SSE was retained by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) to assist in transportation logistics planning during the reconstruction of the World Trade Center (WTC). SSE is a consultant for the Office of Program Logistics at the PANYNJ's WTC construction coordination unit.
SSE's function is to coordinate all transportation activities, including cars, trucks, construction vehicles, pedestrians, and bicycles, on and around this complex 16-acre construction site in the middle of congested Lower Manhattan. Additionally, SSE must coordinate with several city, state, and federal agencies. SSE continuously performs pedestrian, bicycle, and vehicle counts around the WTC site to understand how circulation changes as a result of construction activities and closures. The results of the counts are used to inform sidewalk, roadway and bike path improvement/mitigation designs, as well as rerouting, signal timing and wayfinding decisions.
Early on, SSE conducted a pedestrian analysis of sidewalks surrounding the site in anticipation of various streetscape changes to accommodate construction activity. The analysis required an intensive pedestrian data collection program and utilized Legion Studio to examine existing and future pedestrian capacities, density levels, and travel times. Within the model, various mitigation techniques (e.g., curb extensions, street furniture alterations, signal timing changes, etc.) were simulated to determine their effect on overall flow and operations.