Bowlby & Associates, Inc.

PRESIDENT
Dr. William Bowlby, P.E.

His experience includes over three years with the New York State Department of Transportation, nearly five years with the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and 16 years with Vanderbilt University. He left Vanderbilt in September 1997 to devote his full time and attention to Bowlby & Associates, which he formed after ten years as an independent consultant while at the University.  Dr. Bowlby has also been active in mobile source air quality for over fifteen years, focusing on highway and airport emissions inventories and EIS-related dispersion modeling.

Dr. Bowlby has been principal engineer or key team member on transportation noise studies for many major and often controversial projects. In the last five years, noise study clients have included Tennessee DOT, New Jersey DOT, Maryland State Highway Administration (SHA), New York State DOT, Ohio DOT, Michigan DOT, Mississippi DOT, Alabama DOT, Washington State DOT, Louisiana DOTD, Illinois State Toll Highway Authority, St. Louis BiState Development Agency (light rail), CSX (rail yards), Puget Sound Regional Council (aircraft noise), and the National Park Service (traffic, snowmobile, aircraft and other noise sources).

Under his direction, Bowlby & Associates was asked by the Tennessee DOT to compare prior FHWA STAMINA 2.0/OPTIMA noise barrier designs to those using the new FHWA Traffic Noise Model (TNM), and to review the TDOT Noise Policy.  Dr. Bowlby was also asked by the Maryland SHA to review its Noise Technical Program and brief the State Highway Administrator.  Maryland SHA also asked Bowlby & Associates to assist on a controversial noise barrier design for I-695 in Baltimore, involving model calibration for STAMINA 2.0.  As part of that work, Dr. Bowlby co-led a highly charged public meeting with the State Highway Administrator that was attended by the Maryland Secretary of Transportation.

Dr. Bowlby was recently asked by the City of Alexandria, Virginia, to lead a comprehensive review and evaluation of the noise abatement plans for Alexandria as part of the Woodrow Wilson Bridge Reconstruction Project.  The result was numerous recommendations to the the City Council and Mayor, the Woodrow Wilson Bridge Citizen Task Force, and Virginia DOT.

Dr. Bowlby also directs a number of multi-year, task order term agreements for noise work. The firm has the lead on agreements with USDOT and Indiana DOT, and is teamed with several firms for noise work with Maryland SHA, New York State DOT, Illinois State Toll Highway Authority, and National Park Service.

Both while at Vanderbilt and Bowlby & Associates, Dr. Bowlby was very active in the development and  evaluation of the FHWA Traffic Noise Model.  At Vanderbilt, he was a lead investigator for the USDOT study that developed recommendations for TNM’s features.  Then, on the development team, he developed the interrupted flow and heavy truck upgrade speed and sound level algorithms.  Separately, he led a team that conducted extensive validation and functionality testing of TNM. At Bowlby & Associates, his team developed the TNM-Trainer CD-ROM distributed by USDOT.

Through his lead, Bowlby & Associates has also served as advisor to a major Type II Noise Barrier Prioritization for the New York State Thruway Authority and for Washington State DOT's SR-520 Noise Barrier Design in Seattle.

In addition to his work at Bowlby & Associates, Dr. Bowlby completed many noise studies while at Vanderbilt University. He had the lead responsibility for noise barrier analysis and design studies for:

Maryland SHA, I-68, Bowie

New Jersey DOT, I-95 and I-80, Ridgefield

Texas DOT, Beltway 8, Houston

Pennsylvania DOT, I-95, Philadelphia, and I-78, Allentown

California DOT (Caltrans) Route 85, San Jose area, parallel barrier modeling.

His Vanderbilt transportation noise research experience includes:

• A member of the development team for the FHWA Traffic Noise Model, responsible for the interrupted flow emission level data base development, emission level equation derivation, and speed algorithm derivation
• Evaluation and validation testing of TNM for USDOT
• Development of the TrafficNoiseCAD analysis system for STAMINA using AutoCAD and MicroStation
• Developing a method for using STAMINA in non-constant speed situations, published as NCHRP Report 311
• Development of the IMAGE-3 program for parallel noise barrier analysis
• Assessing the state of the practice in noise barrier design, construction and maintenance, published as NCHRP Synthesis 181
• Chairing the American National Standards Institute Working Group that developed ANSI S12.8-1987 for noise barrier measurements
• Finalizing the FHWA HICNOM computer program, model validation and user's manual
• Editor of the original FHWA "Sound Procedures for Measuring Highway Noise" manual and a co-editor of the STAMINA 2.0/OPTIMA User's Manual

In addition to his air quality  work at Bowlby & Associates, Dr. Bowlby did many air quality studies through Vanderbilt University.  This work included the annual Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority Annual Air Pollution Emissions Inventories from 1985 through 1996, and a study of the air quality aspects of landside terminal improvements at Nashville International Airport.  Dr. Bowlby also managed both the noise and air quality studies for the Pennsylvania DOT I-95 Intermodal Mobility Environmental Assessment.

