Louis Berger’s staff has extensive urban transport experience with projects ranged across the globe, from Europe and Asia to the Americas. Berger has employed innovative modeling, planning, and training techniques in major U.S., European and Asian cities. Berger brings to the field of urban traffic and transportation planning extensive experience in all facets of urban planning: traffic studies, home interviews, origin-destination and traffic line surveys, transport economics, public transit and bus operations, urban modeling and simulation, and urban transport and related facilities - planning, design, and construction management.
Sophisticated procedures for evaluating urban congestion
Prior to the development of the Berger urban transport planning systems, urban transport and traffic planning generally only responded to the needs of developed nations of North America and Western Europe. Urban transport planning and analysis as applied in these countries focused primarily on measuring the travel time for urban residents. Recognizing that such techniques are not entirely applicable to emerging countries, Berger pioneered the development of highly sophisticated procedures for evaluating urban transport congestion costs and measuring the impact of such congestion on vehicle operating costs and related economic activity in urban areas. These procedures provided methods for applying the traditional benefit-cost analytic framework to urban planning, in general, and urban transport, in particular.
Computerised planning models
Louis Berger has pioneered the development and application of sophisticated computerized urban transport planning models that simulate complex urban transport movements and alternatives. These models facilitate the evaluation of a wide range of potential urban capital investment programs, as well as the impact of improvements in public and mass transit. The planning models have also been applied to the evaluation of policies and programs designed to improve urban transport movements, including improved parking, restriction of private vehicles, development of improved traffic circulation, and changes in licensing fees and regulations.
The urban planning models developed by Berger allow analysts to measure the impact of such improvements on overall urban transport network efficiency as well as to evaluate economic benefits to be derived from such investments on program and policy improvements. Modeling tools have ranged from simple spreadsheet analyses of vehicle operating cost impacts to sophisticated computer software systems such as EMME-2. Berger has also modified the U.S. Department of Transportation's Urban Transport Planning System and UMTP UTPS Package, which, has been refined so that it is applicable to PCs. These models are presently in use by Berger in several projects, and have been used in a wide range of urban transport planning assignments throughout the world.