Michael N. Aronson, P.E.
Principal

Michael Aronson has over 20 years of experience in all aspects of transportation planning and traffic operations analysis. He specializes in producing consistent and defensible results from complex transportation planning processes, and clearly explaining those results in presentations and training programs.

Professional Registration
Civil Engineer - California

Professional Societies & Associations
Institute of Transportation Engineers
Women’s Transportation Seminar

Professional Experience
General and Specific Plans – He was project manager for circulation elements of General Plan Amendment and Specific Plan studies for Menlo Park, Danville, Mountain View Whisman Area Plan, Douglas County (Nevada), Santa Nella (Merced County), Eastern Dublin, West Sacramento Triangle, Dougherty Valley (San Ramon), and North Concord Annexation. He managed the Mobility Study for the Menlo Park Smart Growth program and the subsequent Land Use and Circulation Study, including extensive survey research, alternatives analysis, and facilitation at presentations and public workshops. Mr. Aronson was project manager for the Mountain View citywide model development and traffic forecasts. He developed citywide traffic forecasts and circulation requirements for General Plan studies in San Ramon, Fairfield, Morgan Hill, Woodland, and Redlands.

Alternatives Analysis/Corridor Studies – Mr. Aronson managed travel forecasting and traffic operations tasks for the Santa Clara VTA Southern Gateway Study, Santa Clara County Expressway Study, and the Route 4 Major Investment Study in Pittsburg and Antioch, which included local revalidation and application of the MTC model to forecast ridership for BART extension alternatives. He was also project manager for State Route 152 corridor traffic forecasts for Caltrans, which evaluated 30 different combinations of roadway alignments and development patterns. He managed travel forecasting for the Caltrans Route 102 Initial Feasibility Study in the Sacramento area and was project engineer for the SACOG US 50 HOV Study, the SACOG/MTC I-80 Corridor Study, and the I-280 Transfer Concept Program in San Francisco.

Travel Demand Models - He developed and adapted numerous travel forecasting computer models for local and regional areas. Software packages include Cube/TP+/Viper, MINUTP, EMME/2, TRANPLAN, TMODEL and TRAFFIX. He is managing the development of the Mountain View model using Cube/TP+ and based on the MTC model framework. He managed the 2000 to 2003 updates of the Fresno County TP+ model to include mode choice and was technical manager for many portions of the California Statewide Model using TP+ (2002). Mr. Aronson has provided technical inputs on survey analysis and travel demand for the AMBAG TransCAD model and on network coding and capacity procedures for the Santa Barabara TransCAD model (2001-2003). MINUTP models include development of the San Joaquin County regional mode choice model (1993); update and expansion of the AMBAG regional model to include Santa Clara County (1996 to 2000); Fresno County (1994); Tulare County (1995); Sacramento multi-modal regional model for Regional Transit and SACOG (1989 to 1994); and the cities of Mountain View (1991), Morgan Hill (1998), Woodland (1988) and San Luis Obispo (1990). TRANPLAN models include update and enhancement of the Santa Clara County model (1998), replication of the MTC model for the BART Livermore-Pleasanton extension (1989); Douglas County, Nevada (1993); and the cities of Sunnyvale (2002), Menlo Park (1999), Morgan Hill (1988), San Ramon (1991), Dublin (1990), Fairfield (1987), Redlands (1994), Santa Clarita (1993), Lancaster (1993) and Palmdale (1994). He adapted regional EMME/2 models to provide local detail in South San Francisco (1999), Danville (1998), Oakland (1999) and east Contra Costa County (1998). Mr. Aronson developed TMODEL applications for the City of Campbell (1992) and San Luis Obispo County (1989).

Training Programs - Mr. Aronson developed and led training programs in travel forecasting, forecasting software, traffic impact analysis and computer basics. Clients include Caltrans Headquarters and Districts 2, 3, 4 and 6; Oregon Department of Transportation; Sacramento Regional Transit; Bay Area Air Quality Management District; Council of Fresno County Governments; Calaveras County, Tulare County, El Dorado County; researchers at the University of California, Davis; and city staff in Mountain View, San Luis Obispo, Campbell, Salinas and Suisun City. He prepared detailed step-by-step user manuals and provided on-call consultation.

