LandPeople Joins Alta
 We're pleased to announce our merger with California based landscape architecture and planning firm LandPeople. Bruce "Randy" Anderson, California Licensed Landscape Architect and Certified Planner, founded LandPeople in 2000 and the firm has established itself as a premier open space, trails and parks planning consultant. Their projects have traditionally shared a common "green" theme of protecting or enhancing valued environmental and community resources, preventing or mitigating suburban sprawl, and providing alternatives to the automobile for transportation and recreation- a philosophy and approach mirroring that of Alta's.
After being friendly competitors in Northern California for years, Alta and LandPeople started collaborating on proposals and projects, recognizing shared values and complementary skills. This successful collaboration led to a decision to formally merge the two firms.
LandPeople brings a valuable set of experience to Alta with their team. Randy Anderson, MLA, has 30 years experience in public and private practice. For the past 15 years, Randy has focused primarily on trails, paths, and other accommodations for alternative transportation modes and on open space preservation and sustainable development. Roy Harju has been a GIS analyst for over 6 years, his responsibilities at LandPeople have included GIS and CAD mapping and analysis, research, planning, design, and project coordination. Carrie Wallace's prior experience includes residential zoning, residential planning and master planning in California and Ohio- she now conducts trail route studies and plans, alternative modes transportation studies and plans, and park, open space, trail and landscape improvement plans.
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| On the site of the Bodega Bay Bicycle and Pedestrian Trails Plan. LandPeople developed the conceptual plan and design for this the trail system. |
LandPeople will maintain its Benicia office and a separate identity as Alta/LandPeople. The advantage to LandPeople and their clients will be the wide pool of skills, experience and technical resources of Alta's local and nationwide staff. Alta will benefit from LandPeople's unique experience and skills. For more information about the Alta + LandPeople relationship and our combined effort on projects now and into the future, visit our website.
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Rails-to-Trails Conservancy Leads National
Campaign for Active Transportation Alta is a long time supporter of the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy. We're happy to bring you this exciting announcement from RTC's Laura Cohen:
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| Marin County Supervisor Steve Kinsey at the launch of the Active Transportation Campaign during the 2007 TrailLink conference in Portland, Oregon | Rails-to-Trails Conservancy (RTC) is mobilizing a nationwide effort - the 2010 Campaign for Active Transportation- empowering communities to advocate for an Active Transportation Program in the next federal transportation bill that will fund trails, biking and walking facilities and programs. RTC envisions a $2 billion program serving at least 40 communities, with $50 million per community over 6 years, to promote bicycling and walking for urban mobility, public health, convenient recreation, and a strategy to reduce congestion and greenhouse gas emissions.
The Campaign builds on the successful Nonmotorized Transportation Pilot Program, passed by Congress in 2005, which provided Marin County and three other locations around the country with $25 million for targeted non-motorized investments. On Monday, October 20, RTC will release its "Active Transportation for America" report to Congress, and more than 20 of our campaign partner cities and counties will also hold press events to release their local visions for how biking and walking investments can transform their communities. For more information about the 2010 Campaign for Active Transportation, go to: http://www.railstotrails.org/whatwedo/trailadvocacy/2010_detail.html
We hope you'll join us in supporting RTC in this very important campaign.
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Kids Crossing Streets Safely in Seattle After nearly a year of preparation, an exciting new program in Seattle has been launched. The Pedestrian Safety for Students program is a pilot program in Seattle Public Schools to teach elementary school children basic pedestrian safety skills and encourage them to walk more. The program, developed for the Seattle Department of Transportation in collaboration with Pacific Rim Resources, will reach every second-grade student at four pilot schools. Alta designed the in-school education program, which includes a simulated street for indoor practice, as well as a community walkabout to practice skills on real crossings near the school; the program is based on the successful Bicycle Transportation Alliance model.
Students learned about where and when to cross the street, how to figure out when it is safe to cross, and how to use their eyes, ears, and brain to help them make good decisions. The program is getting rave reviews from teachers, and SDOT hopes to be able to expand the program in the future to reach more children. The Seattle program is just one example of Alta's services for bicycle and pedestrian safety programs.
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| Program staff lead second-graders practicing a traffic safety song, learning to "stop every time at the edge of the street." |
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Revitalizing the Wissahickon Park Trail
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| Stone steps and a reduced tread width make this old road more enjoyable to hike. | As one of the largest urban parks in the country, Wissahickon Valley Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, sees extensive use by hikers, runners, equestrians, and mountain bicyclists. With over sixty miles of natural surface trails, much of it in need of repair, the non-profit Friends of the Wissahickon has embarked on an ambitious effort to fix the trail system to reduce erosion and improve the user experience.
With a looming deadline and rigorous design standards to implement, the prime contractor retained Alta Planning + Design to provide construction management on a complicated reconstruction project. An old road bed, in use as the main trail, was eroding and causing sedimentation into the adjacent namesake Wissahickon River. To lessen the trail grade within the existing corridor, Alta staff directed the installation of a series of stone terraces, utilizing the beautiful native rock of the area. Rock "chokes" were also used to narrow the tread and provide a more intimate trail experience. The resulting product was not only more sustainable, but more enjoyable for users.
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| The hillside in this area was completely rebuilt from a former quarry to support the new trail. |
Where the road was too steep to be improved, the trail was relocated through a small abandoned quarry, requiring significant slope reconstruction. Alta staff designed and managed the reconstruction effort, and in the process saved several significant trees, closed the old road bed, and "naturalized" the rebuilt slope to encourage native plant growth.
Alta Senior Associate Chris Berhardt took part in the reconstruction process through the start of October. In his own words, "For me, the best part about this project was the positive comments we received from the trail users. Every day at least a dozen people would walk or bike by the site and thank us for the work we were doing to make their park a better place. It is personally and professionally satisfying to build beautiful trails that people enjoy on a daily basis." Learn more about Alta's experience with trail planning, design, and construction on our website.
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Alta Awarded Bicycle Friendly Business Gold Recognition  In September the League of American Bicyclists launched its Bicycle Friendly Businesses program at Interbike and announced their first round of winners. Alta is among the Gold ranked winning companies this year. "The Bicycle Friendly Business program assists companies and organizations of all sizes in developing bicycle commuting programs and incentives for their employees and recognizes them for their efforts to promote bicycling," says BAC. Many of Alta's employees are bike commuters as well as bicycle advocates and enthusiasts in our spare time (see our staff page for more details). Case in point, the Portland office ranked third among the metro area's large number of firms competing in this year's Bike Commute Challenge. Alta has a competitive bike and fitness related benefit program to promote alternate transportation and an active daily life. We're honored to be among the country's top bicycle friendly businesses. For more information about the LAB's program and the list of this round's winners, visit the LAB Bicycle Friendly Business site.
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New Employees and OfficesAlta has continued to grow since the last Alta Update. New members have joined our team and LandPeople becomes our 10th office nationwide.
Below are employees listed by office location that have not been previously introduced in the Alta Update. Click on a link to find out more about them on their staff page on altaplanning.com.
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Alta/LandPeople |
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Carlsbad Pedestrian Plan Earns Environmental Quality Recognition The California Attorney General has identified the City of Carlsbad's Pedestrian Master Plan as a leading example of innovative strategy to help fight against global warming. Check out the "That's Cool!" sidebar on the California Environmental Quality Act page. Alta's San Diego office has been working with the City of Carlsbad to develop pedestrian improvements in an effort to increase opportunities to choose walking as a mode of transportation- find out more about the project on the project website.
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