by Willson S. McBurney, ASLA

The Transportation Research Board’s Standing Committee on Landscape and Environmental Design (AKD40) will hold our mid-year meeting June 26-29, 2022, at the Schoodic Institute at Acadia National Park in Winter Harbor, Maine. Registration is now open!

All Committee members and friends are encouraged to attend the AKD40 2022 Mid-Year Workshop. The Schoodic Institute is about 1.25 hours from Bangor, 3.5 hours from Portland, and 5.5 hours from Boston.

We will conduct Committee business and will learn of the region’s rich transportation history and current best practices from the area’s transportation leaders. Tuesday’s learning sessions will focus on Coastal Maine’s transportation infrastructure needs and the resulting multimodal solutions that are satisfying the needs of Acadia National Park and the Bold Coast. Tours of the new transportation system at Acadia National Park, the Schoodic Byway, and local complete streets projects are anticipated.

The Committee will complete current TRB assignments and work products to prepare for the January 2023 Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C.

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by Willson S. McBurney, ASLA, PLA

News from the Transportation Research Board’s Standing Committee on Landscape and Environmental Design

The Transportation Research Board (TRB) and the Standing Committee on Landscape and Environmental Design (AKD40) are hosting a webinar this month that will focus on compost-based best management practices on highway roadsides. Committee member Jack Broadbent with Caltrans and our presenters will discuss how these practices advance roadside revegetation, control erosion, reduce runoff, filter stormwater, and improve stormwater quality. They will also introduce practical tools and innovative methods to enhance water quality and roadside vegetation.

TRB Webinar: Compost It! Environmental Benefits of Compost in Highway Roadsides
Wednesday, June 23, 2021
2:00-3:30 p.m. (Eastern)

This webinar was organized by the TRB Committee on Landscape and Environmental Design with support from the Environmental Analysis and Ecology Committee (AEP70) and the Roadside Maintenance Operations Committee (AKR20).

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by Willson S. McBurney, ASLA, PLA

Call for Posters: 99th TRB Annual Meeting
January 12-16, 2020
Washington, D.C.
AFB40 abstract submission deadline: September 16, 2019

The Transportation Research Board (TRB) Standing Committee on Landscape and Environmental Design (AFB40) invites submissions of your work as part of a landscape and environmental design poster session at TRB’s Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C. in January 2020.

Please submit your abstract for consideration for presentation at the TRB Annual Meeting’s Landscape and Environmental Design (AFB40) poster session. Topics that emphasize the following as they relate to transportation and environmental design are a priority for AFB40:

• Energy and sustainability—design, policies, and practices to protect the planet.
• Policy needs related to the built environment that should be developed prior to full adoption of autonomous vehicle technology.
• Resilience and security—preparing for floods, fires, storms, and sea level rise.
• Transformational technologies that will change how transportation environments should be retrofitted or rebuilt.
• Design to serve growing and shifting populations.

AFB40 also welcomes completed and on-going projects from broad landscape and environmental design areas such as Green Streets, roadsides for pollinators, Complete Streets, transportation design impacts on Main Streets, landscape design to safeguard the public, and art in transportation, as they relate to the scope of this committee. More information on AFB40 can be found on the committee’s website.

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by Willson S. McBurney, RLA, ASLA

Save the Date: September 16-20, 2018
Rockwall, Texas (near Dallas)

The Transportation Research Board (TRB) Committee on Landscape and Environmental Design (AFB40) will be holding our mid-year business meeting in conjunction with the National Safety Rest Area Conference (NSRAC). NSRAC is a valued program of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Subcommittee on Maintenance. This conference is the premier venue for public rest area planners and landscape architects, public welcome center managers, rest area program managers, facilities maintenance staff, contractors, vendors, and transportation officials from across the United States and Canada to meet and learn best practices. AFB40 is participating in the agenda development so that conference content is pertinent to the mission of the committee.

The committee will be completing current TRB assignments and work products to prepare for the January 2019 Annual Meeting in Washington D.C. and will have an excellent opportunity to meet and confer with transportation professionals involved in roadside design from around the nation.

Here is the conference schedule:

September 16: AFB40 members arrive
September 17: AFB40 business meeting, evening reception for all attendees
September 18: Conference Learning Sessions
September 19: AFB40 business meeting in the morning; conference tours in the afternoon
September 20: Conference Learning Sessions

Stay tuned to our website for more information on the final agenda, lodging, and registration.

Willson S. McBurney, RLA, ASLA, is a Senior Landscape Architect at SNC-Lavalin| Atkins and a Transportation Professional Practice Network (PPN) Officer.