Planning Team

Ed Christopher Metropolitan Planning Specialist
19900 Governors Drive, Suite 301 Olympia Fields, IL 60461 Ph: (708) 283-3534 FAX: (708) 283-3501 ed.christopher@dot.gov Experience Began working in field in 1979 Joined FHWA in 1979

Education •    Master of Urban Planning and Policy, University of Illinois at Chicago •    Bachelor of Science, Political Science, University of Illinois Chicago Circle

Expertise/Specialty

•    Planning Data •    Metropolitan Planning

Professional Associations

•    Transportation Research Board Committee on Urban Data and Information Systems, Chair (A1D08) •    Census Data for Transportation Planning Subcommittee, recent past Chair •    Committee on National Transportation Data Requirements and Programs, Member (A5016)

Professional Highlights

•    Worked for nearly 20 years at CATS (Chicago Area Transportation Study—the metropolitan planning organization for northeastern Illinois), most recently as Director of Information Systems. •    At CATS he was responsible for the collection, acquisition, maintenance, and analysis of data that supports the decisions made by CATS. •    Among his activities at CATS, Mr. Christopher managed a number of large travel surveys external, household, long distance, origin-destination, and panel for the collection of transportation data. •    He also worked with a private company on the use of Illinois traffic accident records to produce regional vehicle occupancy rates. •    Completed a Transportation Facts regional bulletin, and was responsible for CATS involvement with Highway Performance Monitoring System data for northeastern Illinois. •    Following CATS, Mr. Christopher spent two and a half years in Washington, DC. •    He was a contractor/analyst for the U.S. DOT’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics for a year and a Federal employee for the same agency for one and a half years, working on a variety of data issues related to State and metropolitan planning. •    Mr. Christopher is very active in the transportation data and planning community, serving on a variety of committees, presenting information at conferences, and authoring or co-authoring more than 85 articles and working papers.

FHWA Home | Feedback
United States Department of Transportation · Federal Highway Administration