What is your mission? What services do you offer?
Founded in 1944, Parsons is a global engineering, construction, technical, and management services firm. Parsons is a leader in many diversified markets with a focus on infrastructure, environmental, and defense/security. Parsons delivers design/design-build, program/construction management, professional services, and innovative alternative delivery solutions to federal, regional, and local government agencies, as well as to private industrial customers worldwide. Currently, more than 10,500 Parsons employees are engaged in more than 4,500 projects in 50 states and 24 countries. Our values include Sustainability and Innovation. We are committed to delivering projects in a safe, sustainable manner that will have long term value to the communities and clients we serve.
Why does your organization support Complete Streets and the Coalition?
Parsons views Complete Streets as a critical element to the successful development and redevelopment of communities and their transportation network. In addition, many of our customers have Complete Streets policies and we believe it is important to share their commitment to Complete Streets. Our work puts us in the position to design and deliver Complete Streets for our customers. We want to be in a position to assist customers with the delivery of Complete Streets concepts, help them realize the benefits from applying Complete Streets designs, and if possible, assist them in developing implementation strategies that will fulfill their Complete Streets policy vision. Joining the Coalition enables us to be most effective in that delivery and assistance.
What kinds of projects have you been doing lately?
Parsons works on a variety of projects, many of them are multimodal and many are the realization of long-range planning efforts. We will typically work on projects that demand the effective management of multiple objectives such as needed infrastructure and safety improvements including road widening, sidewalks and bike lanes, drainage, water and sewer lines, and electrical distribution. We take a context sensitive approach to the management of these multiple goals and to the delivery of transportation solutions that reflect multiple values.
Parsons is currently working on an important Complete Streets project in California. Parsons is responsible for the development of conceptual engineering plans for the SR 82 El Camino Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project an 18-mile corridor from San Jose to Palo Alto, California, including 10 miles of exclusive, center-running BRT lanes, stripped and protected bike lanes, 8 miles of side-running mixed-flow lanes, and 16 stations. Parsons is assisting the customer—the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA)—in realizing their part of the Grand Boulevard Initiative vision for the corridor, which demands a comprehensive Complete Streets approach. Parsons is using a Context Sensitive Solutions approach to project delivery in order to bring Complete Streets concepts and techniques to the attention of the customer for their consideration. Some of these techniques are pedestrian scale lighting, vegetated medians and street trees, bike parking at the BRT stations, and multiple pedestrian safety solutions.
How are you working to advance the Complete Streets movement?
We will coordinate with the leadership of the Coalition to assist with the delivery of Complete Streets policies. In addition, we will work with our customers on the implementation of their Complete Streets policies. We will seek opportunities to advise customers on the application of their Complete Streets policy and highlight our complete street design expertise that we can bring to a project. In cases where we are working with a customer without a Complete Streets policy and where a project can benefit from Complete Streets applications, we will create educational opportunities to highlight the benefits of Complete Streets techniques and practices.