Instructors
Mike Cynecki
Project Manager, Lee Engineering, LLC
Mr. Cynecki is currently Project Manager with Lee Engineering in Phoenix, Arizona, and recently retired from the City of Phoenix Street Transportation Department where he managed the Investigative Services Section, Traffic Safety Section, School Safety Section and Neighborhood Traffic Management Team for 22 years of his 26 year career with Phoenix. His last four years were managing the Traffic Signal Section and he was responsible for overseeing the installation of the first nine pedestrian hybrid beacons (also known as HAWKs) and first two Rectangular Rapid Flash Beacons in Phoenix. He was also managed the Phoenix portion of the traffic signal system for the opening of the inaugural Light Rail Transit (LRT) system in Phoenix metropolitan area. His 32-year career also includes six years working as a consultant. Mr. Cynecki holds both a Bachelors' and Masters' of Science in Civil Engineering from Wayne State University, and is a Registered Professional Engineer in Arizona and Michigan. He has published over 24 pedestrian-related papers in such outlets as ITE Journal, Transportation Research Record, and others.
Peter Flucke
President, We Bike, Etc.
Mr. Flucke was a law enforcement officer in the state of Minnesota for six years and a park ranger with Hennepin Parks for five years. He has a wealth of experience and knowledge in the pedestrian and bicycle fields. He has created and taught pedestrian and bicycle safety and education courses for adults, children, law enforcement officers, judges, attorneys, planners, engineers, and maintenance personnel. He has developed community pedestrian/bicycle plans, written resource guides, trained police bike patrols, directed special events, lead bicycle tours and consulted on a wide variety of related topics. Mr. Flucke is a certified League Cycling Instructor/Trainer for the League of American Bicyclists and a Police Cyclist certified by the International Police Mountain Bike Association. He is also a facilitator for the nationally recognized Walkable Communities and Bicycle-Friendly Communities Workshops. In 2000, Mr. Flucke received the League of American Bicyclist's National Education Award. In 1998, he was named League Cycling Instructor of the Year. Peter Flucke is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Recreation and Forestry and a minor in Environmental Law Enforcement.
Peter Lagerwey
Senior Transportation Planner, Toole Design Group
Peter Lagerwey was formerly the pedestrian and bicycle program coordinator for the city of Seattle for more than twenty years, a city recognized as one of the most "bicycle friendly" cities in America (Bicycling Magazine), while having the lowest pedestrian crash rates in the country. Mr. Lagerwey has taught courses on pedestrian and bicycle safety in over 200 cities over the past eighteen years. Most recently, he led the effort to create the new Seattle Bicycle Master Plan, a planning document that will be used to guide future improvements to Seattle's bicycle network. He has co-authored articles in the ITE Journal, been interviewed by Tom Brokaw of NBC News and Juan Williams of "Talk of the Nation," and is co-author of the recently published How to Develop a Pedestrian Safety Action Plan.
John LaPlante
Director of Traffic Engineering, T.Y.Lin International
John LaPlante, is currently Director of Traffic Engineering for T.Y.Lin International, working out of their Chicago office. Prior to joining the firm in 1992, Mr. LaPlante had been with the City of Chicago for 30 years in various transportation engineering positions, including Chief City Traffic Engineer and Acting Commissioner of the new Department of Transportation. He is involved in several national committees (AASHTO Green Book Technical Committee, NCUTCD Pedestrian Task Force, and the TRB Pedestrian Committee) and was principal author of the AASHTO Pedestrian Guide. He has taught many courses as part of the FHWA Pedestrian Safety Action Plan and the APBP/US Access Board Designing for Pedestrian Accessibility training. His education includes a BSCE degree from the Illinois Institute of Technology and an MSCE degree at Northwestern University. He is a Fellow of both ITE and ASCE.
Michael Moule
Principal Transportation Engineer, Nelson\Nygaard Consulting Associates, Inc.
