Many years ago, I decided not to drive regularly - I wanted to get the exercise, save the money, and simplify my life by walking, biking, using public transit, and carpooling. I am very fortunate that I live and work in a city where that is a possible and even practical decision. I am even luckier to have the opportunity to work with other cities and regions to provide those alternatives and choices for residents.
Hannah Kapell joined Alta in June 2008, after a two-year internship. She brings strong skills in technical and analytical research, writing with a variety of transportation projects and studies. She also has strong skills in statistical analysis, data collection, geographic information systems (GIS), and transportation demand modeling. Hannah has experience collecting and analyzing survey data for the Safe Routes to School Program in Portland, Oregon and for the San Francisco Cycling Report Card.
Recent Projects
- Victoria Capital Regional District Pedestrian and Cycling Master Plan, British Columbia
Hannah is developing a Master Plan for the Victoria, BC Metropolitan Planning Organization, focusing on the development of a comprehensive toolkit of design guidelines, which integrates existing guidelines and standards of 13 municipalities, Canadian government, and Province of British Columbia. The design guidelines also provide best practices from the U.S., as well as other countries and cities throughout the world. They address pedestrian accessibility, on-street bikeways ranging from queuing streets to cycle tracks and a variety of bike lane treatments, bicycle parking, transit integration, off-street trails, signage, and many other elements. - Tacoma Strategic Mobility Master Plan, WA
Hannah assisted in developing a Mobility Master Plan for a comprehensive citywide network of bikeways and pedestrian walkways. Primary goals of the network design were to enhance the comfort and safety of all users and to increase the non-motorized mode split. The plan involved a series of analyses to optimize network recommendations, including gap analysis, bikeway quality index (BQI), pedestrian quality index (PQI), cycle zones analysis (CZA), and StreetPlan. Hannah also assisted with an intensive public outreach plan for the project, including meetings in several locations throughout the City of Tacoma at key points in the development of the plan. - Inverness Bicycle Friendly Community Audit and Application, FL
Hannah assisted in preparing a Bicycle Friendly Community Audit and completing the Bicycle Friendly Community application for the City of Inverness. Based on existing conditions in Inverness, Alta made recommendations for prioritizing infrastructure, programmatic and policy improvements to enhance the bicycling environment in the city while conserving financial resources. - SW Gibbs Street Pedestrian Bridge (OR)
The SW Gibbs Street Pedestrian Bridge connects the historic South Portland Neighborhood and new South Waterfront developments on the Willamette River in Portland, Oregon. Hannah developed a travel demand model to predict the number of bicycle and walking trips over the bridge, both when it is scheduled to be built and forecasted to 2035. Learn more about the Gibbs Street Bridge in this article. - Ada County Highway Division Roadways to Bikeways Bicycle Master Plan, ID
Hannah contributed to writing and editing the overview of existing conditions, user needs assessment (including bicycle counts and surveys), the identification of a recommended bikeway system, the creation of comprehensive design guidelines, and education and outreach strategies. In addition, the final plan identified priority projects and likely funding sources for those projects. - San Francisco Cycling Report Card, CA
Alta conducted a survey of 800 people in San Francisco to determine the number of daily bicycle trips and characteristics and perceptions of frequent cyclists and infrequent cyclists in the city. Hannah conducted a statistical data analysis of the data collected, including a correlations analysis and a binomial logit model.
Other Related Experience
- Oregon Transportation Research and Education Consortium (OTREC) Scholar, 2006-2007 and 2007-2008
Presentations
- Kapell, H. and Dill, J., "Factors Affecting Walking and Bicycling to Elementary School: Urban form, parental attitudes, and school characteristics." Transportation Research Board, 87th Annual Meeting, Washington, D.C., January 2008.
