Use of Cellular Data Earns National Transportation Planning Award

Stantec Consulting Services Inc. and the Tahoe Transportation District have been recognized with a Gold National Planning Achievement Award for Transportation Planning by the American Planning Association (APA). The award recognizes Mobility Planning on the Cellular Level, an initiative that used cellular data to understand visitor trips and develop recommendations to reduce congestion and increase transit mode share during Lake Tahoe’s busiest tourism seasons.

“Using cell phone data revealed information we simply couldn’t have found the traditional way,” said Cynthia Albright, AICP CUD, GISP, principal at Stantec. “We’re honored to receive the Transportation Planning award for this important project, and we look forward to the implementation of our multimodal recommendations to improve travel experiences for visitors to the Lake Tahoe Region.”

To help Lake Tahoe officials understand how traffic congestion from visitors affected the environment, planners created a comprehensive multimodal transportation implementation plan using cell phone data to show trip origins and destinations for several groups of travelers. The data revealed that the region received more than 10 million annual visitor vehicles on its rural roadway system, 2.5 times previous visitation estimates.

“Tracking visitation is important because more than 70 percent of the particulates impacting Lake Tahoe’s clarity come from the transportation system and built environment,” said Carl Hasty, district manager, Tahoe Transportation District. “Accurate visitation numbers give us a clearer picture of the demands on our transportation infrastructure, which helps inform region-wide transportation planning and identify funding gaps.”

After correlating the most popular destinations to transit ridership, planners recommended system-wide improvements to achieve 20 percent transit mode share in 20 years. Expanding transportation options and enticing more people to utilize alternate means of transportation, such as public transit, walking, and cycling is critical to preserving the pristine beauty that makes Lake Tahoe a national treasure, improving the Tahoe experience for visitors and ensuring safety for all.

“The jury was impressed by the coordination among multiple jurisdictions and extensive public outreach,” said Wendy Shabay, AICP, 2019 awards jury chair. “Good planning is best accomplished when communities work together.”

Each year, APA recognizes outstanding efforts in planning and leadership through its National Planning Excellence and Achievement Awards. The two-tier awards are selected through a juried process. Excellence Award recipients are the highest honor, and Achievement Awards recognize accomplishments in areas of specialization within the planning profession. The awards have recognized outstanding community plans, planning programs and initiatives, public education efforts, and individuals for their leadership on planning issues for more than 50 years.

Stantec’s Mobility Planning on the Cellular Level nomination is being recognized along with all the 2019 National Planning Award recipients at a special luncheon during APA’s National Planning Conference in San Francisco on April 15, 2019. Award recipients will also be featured in the May issue of Planning magazine.