StevenABert_Project Experience
- 1. Steven Alexander Bert, MPP901 Moses Court, Unit G • Raleigh, North Carolina 27604 • (217) 721-4160 • sabert@ncsu.edu Project Experience Project NCDOT, Economic Evaluation of Shared Use Paths Ongoing Role: Economic Analyst This project will provide NCDOT with a comprehensive approach to evaluate the economic returns currently being generated by existing trails of regional significance or greenway systems that may lead to economic benefits to the state. It will develop a methodology by which greenways across the state can be uniformly assessed and the collective economic contribution of Shared Use Paths in North Carolina can be evaluated. NCDOT, Economic Benefits of Transit February, 2015 Role: Economic Analyst North Carolina transit provides economic benefits to rural, suburban, and urban transit customers while contributing to the state’s overall economy in terms of wages, jobs, and gross state product. This study assesses the annual impact of North Carolina transit by evaluating transit customer benefits and the economic contribution of transit expenditures (how transit expenditures circulate through the state’s economy to support jobs, wages, and Gross State Product.) North Carolina Chamber Foundation, Diversifying Revenues to Improve Commerce and Economic Prosperity December, 2014 Role: Project Developer; Key Researcher This study evaluates the wider implications various levels of transportation investment have on the state’s economy in terms of jobs, wages, and gross state product. Furthermore, this study demonstrates the widening mismatch between funding allocations and North Carolina’s transportation system needs. It discusses how NCDOT’s primary funding mechanism, the motor fuels tax, is no longer sustainable, and explains other conditions that have challenged the financial stability of North Carolina’s transportation system. Finally, this study evaluates 16 options to generate revenue based on six criteria, finding that a vehicle miles traveled (VMT) fee, a heavy vehicle fee, and North Carolina’s Highway Use Tax are the top three performers. NCDOT, Evaluating the Use of License Plate Agencies by North Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles, August, 2014 Role: Statistical Analyst This project evaluates the efficiency and effectiveness of License Plate Agencies for vehicle registration, license plate, property tax and other contracted service delivery. The primary objectives of this project were executing Senate Bill 402, Section 34.17, which directs the NCDOT to evaluate contractual models and compensation rates by branch agents contracting with the Division of Motor Vehicles. Based on this project’s research findings, NCDOT is to recommend alternatives to the current models, including competitive bidding, to the Joint Legislative Transportation Oversight Committee and the Joint Legislative Program Evaluation Committee.
- 2. NCDOT, Defining Transportation Disadvantaged Populations for North Carolina Role: Supporting Researcher March, 2014 This project provides NCDOT with a methodology to map transportation disadvantaged populations based on a set of data-driven indicators. It then demonstrates how to apply transportation disadvantaged indicators to evaluate benefits and burdens to population categories that can be anticipated from a proposed project. It also addresses how to better engage these populations in the transportation decision-making process. NCDOT, Revenue Enhancement Options for North Carolina December, 2013 Role: Key Researcher For this project, the perspectives of industry experts and best practices from other states and countries were evaluated to provide NCDOT with a menu of options for funding future transportation projects in North Carolina. Policy options to raise $1 billion dollars annually in the short-term and options to establish funding security in the long-term were documented in a report and then presented to NCDOT. George Mason University (GMU), Pop-Up Tysons: Building the Future of Tysons Now Role: Key Researcher; Speaker May, 2013 For GMU’s Transportation Policy Operations and Logistics practicum, a range of urban development options along the Washington D.C. Metro’s Silver Line corridor were presented to the Fairfax County Board. The project focused on pop-up infrastructure options that could be readily employed to help make the Tysons metro stops more attractive, generate economic activity around metro access points, and the aid the Fairfax County Board in its transition plan for a walkable Tysons. The effort included a final research paper and presentation to the county board detailing urban development options, implementation considerations, and economic, social, and environmental impacts. GMU, Developing a Transportation Asset Management Plan for Minnesota’s Safety Rest Areas May, 2013 Role: Economic Analyst This project provided Minnesota’s Department of Transportation (MnDOT) with information and approaches to implement a transportation asset management plan for its safety rest areas. The state’s growth and economic projections were analyzed to project rest area usage and a subsequent baseline funding threshold. Policy options were explored for MnDOT to generate revenue for rest area investment. A final report and presentation was given. GMU, Adaptive Management Strategies – A VDOT Case Study December, 2012 Role: Project Manager; Key Researcher This project reviewed the risk assessment and adaptive management strategies of Virginia’s Department of Transportation (VDOT). In conjunction with project research, personnel from VDOT’s Structures and Bridges and Environmental divisions were video interviewed to provide information about agency practices. Information was presented in a film documentary and used to evaluate VDOT’s adaptive management strategies. Conference Transportation Research Board, Washington D.C. January, 2015 Transportation practitioners, researchers, public officials, and other professionals engage in a broad range of interdisciplinary, multimodal activities to confront the transportation challenges of the 21st century. Role: Friend of Transportation Economic Committee (ABE 20); Friend of Transportation and Economic Development Committee (ADD 10)