My interest in bicycle and pedestrian planning began not long after moving to Portland from a small farming community in rural Oregon. Accustomed to driving everywhere back home, I quickly realized the futility of continuing with that behavior in Portland. Within a few months I gave up. I sold my pickup and exchanged it for a used 10-spd—a lifestyle change that would lead to my interest in the field of planning.
In those first months of becoming a bicycle commuter I discovered bike lanes and bike boulevards and new ways to experience the city. I became a bicycle advocate and began volunteering with the BTA on their NE Bicycle Boulevards campaign. Later, while enrolled at Portland State University, I was employed by PSU Transportation Options to help improve the walking and bicycling conditions on campus for university students and staff. As a planner at Alta Planning + Design I strive to develop highly walkable and bikeable communities using the most effective and innovative methods available. Communities that will enable others to make the same choice I did—step out of their car and into their community.
Recent Projects
- NACTO Urban Bikeway Design Guide, US
The National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO) Urban Bikeway Design Guide was publicly released in March 9, 2011. The purpose of the Urban Bikeway Design Guide is to give member cities and the public the knowledge, references and design guidance necessary for the development of innovative bikeway facilities such as cycle tracks and bike boxes. The project focused mainly on treatments not found in the standard AASHTO and MUTCD guides. Drew extensively researched innovative bikeway designs from the US and abroad during the initial phases of the project. He collected, summarized, and assessed academic studies, planning documents, policy papers, engineering designs, and FHWA experimental treatments related to innovative bikeway designs. This archive served as the backbone for the project team’s initial design guidance on the first 22 treatments. - PBOT North Williams Traffic Operations Safety Project, Portland, OR
The City of Portland contracted with Alta to develop innovative bikeway solutions for arterial and collector streets that experience high volumes of bikeway traffic. One of these key corridors, North Williams Avenue, experiences some the highest ridership of any bikeway in the city—up to 3,000 daily riders. Drew focused on identifying the existing conditions, ridership behavior, and opportunities and constraints in a 2-mile study area. Drawing on his experience researching the NACTO Urban Bikeway Design Guide, he developed alternative roadway design concepts geared toward minimizing conflicts between different road users, including freight, transit, bicyclists, pedestrians, and motorists. These design concepts were then vetted through a series of public workshops and technical and stakeholder advisory committees to help determine the best solution for road users and the community. - Ashland Transportation System Plan, Ashland, OR
As a member of the project team working on an update to the Transportation System Plan for the City of Ashland, Drew contributed his GIS analysis and mapping skills. The project included a detailed analysis of the City’s roadways, sidewalks and existing bikeways to help determine potential new bikeway and pedestrian corridors. Throughout the City, these corridors were identified based on proximity to key destinations, the presence of facility gaps, the density of the existing network, and the potential for a roadway retrofit. In addition, research was conducted on shared street and green alley applications throughout the nation for their use in Ashland’s local context. The final plan included policy and facility recommendations with the goal of strengthening the existing active transportation network in the City. - Billings Area Bikeways and Trails Master Plan, Billings, MT
The intent of the Billings Bikeways and Trails Master plan was to help the City expand their existing on-street and off-street network in a manner consistent with the community’s needs and desires. As a member of the project team, Drew focused on assessing the existing conditions of Billings’ street network using Alta’s StreetPlan analysis to determine corridors where existing pavement width and lane configuration would allow on-street bikeways. He also analyzed bike counts at trail locations throughout the City and helped to identify new trail corridors and potential alignments.
Publications/Presentations
- Bike Corrals: Local Business Impacts, Benefits, and Attitudes, Portland State University School of Urban Planning, 2010.
Other Related Experience
- Alta Planning + Design Scholarship Recipient, Initiative for Bicycle and Pedestrian Innovation (IBPI), Portland State University 2009-10.
