Gresham Smith Staff Speak at Tennessee Engineers Conference

September 25, 2018

Gresham Smith announces that Tennessee State Transportation Leader Michael Flatt, P.E, and Senior Transportation Engineer Meredith Cebelak, Ph.D., P.E., spoke at the 2018 Tennessee Engineers Conference in Nashville, Tenn. on Sept. 17. The duo shared best practices for designing and implementing diverging diamond interchanges and roundabouts to benefit the freight industry.

“Meredith and I enjoyed participating in this year’s Tennessee Engineers Conference,” commented Flatt. “The event was a great opportunity to share best practices and drive discussions related to creating safe, effective interchanges that keep freight moving efficiently.”

A summary of the presentation follows.

Diverging Diamond & Roundabouts: How to Keep Trucking Along

Presentation by Michael Flatt, P.E. and Meredith Cebelak, Ph.D., P.E.

Each year, the U.S. transportation system moves more than 54 million tons of goods. Freight tonnage is expected to increase by 45 percent by the year 2040, requiring additional capacity to our highways, railroads, ports and pipelines, as well as improvements to multi-modal connections to keep freight moving efficiently and our economy growing.

Given the importance of freight, it’s imperative that engineers design roadways and interchanges that accommodate large commercial vehicles. However, interchanges aren’t one size fits all. In this presentation, Meredith Cebelak and Michael Flatt, will explain how to determine the best innovative intersection design to meet freight needs by examining diverging diamond interchanges and roundabouts, ways to balance innovation and design with operations, and what the future looks like for freight movement.