Contact Bill Bowlby
 

SENIOR PROJECT MANAGER AND ENGINEER
Dr. Darlene Reiter, P.E.

Within the last five years, Dr. Reiter has been the project manager for seven Bowlby & Associates noise barrier design projects for Tennessee DOT, including I-65 in Nashville, four Briley Parkway jobs in Nashville, I-40/240 in Memphis, and I-40 in Knoxville.  She was also the project manager on our Type II noise barrier priority study for New York State DOT where she designed noise barriers in twelve separate analysis areas, including computing cost effectiveness parameters.  She also had the lead on the rail noise and air quality studies for the Nashville MTA and the Gulf Coast Maglev Coalition in New Orleans.

Dr.Reiter has also played a major role in the review and evaluation of the Woodrow Wilson Bridge Reconstruction Project noise abatement plans for the city of Alexandria.

While at Vanderbilt University, she was the project manager for the traffic noise analysis and barrier design for an 18-mile urban/suburban section of I-95 as part of the Pennsylvania DOT I-95 Intermodal Mobility Project Environmental Assessment.  She planned, conducted and analyzed existing sound level measurements as part of this work.  She used that measurement data for calibration of her STAMINA 2.0 modeling in over 30 separate analysis areas.  She then designed noise barriers in each area using the OPTIMA program, and documented the work in a major noise technical report and the noise sections of the EA.  Dr. Reiter also completed a Type II Noise Study for Interstate 95 in northern New Jersey for the New Jersey DOT, part of which focused on interior noise impacts in a school.

She is highly skilled in the use of TNM, STAMINA 2.0/OPTIMA, TrafficNoiseCAD, and has conducted and directed noise measurement studies.  Dr. Reiter has also served as an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Vanderbilt University, teaching courses on environmental analysis of transportation systems and transportation planning.

Dr. Reiter is also an expert in transportation air quality analysis. She has worked on major air quality studies. She served as the air quality specialist for the Bowlby & Associates studies for Tennessee DOT, the Nashville MPO, and the cities of Murfreesboro and Lebanon, Tennessee. She also conducted the air quality analysis for a proposed arterial widening for the Alabama DOT, using both MOBILE5a and CAL3QHC, and will have the lead on the emissions inventory portion of a National Park Service EIS study for Rock Creek Parkway in Washington, D.C.

Her dissertation research at Vanderbilt focused on the evaluation of the emissions impacts of traffic signal coordination systems using modal transportation and emissions data. At Vanderbilt, she also completed an analysis of the air quality benefits of alternative Transportation Control Measures for the Metropolitan area for the Nashville Metropolitan Planning Organization and Metropolitan Transit Authority.

Dr. Reiter also conducted the 1992, 1993 and 1994 Air Pollutant Inventories for the Nashville International and John C. Tune Airports, and conducted the 1997 Inventory through Bowlby & Associates.

Contact Darlene Reiter
 

PROJECT MANAGER AND ENGINEER
Mr. R. Clay Patton

Mr. Clay Patton, a civil engineer, has played a key role at Bowlby & Associates since the company’s inception in 1991, focusing almost exclusively on transportation noise measurement, prediction and abatement.  Projects within the last five years include: the New Jersey DOT I-80 Type II Noise Abatement Studies; the I-495 Noise Barrier Designs for the Maryland SHA; the I-695 Noise Barrier Analysis in Baltimore for the Maryland SHA; the Ohio DOT State Route 8 Noise Barrier Evaluation and “After Absorption” follow-up study; the Ohio DOT Type II Noise Barrier Design for I-75 in Vandalia, Ohio; and the light rail MetroLink multi-modal noise analysis in East St. Louis, Illinois.

He has conducted EA and EIS noise studies in Michigan, Ohio, Alabama, and Louisiana.  He also had the lead in the noise measurement work on our studies for the National Park Service involving natural sounds, traffic noise, snowmobile noise, concert noise and stadium noise.

He is very experienced in the use of noise measurement equipment and noise prediction software including TNM, STAMINA 2.0/OPTIMA, TrafficNoiseCAD, IMAGE-3 and HICNOM.  He also currently assists the lead instructors during workshops in the Bowlby & Associates TNM training courses.

Mr. Patton attended the 1997 National Transit Institute course on the Federal Transit Administration's Transit Rail Noise and Vibration and a 1999 course on mobile source air quality analysis.  He has done MOBILE5a and 5b and CAL3QHC modeling for several environmental studies for Louisiana DOTD.

Contact Clay Patton
 

PROJECT ENGINEER
Mr. Geoffrey Pratt, P.E.

Mr. Pratt joined the company in December 2000 after receiving his M.S. degree at Vanderbilt University, where he served as a Research Assistant working on transportation planning research.  In his last year he also worked part-time with Bowlby & Associates on traffic noise studies.

Contact Geoff Pratt