Alta Planning + Design and UrbanTrans Unite
The acquisition will help Alta’s clients achieve complex transportation goals by encouraging sustainable transportation behaviors through a people-first approach.
[PORTLAND, OREGON]: Alta Planning + Design, a sustainable transportation firm with offices across the US and in Canada, has acquired UrbanTrans North America, a transportation planning and behavior change firm. This acquisition significantly expands Alta’s existing services in transportation demand management (TDM), delivering mode shift programs, behavior change campaigns, and community outreach projects that promote alternatives to driving alone including transit, ridesharing, active modes, and micromobility.
UrbanTrans is a TDM specialty firm founded in 2000 with offices in Atlanta, Denver, Los Angeles, and Toronto. UrbanTrans works on plans, policies, and programs that integrate TDM into mobility strategy and implementation, active transportation, and the larger multimodal transportation network. They consult with public agencies, developers, special-purpose districts, non-profits, metropolitan planning organizations, employers, and transportation management associations (TMAs).
UrbanTrans’ 30 professionals will join Alta’s existing programs team in an expanded TDM Practice, led by Joddie Gray, AICP, UrbanTrans’ President. The combined team is structured into three groups within the practice: TDM Programs, TDM Marketing, and TDM Planning. Each group leverages unique services and subject matter experts, yet all three are built upon a shared foundation in behavior change science. By joining forces, clients of each firm will have access to a more robust set of expertise and capacity for delivering projects and programs all around North America. TDM strategies are increasingly important as part of coordinated efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) related to transportation and creating a more equitable transportation network.
“UrbanTrans’ values and focus on sustainable transportation is perfectly aligned with Alta’s mission, and we are thrilled to have them join Alta Planning + Design to expand our TDM Practice,” said Alta CEO Brett Hondorp. “Together we will be able to provide the industry’s most innovative TDM services as we help our clients deliver mobility options using behavior change and data-supported solutions.”
“We’re so excited to join forces with Alta to grow their TDM Practice. It’s a strategic move that sets the stage for us to lead an era of transformative mobility solutions,” said Gray. “We’re ready to take on the challenge and have a lasting impact in the communities we serve.”
Alta is a part of the Trilon Group, a family of companies focused on growing infrastructure capabilities to better serve our clients through investments in talent, technology and targeted mergers and acquisitions. The Trilon Group, which is backed by people-driven private equity firm Alpine Investors, seeks to build the next Top 10 design firm in North America by bringing together the nation’s best infrastructure consulting firms and by investing in those firms to accelerate growth and careers of their employees.
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Alta was founded in 1996 when communities were calling for safer streets for people walking and bicycling as the non-motorized transportation movement developed in North America. Alta pioneered the field of active transportation, evolving our planning and design work into a visionary practice that empowers people to live active, healthy lives and gets them where they need to go. With over 200 staff located across the US and Canada, Alta has evolved its practice into a forward-thinking sustainable transportation company, backed by the Trilon Group.
UrbanTrans is a woman-owned and operated transportation planning and behavior change firm, specializing in transportation demand management (TDM) and the delivery of commuting programs. They work on projects throughout the continent and have offices in Atlanta, Denver, Los Angeles, and Toronto. Since 2000, UrbanTrans has been at the forefront of TDM, leading with a mission to create sustainable environments and advance innovative transportation solutions through a people-first approach that ensures impactful results at every scale.
Contact Information:
Natalie Lozano, Vice President, Alta Planning + Design | [email protected]
Joddie Gray: Alta Planning + Design, TDM Vice President | [email protected]