Nazir Lalani, principal engineer for Ventura County, Calif., Public Works Agency, Transportation Department, has been devoted to transportation engineering for the past 27 years.
Recognized at the Institute of Transportation Engineers Annual Meeting & Exhibition as the winner of the 2001 Burton W. Marsh Award for Distinguished Service, Lalani?s profound dedication to his profession not only symbolizes years of hard work, it also represents the desire for excellence from both a personal and professional standpoint.
Shortly after being presented the Marsh Award, Transportation Management + Engineering asked Lalani to take time out of his schedule to answer a few questions in order to uncover the roots behind his successful career as a transportation engineer.
Nazir Lalani is Transportation Management + Engineering?s Industry Icon.
Why did you choose a career in the field of transportation engineering?
Actually, it sort of chose me. I graduated from Exeter University, Devon, England, in 1971 with a first class honors degree in chemical engineering. At that time, Britain was in a major economic slump and I ended up working for the patent writing department of a company called Ozalid that manufactured photocopy and blueprint paper.
One day in 1973, while conducting research at the British Patent Office in Chancery Lane in Central London, I was reviewing an article in a technical magazine when I saw an ad by the Greater London Council (GLC), now the Greater London Authority, recruiting engineers of any background. The ad did not say what kind of work the position would entail, so I assumed that the GLC was looking for entry-level engineers to fill a variety of positions in their 30,000-strong work force.
A year after I had submitted my application, I received a brief letter inviting me to an interview in a large complex of buildings known as County Hall on the south bank of the River Thames. I could not recall what the job was about, so when the first of the three interviewers asked me to cover my background, I kept my remarks very general. However, when the second member of the panel asked how my chemical engineering qualifications would relate to traffic engineering, I responded about being trained to calculate the capacity of drainage channels or pipe networks and how this related to street capacity and roadway networks. Well, I must have impressed the panel enough because I was hired to work in the Road Safety Unit to help reduce collisions on the major street system of the greater London area.
What do you find most appealing about transportation engineering and why?
Working with people. I?ve found transportation engineering to be very much about people and once I started working in this field I quickly realized that working to improve the transportation systems of the world was my true calling. I find it very satisfying to see a project constructed and congestion levels reduced or synchronizing traffic signals to improve travel times for the motoring public.
What do you find most unappealing?
Unrealistic expectations. Having worked in the public sector for a variety of regional and local agencies, it seems as though members of the community are rarely aware of severe funding and other constraints under which most public agencies operate. There is an expectation that projects can and should be constructed in half the time it normally takes. The complexities of delivering a project under the regulatory environment that prevails today is not very well understood unless you work in such fields as transportation and civil engineering. It is equally frustrating to me to not be able to respond quickly to a citizen?s request, especially when it is a valid concern that affects people?s quality of life in their own community.
If there were anything you could change in the last 27 years working as transportation engineer, what would it be?
More emphasis on serving the needs of pedestrians and bicyclists. The World Bank has indicated that the majority of traffic-related deaths annually, throughout all the nations of the world as a whole, involved pedestrians and bicyclists. This trend has to be reversed. The only way to do so is for the transportation community to better understand the needs of non-motorized forms of transportation and to design facilities that will reduce the number of fatalities involving pedestrians and bicyclists.
What is your crowning achievement as a transportation engineer?
Improving traffic safety. While working for several cities and counties over the past 20 years, as well as the Greater London Council, I initiated or improved Traffic Safety Programs designed to reduce traffic-related collisions by identifying locations that had high rates, identifying correctable patterns and implementing remedial measures. Each and every agency saw marked reductions in annual community-wide collisions, and in some cases as high as 60%. I included in these safety programs an educational component through the development of a comprehensive set of information brochures that citizens could use to obtain useful information about a variety of traffic engineering inquiries. At least 1,000 cities, counties and regional departments of transportation in the U.S. and other countries have now used these brochures to develop their own series.
I also have had the opportunity to teach traffic engineering to over 1,000 professionals working in the U.S. through the University of California, Berkeley?s Institute of Transportation Studies programs.
Over the course of your entire career, what has been the toughest assignment you?ve taken on and why?
A controversial development project. In 1988, the owner of a declining shopping mall in the jurisdiction for which I worked as the city transportation engineer at the time decided to completely redesign, rebuild and expand this facility. This redevelopment project was needed in order to have a viable mall that could survive and be profitable for the next 50 years. The controversial aspect of the project involved relocating two major anchor tenants from a similar shopping mall in a nearby city that ultimately led to its demise. The nearby city did not take too kindly to the idea of losing a major sales tax generator and filed suits against the city and the developer. The biggest legal challenge asserted that an inadequate traffic impact analysis had been prepared by the developers? engineers and subsequently approved by the city. This protracted legal battle lasted 10 years and involved courts at the highest levels. It dominated my professional life because of my role as the technical expert advising the attorneys involved in defending the project in the courts.
