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For more than 15 years, residents and public officials in Lakewood, N.J., have been debating whether to bring a commuter rail line back to their town. Civil engineering major Dan McClendon ’03 studied the issue in hopes of learning the best mass transportation solution for his hometown’s traffic woes.
“The alternative seems to be adding buses to an already congested highway,” says McClendon, who gathered reports, environmental impact statements, and other information from planning boards, citizens’ groups, and transportation authorities. “The obvious question is ‘why add them?'”
McClendon says he became interested in the issue in 1995, when the local governing body voted against establishing a rail line. He decided to pursue it as part of an independent study project with Kristen Sanford Bernhardt, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering.
“I feel transportation is a very important part of our society,” McClendon says. “The constant growth of our metropolitan areas and suburbs necessitates improvements in our transportation systems.”
McClendon read about all sorts of transportation ideas and ways to relieve congestion on highways He began his research on the Lakewood rail system thinking that it was a simple problem, he says, but soon learned just how complex traffic-related decisions can be.
“One of the issues I found is that in one of the towns the train would pass through, the rail line divides the downtown,” he says, explaining that residents are accustomed to infrequent, slow-moving freight trains, but aren’t happy at the prospect of fast-moving passenger trains causing traffic to stop many times each day.
“Mostly, people are concerned about noise, safety, and maintaining their suburban environment,” McClendon says. “I also found that something like this can’t just be done at the snap of a finger. You have to forecast how population and economic growth will affect the area where you’re going to put this kind of system.”
Sanford Bernhardt says McClendon got a taste of engineering beyond textbooks and library readings.
“He learned a little bit about who is in charge of what,” she says. “If you work as a civil engineer for a developer, you’re going to be getting up in front of county planning boards all the time.”
McClendon, who plans a career as a transportation engineer, says he was happy to work with Sanford Bernhardt.
“She is well educated in the subjects that matter most to me,” he says. “She is very caring and understanding, especially if I have a problem with a concept. She was always there to answer a question and to point me in the right direction.”
A graduate of St. Rose High School, McClendon worked for two summers at the U.S. Army base at Fort Monmouth, assisting engineers in design and project management work.
On campus, he was a member of the Association of Black Collegians, the Brothers of Lafayette, Lafayette Activities Forum, the campus chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers, and Lafayette’s Concrete Canoe team. He was also president of the Creating Harmony and Necessary Change residential floor.