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Martin Wachs

Santa Monica Office

Director, Transportation, Space, and Technology Program, RAND Infrastructure, Safety, and Environment

Media Availability

This researcher is available for interviews. Show Details »

Education

Ph.D. in urban and regional planning, Northwestern University; B.S. in civil engineering, City University of New York

Biography

Martin Wachs is Director of the Transportation, Space and Technology Program. Until the end of 2005 he was Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering and Professor of City & Regional Planning at the University of California, Berkeley, where was also Director of the Institute of Transportation Studies. He earlier spent 25 years at UCLA, where he was Chairman of the Department of Urban Planning.

Wachs has written 160 articles and four books on subjects related to relationships between transportation, land use, and air quality, techniques for the evaluation of transportation systems, and the use of performance measurement in transportation planning. His research also addresses issues of equity in transportation policy, problems of crime in public transit systems, the response of transportation systems to natural disasters including earthquakes, and most recently transportation finance in relation to planning and policy.

Dr. Wachs served on the Executive Committee of the Transportation Research Board for nine years and was the TRB Chairman in 2000. He recieved a Guggenheim Fellowship, two Rockefeller Foundation Humanities Fellowships, a UCLA Alumni Association Distinguished Teaching Award, the Pyke Johnson Award for the best paper presented at an annual meeting of the Transportation Research Board, and the Carey Award for service to the TRB. In 2006 he was named “Member of the Year” by the San Francisco Chapter of the Women's Transportation Seminar.

Research Focus

Professional ethics; transportation and aging; transportation finance; transportation and land use; transportation and the environment; urban transportation planning

RAND Research Areas

Transportation and Infrastructure

Selected Publications

Ann M. Brach et al., Earmarking in the U.S. Department of Transportation Research Programs, Institute of Transportation Studies, 2005

Bruce Katz and Robert Puentes, eds., "Improving Efficiency and Equity in Transportation Finance", The Brookings Institution Series on Transportation Reform, 2003

Amber Crabbe et al., Local Transportation Sales Taxes: California's Experiment in Transportation Finance, University of California, 2002

Susan Hanson and Genevieve Giuliano, eds., "Reflections on the Planning Process", The Geography of Urban Transportation

International Perspectives on Road Pricing: Report of the Committee for the International Symposium on Road Pricing, "Then and Now: The Evolution of Transport Pricing and Where We Are Today", Key Biscayne

Research Focus

Professional ethics, transportation and aging, transportation finance, transportation and land use, transportation and the environment, urban transportation planning

Previous Positions

Professor, City and Regional Planning, Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering, and Director, Institute of Transportation Studies, University of California, Berkeley; Professor and Chairman, Department of Urban Planning, University of California, Los Angeles; Chairman, Executive Committee of the Transportation Research Board

Selected Publications

Earmarking in the U.S. Department of Transportation Research Programs, Ann M. Brach et al., Institute of Transportation Studies, University of California, Berkeley, July 2005

"Improving Efficiency and Equity in Transportation Finance," in Bruce Katz and Robert Puentes, eds., Taking the High Road: A Metropolitan Agenda for Transportation Reform, The Brookings Institution Press, 2005

"Reflections on the Planning Process," in Susan Hanson and Genevieve Giuliano, eds., The Geography of Urban Transportation (3rd ed.), Guilford Publishing Company, 2004

"Then and Now: The Evolution of Transport Pricing and Where We Are Today," International Perspectives on Road Pricing: Report of the Committee for the International Symposium on Road Pricing, Key Biscayne, Florida, November 19-22, 2003

Local Transportation Sales Taxes: California's Experiment in Transportation Finance, Amber Crabbe et al., California Policy Research Center, University of California, 2002

Recent Media Appearances

Interviews: CNN; KCRW; KFI; KQED; Los Angeles Times; San Diego Union-Tribune; San Francisco Chronicle

To arrange an interview:

Contact the RAND Office of Media Relations, (703) 413-1100, x5117 or (310) 451-6913, or send an email to media@rand.org.

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