Ultimately, the traffic study withstood all challenges, the shopping center upgrade project was completed in 1999 and traffic around the revamped and expanded mall flows as planned.
Is there any advice you would offer for those who may be in the early stages of their career as a transportation engineer?
Become involved in volunteer activities. In response to receiving the 2001 Burton W. Marsh Award, I was asked by the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) to write an article for the October 2001 issue of the ITE Journal. The title of the article, "Being an Effective Volunteer in ITE," is aimed at engaging the interest of all transportation professionals who are in the early stages of their career. The information is designed to also be of assistance to those who may be contemplating a career in the transportation field by providing the reader information that he or she will find immediately useful and readily applicable. I hope that by reading the article, some of our younger transportation professionals will be motivated to volunteer their time and become involved. I found that doing so allowed me to establish a valuable network of professional relationships and always be on the leading edge of technical innovation.
What role did ITE play in your career?
From the very beginning, ITE was a major part of my life. After joining ITE in 1979, shortly after moving to the U.S. from Britain, it was immediately apparent to me that the best way to acquire experience and knowledge about transportation engineering practices in the U.S. was to become an active member of ITE. This involved researching and writing articles, speaking at conferences and participating in technical committees producing technical documents. This turned out to be exactly the right approach to advance my professional career.
There were a lot of benefits and I have mentioned some of them here: enhanced professional reputation and recognition; expanded horizons; career opportunities; mentoring; research and teaching. Eventually, my ITE activities also led to my being elected to the highest levels of leadership in ITE, which has helped to shape our projects, programs and services for the past 15 years.
Currently, what projects are you involved in with regards to ITE?
Several different ones. In 1999, while serving as ITE?s international president, the board of directors asked me to assemble and lead a Pedestrian and Bicycle Task Force that would generate better technical guidance for our members, the professional working in that specialty area. The task force conducted a survey to find out where it should focus its efforts. This information was used to produce articles for the ITE Journal, develop technical seminars and technical sessions at ITE conferences and meetings.
However, the biggest project the task force completed was the publication of a report that was released recently titled "Alternative Treatments for At-Grade Pedestrian Crossings." This informational report assembles in a single document, a comprehensive summary of studies on pedestrian crossing safety and guidelines for installing pedestrian crossings. The report also covers over 70 treatments currently in use by local agencies in the U.S., Canada, Europe, New Zealand and Australia to improve pedestrian crossing safety at locations where marked crosswalks are provided. The task force has now become one of a number of specialty councils that ITE has formed over the years to address specific areas of interest of our members.
David Noyce of the University of Massachusetts will head this new Pedestrian and Bicycle Council.
Starting this month, I will be chairing the Public Agency Council that concentrates its efforts on public policy issues and how best to address the growing complexities that public agencies face as they try to meet the ever growing demands on the world?s transportation systems.
In terms of your career, what do you expect of yourself in the next few years?
A combination of pubic sector work, consulting, teaching and ITE activities. In 1999, I became a principal engineer in the Ventura County Transportation Department in charge of the division that oversees traffic engineering, transportation planning, permits and public transportation.
I am thoroughly enjoying the change of pace from being a city traffic engineer for most of my career. The work is varied and involves projects and challenges that are new to me. For example, the county is developing formal agreements with all the cities in Ventura County to put in place mechanisms for mitigating development-related impacts on the regional road network. This is an ambitious undertaking and a unique approach. I hope to continue working for the county for several more years as I continue to expand my consulting work both as an expert witness and teaming up with firms who need my expertise on specific projects. I would very much like to become more involved in developing better pedestrian and bicycle facilities.
In your opinion, what do you envision the industry will be like in the next year, five, 10 and 25 years?
Very different from what it is today. I think we have not seen the true impact of emerging technological advances on the transportation industry. As global communications continue to improve and computers continue to revolutionize the work place, we will see some changes in travel demand patterns. The mix of trip purposes will become more complex as, for example, people develop the ability to work in remote locations. The emphasis will shift from capacity enhancing projects to those using technology to better manage transportation demand patterns and the overall efficiency and safety of existing facilities. Transportation systems management and operations is a key emphasis area for ITE, and we see this as being a critical issue for the foreseeable future.
I am also working towards improving the diversity of the transportation community by encouraging more women and minorities to select the same field that I chose for my own career. ITE is a very diverse organization that provides opportunities for each and every transportation professional and welcomes everyone?s participation, regardless of race or gender.
In 25 years, I hope that ?diversity? will be an obsolete concept because the ?majority? will be a blend of all the ?minorities? of today.
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