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Grant P. Johnson, TE is a registered Traffic Engineer in the State of California, the only state in the union with this special distinction. Now a requirement of many government jurisdictions to qualify traffic studies, the Traffic Engineer is being asked to sign documents as an authority on the subject of all things pertaining to traffic and regulation. In Expert Witness testimony and research, the title of Traffic Engineer enhances credibility.
He is currently working on several traffic engineering and planning studies, as well as numerous cases as an Expert Witness throughout Northern, Central, and Southern California cities and counties, including working with Caltrans. |
Expert Witness for
Industrial and Commercial Lighting IES standards 
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Grant Johnson has current "hands-on" experience in all things traffic engineering and transportation planning. When making a visit to a project site or an accident site, he gathers the best information and evidence possible to develop a report, signed by a Traffic Engineer registered in the State of CA.
As a commercial pilot for drone cameras licensed by the FAA, he is fully registered and highly skilled with a flying camera that he uses for commercial purposes. As an information gathering tool, he has found that properly placed drone footage can significantly enhance understanding of the situation with unique visual perspective. Taking video of streets, intersections, parking lots, parking maneuvers, etc., using multiple drones simultaneously if needed, he can get all needed angles and make a better assessment of the technical situation, from a bird's eye view, as well as the drivers perspective in the car. The elevated video(s) can show signal operations from multiple approaches simultaneously and capture signal malfunctions or even mis-programming. From a defense standpoint, he can determine the proper design of intersections, signal systems, parking, or freeway ramps, etc. Using the Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices, or the MUTCD as a starting point, he can defend a properly installed traffic control on a street system. He has the experience needed to detect and determine proper/improper design or installation of traffic control devices by observing from a high level view, combined with drivers eye ground level video, to see how drivers see the situation(s) and react to a poorly designed or outdated installation.
In Marin County, Mr. Johnson worked with County Counsel and the Department of Public Works to study and determine the problems at the Four Corners intersection, where a lawsuit was brought against the county after an accident. PRISM Engineering worked with the county staff to provide a new design for the intersection that addressed existing problems and created a more modern and safe standard, for not more than the cost of paint and some minor engineering design fees. PRISM's custom design actually helped to slow speeds through installation of special striping and pavement markings, using the available pavement space to relocate striping, adjust the stop bars to better locations, and better define the travel pathways (less ambiguous) to achieve smoother flows of vehicles and bikes. PRISM creates movies from our videos to clearly show the complete picture from many viewpoints. Using this capability to quickly make the movie, we can showcase how drivers behave in the accident location, good or bad behavior, which helps to establish the patterns with visual proof. All accident records in the vicinity are researched to see if there are significant data or not, to show a pattern of similar accidents. Mr. Johnson is an expert in regulation and design standards such as the MUTCD and related materials and manuals on lighting, road and intersection design. He can determine if a roadway has been properly or improperly designed, and also knows the traffic engineering law and principles of safety related to all traffic control devices in use today. He also personally drives through the site and inspects traffic conditions and sight distance from the drivers point of view, to make a determination if there are factors related to safety compromises or safety enhancements for all drivers, pedestrians, and bicyclists. His engineering work in China enhanced specific skills for great attention to detail. In the physical transportation world, he has extensive experience in checking complex plans for construction of China's major High Speed Rail projects dealing with regulations and standards and safety conditions. Given the top inspection responsibility there on site as the Chief Site Engineer (CSE), he was in responsible charge of all quality control and safety on a 70 kilometer section of high speed rail construction, a new HSR rail line connecting Beijing to Shenyang in Northern China. The job included:
As a part of the job, surprise inspections in the field were conducted to make sure plans were followed closely by construction companies, and to document all activities and exceptions for correction by photo and video on the numerous variety of construction sites. Regular formal meetings were held with the national HSR authorities in the Communist government, where he reported on compliance on the site and for all aspects of construction and safety protocols, as well as quality of materials. He kept a daily journal, a spreadsheet database, and prepared weekly extensive reports written in English and in Chinese Mandarin officially documenting all of this information for the government. Grant says: "The work was challenging and trained my eye for looking for all details of transportation construction, and installations of what was done right and what was done incorrectly." When I examine the transportation systems in the US where an accident took place, whether it be a bike, a pedestrian, a train, freeway, city street, or two-lane highway, I'm looking for the big picture of whether the traffic control or road design or construction was done properly with safety in mind, according to the accepted design standards such as the AASHTO Green Book, the MUTCD, or from Engineering Judgment by Inspection and Analysis and Experience. |
Commercial Remote Pilot
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PROJECT HIGHLIGHT: Signal Design Modification and Signing and Striping PlansIn City of Vacaville, Solano County:
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Project Scope:
Intersection converted from 3-way T-intersection to a full access four approach intersection. New road constructed. PRISM conducted a complete inventory and inspection of Signal Equipment, signing, and striping / pavement markings. Surveyed pedestrian activity. Photos and video logging. New signal heads needed. Complete replacement of video detection to latest tech. Revised striping. New Crosswalks needed. Signing revised. Signal interconnect maintained between local intersections. ---New signal plans needed for bid. ---New signing and striping plans needed for bid. ---Equipment Schedule completely revised. 