Michael Moule is a Professional Engineer with over 17 years of progressive traffic and transportation engineering experience, including traffic calming, conceptual design for “Complete Streets,” and planning improved bicycle and pedestrian facilities. His projects accommodate all modes of transportation in order to help cities and states meet their mobility, economic development, safety, and quality of life goals. He has significant innovative design experience and specializes in improving conditions for non-motorized users without degrading motor vehicle capacity. Michael travels throughout the country to offer training to engineers, planners, decision-makers and the general public. Most of this training relates to pedestrian facility design and bicycle facility design. He has also participated in the development of various design and planning documents. He is a former president of the Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals.
Dan Nabors
Senior Transportation Engineer, Vanasse Hangen Brustlin, Inc.
Dan Nabors has over 15 years experience in the transportation engineering field, specializing in pedestrians and bicyclists. His projects have ranged from creating downtown revitalization plans to conducting pedestrian safety studies aimed at improving pedestrian facilities at specific locations. Many of his projects have focused on the transfer of knowledge into guidance for practitioners and communities, such as the development of Pedestrian Road Safety Audit Guidelines and Promptlist and Pedestrian Safety Guidance for Communities guides for FHWA. An experienced instructor, Mr. Nabors has taught numerous safety courses to public officials at the State and local levels for FHWA and NHI.
Richard Nassi
Administrator, Tucson Department of Transportation (retired) Regional Transportation Authority Consultant for Traffic Engineering Services
Richard Nassi has worked in the highway safety field for over 40 years and just recently received the Institute of Transportation Engineers' award for outstanding contributions to the field of traffic safety. In recent years, Dr. Nassi has been directly involved in numerous pedestrian and bicycle safety programs for children and the developer of the HAWK, Hybrid Beacon, pedestrian crossing technique. He has instructed at courses, written and reviewed pedestrian and roadway safety guides used throughout the country. Dr. Nassi is a registered Professional Engineer, Traffic Engineering, California and Chairperson of a signals subcommittee on the National Committee on Uniform Traffic Control Devices.. He received his degrees from the University of Washington, 1967, 1969 and doctorate from Pennsylvania State University in 1978.
Sue Newberry
Owner, Community Partners LLC.
Sue Newberry is the owner of Community Partners LLC. Ms. Newberry's career in transportation began after successfully lobbying for laws to support bicycle safety in Nevada. As Nevada's first Bicycle and Pedestrian Educator, she helped local communities establish traffic safety programs. Her work now includes public involvement events, and bicycle/pedestrian related plans, projects, and programs. Ms. Newberry is a trainer for the Pedestrian Safety Action Plan course, the National Highway Institute Pedestrian and Bicycle Facility Design courses, the National Safe Routes to School course, the Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professional's Designing Pedestrian Facilities for Accessibility, and How to Involve the Public in Context Sensitive Design.
Michael Ronkin
Owner, Designing Streets for Pedestrians and Bicyclists, LLC.
Michael Ronkin was the Bicycle/Pedestrian Program Manager for the Oregon DOT from 1989 to 2006. Mr. Ronkin is an expert in designing streets for pedestrians; he trains engineers and planners on the need to create streets built with people, not just cars, in mind. He can help citizens and staff achieve the goals of safety, livable communities, and reaching consensus on critical design issues.
Pete Rusch
Owner, PeteR, LLC.
Pete Rusch recently retired after 42 years of full time employment in Transportation Engineering. He spent 34 1/2 years with the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, the last 11 years as the State Traffic Engineer, and 5 1/2 years most recently as a Safety Engineer with the FHWA Resource Center. Pete was a member of the AASHTO Subcommittee on Traffic Engineering for 11 years and the AASHTO Standing Committee on Highway Traffic Safety for 10 years. He was also a member of the National Committee on Uniform Traffic Control Devices for many years while with the WI DOT, and then a member of the FHWA HQ MUTCD Team while with FHWA. His responsibilities with the MUTCD team covered Parts 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 of the MUTCD. Pete was also a member of NCHRP Panel 17-18, which developed the AASHTO Strategic Highway Safety Plan and the subsequent Series 500 Implementation Guides, including Volume 10, A Guide for Reducing Collisions Involving Pedestrians. Pete is an experienced practitioner and problem-solver in Traffic and Safety Engineering and has conducted more than 75 workshops with FHWA on several highway engineering and safety subjects. He is a 1965 Graduate of the University of Wisconsin with a BSCE in Civil Engineering and is a Registered Professional Engineer in the State of Wisconsin.
