Gresham Smith’s Mike Sewell Testifies as Expert Witness in U.S. Congressional Hearing

April 26, 2019

Gresham Smith announces that Mike Sewell, P.E., Active Transportation Service Line Leader at Gresham Smith, recently served as an expert witness giving oral testimony and answering questions from Congressional members about bicycle and pedestrian safety across the country. The U.S. House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee’s Subcommittee on Highways and Transit Hearing held the hearing, titled “Every Life Counts: Improving the Safety of our Nation’s Roadways,” at the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center on April 9th. The hearing also included testimony from four additional witnesses during the panel discussion. Sewell was supported by Gresham Smith’s Erin Thoreson, who serves on the firm’s leadership team for the Active Transportation service line and has established herself as a leader in greenway and trail networks and safety.

“As experts in our fields, we have first-hand knowledge of the impacts of our designs on the people and communities around us, said Al Pramuk, chairman and chief executive officer at Gresham Smith. “This is vital information to communicate to legislators and policymakers, which is why we want our employees to have a seat at the table for important discussions about where – and how – we live. Mike’s presence on Capitol Hill and his opportunity to speak on a national stage is a testament to Gresham Smith’s leadership in the transportation industry and our drive to help our clients create safe, equitable transportation systems. Our employees are committed to helping our clients and our communities to grow and thrive, and we’re able to bring increasingly high-level knowledge and experience to the most complex challenges.”

“Serving as an expert witness on an issue I care deeply about, on Capitol Hill no less, was certainly a high point in my career thus far,” commented Sewell. “Making alternative transportation options a reality for people across the country is a cause I champion every day in my professional life and my personal life. I spend my work days helping clients introduce successful active-transportation solutions, I bike to and from the office, and I bike in my spare time. I’m incredibly grateful to have had the opportunity to bring such an important message to federal decision-makers in Washington, D.C., and to share my passion with such an important audience.”

Sewell represented the engineering industry as an active transportation professional and the League of American Bicyclists as a board member, advocate and daily bicycle commuter. He offered his professional opinion on recent upward trends in pedestrian and bicyclist fatalities and discussed the role of engineers to design for all users in an effort to combat these issues and address funding disparities that affect safety concerns. Sewell’s perspective was informed by his decades-long commitment to designing roadways and corridors that are assets to every community member regardless of age, race or income level. His proposal involved funding increases, enhanced attention to at-risk users under the Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP), and individual processes to proactively implement safety projects.

To watch Mike’s testimony and the hearing in its entirety, access it on YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=353&v=R4qSw2auLro.

To read Mike’s testimony, visit: https://transportation.house.gov/imo/media/doc/Sewell%20Testimony.pdf

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