Transportation Scholars

As the population of the United States continues to increase, so do transportation issues in national parks. The result is further strain on an agency already stretched by small budgets and overÐworked staff. The National Park Foundation’s Transportation Scholars program provides parks with transportation professionals for six to 12 months who assist in developing alternative transportation systems to help parks reduce traffic, congestion and pollution while improving park visitor experiences.

The Transportation Scholars program is designed to place transportation scholars, individuals with substantial knowledge and expertise in transportation planning and related areas.

The Transportation Scholars program is done in partnership with the National Park Service, Eno Transportation Foundation, Federal Highway Administration and the Paul S. Sarbanes Transit in Parks Technical Assistance Center.

Interested emerging professionals can now apply for the 2012 Transportation Scholars Program here: http://enotrans.com/ctl/course.php?course=2012-06-04-national-park-foundation-transportation-scholars-program

Applications Due: No later than February 17, 2012

2011 Projects

Arches National Park (ARCH) is experiencing rapidly increasing visitation and traffic congestion leading to routine overcrowding of popular park destinations. Immediately adjacent to most parking lots and trailheads are the sensitive natural and cultural resources the park was created to protect. ARCH is set to undertake an Alternative Transportation System and Congestion Management Study to examine strategies to manage traffic and prevent resource damage that results from parking on road shoulders and related social trailing, while also enhancing the visitor experience and promoting connectivity with the broader Moab recreational areas.

Scholar: Todd Johnson

The Transportation Scholar will complete two sequential, trail related tasks over twelve months.

First, the Scholar will conduct a critically needed traffic safety study of the Mount Vernon Trail, a heavily-used, paved, urban NPS trail within George Washington Memorial Parkway. The Scholar will improve ongoing efforts to measure traffic volumes and circulation patterns, initiate spot speed studies, organize a standard annual trail census in early September, and correlate results to a recently completed database of visitor injuries.

Second, the Scholar will compile existing data from the NPS National Capital Region’s Trail System (for all 15 parks) with a focus on connecting trails with neighboring communities and improving accessibility across the system. The Scholar will develop short and long-term recommendations to unite and define a proactive and inclusive NPS trails transit network across all jurisdictions in Washington, D.C., Virginia, Maryland, and West Virginia.

Scholar: Timothy Bevins

New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park

The park and the City of New Bedford have received $440,000 in funding to implement a new park shuttle to connect the various sites of interest in the park as a two-year pilot program. As a part of the implementation for this shuttle (targeted to be running in 2012), the park needs to develop a marketing strategy and an evaluation framework, which the scholar will be tasked with creating. Additionally, he will work on interpretive content to be featured on the shuttle.

Scholar: Steven Tupper

North Cascades National Park

Climate change presents multiple challenges to managers of protected areas due to the magnitude and variability of potential effects on ecosystems, recreational opportunities, and transportation systems. In Washington state, national parks and forests are working together to develop climate change adaptation strategies across large landscapes to protect natural, cultural, and socio-economic resources. The Transportation Scholar will work as a member of the North Cascadia Adaptation Partnership and the Olympic Adaptation Project to develop sustainable transportation alternatives for future warming climates.

Scholar: Christopher DeLorto

Harpers Ferry National Historical Park

Harpers Ferry NHP is one of several NPS parks that operate their own transit system. The Park's boundary has increased 33% over the last decade. The Park currently encompasses 3,646 acres in three states with an additional 1000 acres for future planned acquisition. The scholar will study the current transit system to determine if additional nodes (pick up and drop off points) and bus route expansion is needed to reach outlying areas of the park. The scholar will also explore a comparative analysis with other NPS park transit systems and associated costs as well as a possible value analysis to decide the most efficient alternatives. A final report will be drafted and printed with distribution throughout the service.

Scholar: Menasse Kumlachew

The Transportation Scholars program is important because it supports and promotes sustainable transportation solutions that help preserve park resources and enhance visitors’ experience. The program is designed to place transportation scholars, individuals with substantial knowledge and expertise in transportation planning and related areas, at a park site for six to 12 months to work on transportation related projects.