Great article! I took my transportation professor for granted when I had him because he was one that taught us the psychology of drivers, encouraged as narrow a lane width as possible, and forced us to think about the complete street and thinking about every user and not just drivers. How should a young engineer such as myself (with no P.E. yet) approach trying to encourage older engineers to think and design this way? I feel like the profession is shifting, but most of the older P.E.'s in charge don't want to change!
I used to think age was the reason for resisting change, but learned over time it's a human nature & industry-induced thing. There was a time when we Gen Xers were told the Millennials were going to be the agents of land use & transportation change. Didn't happen.
My suggestion to encourage others around the office is ask Why questions from a place of genuine curiosity. Assume they have best intentions and know things you don't. Be prepared to learn and be prepared to hear "that's just the way it's done."
e.g. "AASHTO says 10 feet is an acceptable lane width. Why do our plans show 12?"
That is definitely an answer I have gotten before, but there have also been times when there was actually just some other constraint I didn't know of and learned something. Thanks for the advice!
Great article! I took my transportation professor for granted when I had him because he was one that taught us the psychology of drivers, encouraged as narrow a lane width as possible, and forced us to think about the complete street and thinking about every user and not just drivers. How should a young engineer such as myself (with no P.E. yet) approach trying to encourage older engineers to think and design this way? I feel like the profession is shifting, but most of the older P.E.'s in charge don't want to change!
Thanks Derek. Sounds like a great prof. :)
I used to think age was the reason for resisting change, but learned over time it's a human nature & industry-induced thing. There was a time when we Gen Xers were told the Millennials were going to be the agents of land use & transportation change. Didn't happen.
My suggestion to encourage others around the office is ask Why questions from a place of genuine curiosity. Assume they have best intentions and know things you don't. Be prepared to learn and be prepared to hear "that's just the way it's done."
e.g. "AASHTO says 10 feet is an acceptable lane width. Why do our plans show 12?"
He was a great prof!
That is definitely an answer I have gotten before, but there have also been times when there was actually just some other constraint I didn't know of and learned something. Thanks for the advice!
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Gr7vnmnwur3IN0HV7F8WU3_4SF1YaTQQ/view?usp=drivesdk
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMfNAGP-iqfhSodZr8JiSf3PlVNbPeP0m
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMfNAGP-iqfiZtumbPzkIUyndNiGewLmt
Great write up! It’s all true!!
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMfNAGP-iqfiXKag2SIgr6--a3ZPk0rIt