Ryan Snyder
Owner, Ryan Snyder Associates, LLC
Ryan Snyder owns a new-urbanist transportation consulting firm that prepares pedestrian, bicycle, and transit plans, as well as transportation plans for new smart growth development. He is certified as a National Safe Routes to School Instructor. Snyder has a BA in Economics and an MA in Urban Planning from UCLA. He is former Vice President of the Los Angeles Board of Transportation Commissioners.
Charles Zegeer
Director, Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center
Associate Director of Engineering and Planning, UNC Highway Safety Research Center
Charlie Zegeer has worked at the Highway Safety Research Center since 1986. In recent years, Mr. Zegeer has been principal investigator and primary report author on numerous federal studies and Guides, including the FHWA guide, How to Develop a Pedestrian Safety Action Plan, and the NCHRP report, A Guide for Reducing Collisions Involving Pedestrians. He has taught courses on pedestrian and roadway safety throughout the U.S. over the past 25 years. Mr. Zegeer is a registered Professional Engineer and an Emeritus Member of the TRB Pedestrian Committee. He received his B.S. in Civil Engineering from Virginia Tech in 1972, and an M.S. in Civil Engineering (Transportation) from the University of Kentucky in 1974.
Paul Zykofsky
Director, Land Use and Transportation Programs
Paul Zykofsky manages the Local Government Commission's land use and transportation programs in Sacramento, CA, and has been Director of the Commission's Center for Livable Communities since 1995. Mr. Zykofsky is co-author of Emergency Response: Traffic Calming and Traditional Neighborhood Streets and of the section on "walkability" in the American Planning Association's Planning and Urban Design Standards published in 2006. Mr. Zykofsky is trained to be a facilitator to assist communities in developing Safe Routes to School Programs, as well as one of 15 nationally certified instructors for the Federal Highway Administration courses on pedestrian safety and developing a pedestrian safety plan.
Rudolph M. Umbs
Senior Traffic Safety Engineer, Tindale-Oliver & Associates, Inc.
After a successful and productive 39-year career with the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), Rudy Umbs is now providing guidance, technical assistance, and training to State and local agencies (planning, engineering, enforcement, education, and emergency services) to further enhance their highway safety programs including the conducting pedestrian safety training and developing and implementing Pedestrian Safety Action Plans. While in the FHWA’s Headquarters, Mr. Umbs served in a number of leadership positions including FHWA’s Division Chief of Safety Design and Operations and Chief Highway Safety Engineer. He also served as the FHWA’s Resource Center Program Manager for the Strategic Highway Safety Planning, Speed Management, and Pedestrian Safety, as well as conducting safety training courses.
Demian Miller
Director of Safety and Policy Planning, Tindale-Oliver & Associates, Inc.
Demian Miller is trained as an Urban Planner, but has spent the last 10 years of his career working with Florida DOT and other transportation agencies to manage, organize, and analyze crash data; conduct site-specific and area-wide traffic safety studies; and assist in the development of safety programs. In 2008 and 2009 Mr. Miller worked with Florida DOT staff, local agency stakeholders, and FHWA experts to complete the first Pedestrian Safety Action Plans in Florida and has subsequently worked with Florida DOT and local agencies to implement key aspects of the plans including: integration of pedestrian safety and transit, better coordination of pedestrian safety with resurfacing programs, and project development for pedestrian safety infrastructure enhancements. Mr. Miller has also managed multimodal transportation studies and worked with several Florida communities to refine their regulatory framework to better address multimodal transportation needs. He serves as the Director of Safety and Policy Planning for Tindale‐Oliver & Associates, Inc., a Florida-based planning and engineering firm and lives in Tampa, Florida with his wife, Heather, and children, Otis and Oscar.