New Signal / Striping Plans: Year 2019 source: PRISM Engineering 25 year old "As-Built"
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-ON-CALL SERVICES- |
In Marin County: Four Corners Intersection, Improvement Alternatives (2017-2019)
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SAFETY FIRST | ||
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PRISM Engineering conducted a comprehensive emergency fire engine response time study to determine if adequate emergency response times are in place according to established standards (NFPA 1710). Out of nine nearby fire stations, 3 were within the standards, and only one needed to be. A complete report with tables and graphics was prepared to document all findings, and detailed times on all travel paths. Google Maps App was also researched to make comparisons of actual drive times in the field, and to verify. The purpose of the study was to find out through engineering methods (research, measurements, analysis, and summary) what fire engine response times from various fire stations proximate to the project site would be, by physically measuring and video recording actual driving times from each station to the site, adjusting times for red lights along the way, considering the effects of traffic congestion, and taking into consideration what happens when a fire engine deploys traffic signal pre-emption to bypass a red light at an intersection, etc. In addition, “big data” from Google Maps was also used, a publicly available data set that documents the ranges of time that drivers experienced along a certain path while using the Google Maps App. A detailed info-graphic and summary matrix and report were prepared to show optimum pathways and times from nine different nearby fire stations to the project site, during the “worst case” pm peak hour time period.
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MARIN COUNTY ON-CALL SERVICES. Jan 2019
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COMMENTARY ON IMPROVEMENTS BY GRANT JOHNSON, TE :
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AERIAL VIEWS and
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SIGHT DISTANCE and SPEED STUDIES
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Traffic Engineering |
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Since 1995 when it was first released, PRISM Engineering has been using Synchro and SimTraffic to analyze traffic and design signal systems. PRISM has also used many of the other microsimulation software packages in existence today, but prefers the SimTraffic software because it is 1) Ubiquitous, 2) Not easily manipulated to get significantly different results from default setup, 3) Works with Synchro and all the specific lane geometry and traffic operations data already in that software, and is readily shared with clients.
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Synchro / SimTrafficUsing industry standard microsimulation software like Synchro and SimTraffic, Vissim, and Paramics, our analysis approach is to have high levels of detail to facilitate better answers that mirror how the public already perceives their traffic experience.
PRISM knows that reporting "LOS C" when the public is experiencing LOS E or F is a big mistake, and that analysis tools must reflect reality. That is why we collect data with aerial and street level VIDEO and also take Saturation Flow Rate samples to better understand local driver behavior and adjust software accordingly.
photo/video © 2019 PRISM Engineering
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PRISM Engineering routinely hires outside services to collect big picture data, and regularly collects / films aerial video in 4K resolution in order to study and analyze real world traffic conditions as a system of intersections and driveways, and not as isolated intersections. This data used in our consulting practice enables an understanding of the bigger picture which can not be obtained from analyzing traffic count data alone.
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-ON-CALL SERVICES-
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In the City of Vacaville: The Farm at Alamo Creek TIA (2017)
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Traffic Engineering |
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Synchro and SimTraffic |
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Traffic Engineering |
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TRAFFIC IMPACT STUDY: City of Vallejo, CA Charter School Alternatives Analysis. Examined:
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CORRIDOR STUDY:
City of Folsom, CA Riley Blvd Corridor Study
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PRISM Engineering has completed numerous signal design projects over the years, and integrated these plans with development applications where street and intersection improvements are required as a part of a traffic impact analysis. PRISM has the ability to take things from the planning stage of forecasting traffic, to the analysis stage of determining intersection and road segment improvements, and warranting of traffic signals for a new installation, or the modification of an existing signal expanded to include more lanes, etc. We have also designed inter-connected signal installations where traffic volumes between intersections are coordinated with offset signal cycle timings, and analyzed using SynchroPro and SimTraffic microsimulation.
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International Highlight Project in 重庆市 ChongQing, ChinaSignal Timing and Capacity Throughput Research Study in ChongQing China's Jie Fang Bei's Winding Mountain Road Intersections. 6 Camera Angles of each Phase and Movement.
videography and edit: G. Johnson
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Traffic Engineering
PUBLIC PRESENTATIONS, sample |
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In this case he spoke before the Marin County Board of Supervisors on a hotly contested and controversial topic and discussed the traffic operations study results, and how information was shared with Caltrans, etc.
Link to local newspaper story on this BOS decision and process:
story: http://www.marinij.com/article/NO/20160413/NEWS/160419920 |
Grant Johnson, TE has extensive experience in making public presentations on technical topics, and in making them understandable and credible.
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