).
 Figure 2: Sample of National Park Service units' parking lots distance to nearest stations. Credit: Volpe.
In addition to showing the average distance to the nearest EVSE for each unit, the table has a column that shows a histogram of parking lots for each unit, grouped by distance to the nearest DCFC EVSE. On the far right it also shows the percent of parking lots within 50 miles of a “pending” or “ready” Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) National Alternative Fuel EV corridor.
For identified high-priority corridors (which serve popular Federal lands but do not have many EVSE), strip diagrams provide a way to visualize several variables along a linear diagram. In the case of Figure 3, the priority corridor (US 89 in Arizona) shows from the Arizona/California border to Flagstaff. Below the map are the different variables of interest that are related to the possible placement of stations (including existing locations). Variables for the different charts include annual average daily traffic (AADT), elevation, urban or rural status, populated places, and nearby existing EVSE.
 Figure 3: Sample strip diagram showing the potential for EVSE in Northern Arizona. Credit: Volpe.
Volpe’s Public Lands Team is currently working with several FLMAs on plans to increase EV charging infrastructure on their lands as well.
Project Contacts: Ben Rasmussen, David Lamb, and Andrew Breck
What public lands projects are you working on now? What has been your favorite?
I currently manage our portfolio with the NPS National Capital Region, which includes trail feasibility studies, traffic engineering, transit electrification studies, and bicyclist/pedestrian safety and facility designs.
I support unit-level planning work with the NPS Park Planning and Special Studies Transportation Planning Program. These projects focus on how parks can better collect, analyze, and integrate data in their planning, operations, and management processes. I also support the Emerging Mobility Working Group and Transportation Safety Program for the NPS Washington Support Office.
My favorite projects have been on improving traveler information through the Emerging Mobility Working Group, and the opportunity to conduct a series of traveler information pilots at Grand Canyon National Park. For example, we are creating a General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS) to integrate the Grand Canyon transit system into different mapping apps. Personally, it has been great to be able to make information more accessible in ways that can directly and immediately help park visitors.
What types of projects outside of public lands do you work on?
My primary project outside of public lands is supporting the development of the VIEW app blind zone calculator. This project has been funded by the Santos Foundation since 2020 but currently receives support from the City of Boston and NACTO, as well. That project examines the safety risks from large blind zones around vehicles and is working with a wide group of stakeholders to create a method to assess direct vision/blind zones for vehicles. My role is web development for the website, creating visualizations of the blind zone data and how they relate to the built environment and vulnerable road users, and translating these data into policy recommendations.
I also provide support to FHWA for VisionEval, a strategic planning model. For this work, I have supported MPOs and state DOTs, such as Virginia DOT and Houston-Galveston MPO, to conduct modelling for different policy scenarios, such as climate change impacts, telework, and aging in place, among many others.
What are your fondest memories of public lands?
Before graduate school, my partner and I backpacked on the Pacific Crest Trail from South Lake Tahoe to Tuolumne Meadows in Yosemite National Park. In retrospect, I may have over-estimated my backpacking know-how from my Boy Scout days. We left with 50-pound packs. Our tortillas and avocados went bad immediately. But each day brought a completely new and breathtaking landscape – the difficulties make me appreciate it even more now. Some of my favorite snippets were the secluded alpine lakes with small sandy beaches, the incredible stargazing, and trying to blend in with the rugged north-bound hikers doing the entire Pacific Crest Trail.
What new public land have you discovered since working at Volpe?
I had vaguely heard about it before, but Great Smoky Mountains National Park – the most visited of the national parks! I’ve been able to support planning work at the Cades Cove site and learn about all the wildlife, especially the bears, that roam the area. And Great Smoky Mountains also has a lot happening in the surrounding area. I wasn’t able to go during my visit, but I am hoping to make it to Dollywood sometime soon.
What’s the most unique, interesting, or strangest job you had before working at Volpe?
During my undergraduate college years, I worked for two summers as a commercial salmon fisherman in Alaska (Kodiak first and then Ketchikan). My uncle helped me find a temporary place to stay in Kodiak, so I could walk the docks and ask if anyone needed an extra deckhand – I left an index card asking for work at the local Kodiak coffee shop where I claimed to be a hard worker that does not get sea sick. Eventually, a boat had an immediate opening, someone saw my card, and I was hired! The next summer, I went back for another season in Southeast Alaska. In all, I think we caught about a million pounds of salmon over the two seasons. It was definitely a great opportunity for a summer job, but I appreciate working from my cozy home office these days!
If you were to have a job that wasn’t transportation or public lands related, what would it be?
Before joining Volpe, I worked on affordable housing and homelessness issues. That is still a topic that I care deeply about, so I would probably want to work at a local-level on increasing affordable housing opportunities and ending homelessness.
That said, housing and transportation are still closely linked, so a completely unrelated job that I, from time to time, think about is being a chef. I’ve been trying to be semi-vegetarian this year, and it has been a fun challenge learning about new ingredients and meatless meals.
 Figure 4: Eric Englin (and dog, Magnus) at the National Mall. Credit: Volpe.
Contact: Eric Englin
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