Laura Sandt
Associate Director, Pedestrian & Bicycle Information Center
Laura Sandt began work for HSRC as a graduate student in 2004; she has been a full-time Research Associate since 2006 and named Associate Director for the Pedestrian & Bicycle Information Center (PBIC) in 2008. She is a Program Manager for the FHWA-sponsored national bicycle and pedestrian clearinghouse, the Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center (PBIC), where she supports PBIC program outreach activities such as providing technical assistance to customers, participating in conferences, developing content for the web sites, and distributing research.
Ms. Sandt has been involved with several FHWA and NHTSA pedestrian and bicycle projects, including projects to develop pedestrian road safety audits, as well as the guide, How to Develop a Pedestrian Safety Action Plan. She was the lead author and co-PI on a project to develop A Resident's Guide for Creating Safe and Walkable Communities, a toolkit containing community-based resources for improving pedestrian safety and access to neighborhoods and transit facilities. She also assisted in the development of instructional material for the National Safe Routes to School training course and contributed to other FHWA and NHTSA research projects. Ms. Sandt's other research activities include a study for the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety of the factors related to large truck crashes, and a study for the North Carolina State Highway Patrol (funded through FMCSA) evaluating the effectiveness of educational and enforcement measures to prevent large truck crashes.
At Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) from 2002 to 2004, Ms. Sandt supported various research activities, including the TRCP Project D-08 Improving Pedestrian Safety at Unsignalized Roadway Crossings and other projects focusing on safety on rural highways, intersection safety, traffic operations and safety at schools, managed lane ramp and roadway design issues, and crash reduction and operation of managed lanes.
Ms. Sandt has a master's degree in City and Regional Planning, with a concentration in Transportation and Land Use, from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and a B.A. from Texas A&M University. She lives in Chapel Hill with her husband, Chris, and two mutts. They enjoy bicycling, hiking, camping and general outdoor merriment.