Transit - Mr. Aronson managed ridership forecasting tasks for automated guideway transit and bus connections between BART and the Oakland Airport, including development of a focused mode choice model that was reviewed by FTA. He developed and applied a focused mode choice model to evaluate transit access alternatives for San Jose International Airport, including automated guideway transit and BART extensions. He also developed a ridership forecasting methodology for “Smart Shuttles” for the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) based on the updated SCAG mode choice model. He managed travel forecasting for the Sacramento Regional Transit Auburn-Greenback light-rail extension study. He was also project engineer for patronage, revenue and operation cost analyses for several studies for the Livermore-Pleasanton BART extension and for San Francisco MUNI bus service extensions to Mission Bay. Mr. Aronson developed patronage estimates for the extension of Caltrain commuter rail service to downtown San Francisco and for the MUNI Metro extension to China Basin.

Traffic Operations - Task manager for freeway corridor operations analysis of I-238, I-580, and I-880 in Alameda County using Caltrans Newman methods. He managed technical work for a study of light rail signal prioritization for The Embarcadero in San Francisco. He evaluated signal coordination strategies for closely spaced intersections at several freeway interchanges using TRANSYT-7F and Synchro. Mr. Aronson also developed spreadsheet-based tools for several intersection capacity analysis methods.

Development Master Plans - He was project manager for circulation and master plan studies for the West Sacramento Triangle, Children's Hospital in Oakland and Chevron Park in San Ramon. He was project engineer for extensive access, circulation and impact studies of Mission Bay in San Francisco and Kaiser Center in Oakland. The Master Plan work included site planning; evaluation of master plan alternatives; traffic and transit forecasts; and preparation of Environmental Impact Report (EIR) material.

Surveys – He conducted extensive analysis of home interview surveys from the 2001 and 1991 Statewide Travel Surveys and the United States Census for the Caltrans Statewide Model and model development studies in Fresno County and Tulare County. As project manager for the Menlo Park Smart Growth Mobility study, Mr. Aronson managed and analyzed pedestrian interview surveys, vehicle intercept surveys, telephone interview surveys, and detailed two-day household activity travel diary surveys. He also served as project manager for the Santa Clara County 1996 CMP Monitoring report, including extensive analysis of floating car travel time survey data on all county freeways, and the Alameda County 1998 and 2000 CMP Monitoring studies. He managed analysis of origin-destination surveys from 40 roadside locations for the Oregon Department of Transportation. He was project manager for roadside origin-destination surveys in central Campbell.

Traffic Impact Studies - Mr. Aronson has served as project manager for many traffic studies in support of environmental documentation. As a consultant to San Joaquin County, he evaluated and compared multiple traffic studies of various quarry operations. He prepared traffic impact studies for office buildings, retail developments, housing projects, hotels, medical facilities and landfills. Study locations include San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose, Emeryville, Mountain View, Santa Clara, Daly City, South San Francisco, Novato, Walnut Creek, Pleasant Hill, Danville, San Ramon, Livermore, Napa, Sacramento, Lake Tahoe and Bellevue, Washington.

Caltrans Project Study Reports/Project Reports - He was the project manager for traffic forecasts and traffic operations analysis for PSRs and PRs for over ten highway widening and interchange improvement projects. These studies considered traffic forecasts; traffic operations on mainline freeways, ramps, weaving sections and intersections; and included extensive coordination with Caltrans and design consultants. Project locations include Alameda County and San Mateo County (District 4), Stockton, Lodi and Merced County (District 10) and Sacramento County (District 3). He provided traffic forecasts for Caltrans studies of the Prunedale Bypass in Monterey County.

Parking Studies - Mr. Aronson was project engineer for parking demand studies in Mountain View, Walnut Creek, Daly City, San Rafael and the Ferry Building in San Francisco. He evaluated parking entrance and exit operations for special events (Anaheim Stadium and the Solano County Fair) and office/retail developments.

Education
M.S., Transportation Planning, University of California, Berkeley (1982)
B.S., Civil Engineering, Cornell University (1981)