Two years ago, Kittelson & Associates Inc. quietly opened its first Washington office in Spokane’s University District. 

Today, the team of transportation engineers and planners located on the third floor of the RiverBank building, at 202 E. Spokane Falls Blvd., is helping to reshape the region’s roadways, from recommending improvements on a single intersection to guiding regional plans for safer, more walkable neighborhoods.  

Led by senior planner Wende Wilber, a Spokane native who returned home after a three-decade absence, the six-person team has immersed itself in some of the city’s most visible and vital efforts. Those projects range from traffic calming in the West Central neighborhood to assembling the Spokane Regional Transportation Council’s Regional Safety Action Plan. 

“Nothing will fire people up like roads,” says Wilber, noting how across the country, traffic safety has been gaining traction through the adoption of the Safe Systems Approach.  

The Safe Systems Approach was adopted by the U.S. Department of Transportation in 2022 as part of its National Roadway Safety Strategy. The framework, developed in response to rising traffic fatalities, seeks to reduce serious crashes through a multi-layered system that anticipates human error and minimizes its consequences. 

Locally, the city of Spokane adopted Vision Zero in late 2022, committing to the long-term goal of eliminating traffic deaths and serious injuries while improving “safe, healthy, and equitable safety for all.” Vision Zero is built on the Safe Systems Approach and the SRTC's Regional Safety Action Plan, guided in part by Kittelson’s analysis, embraces the same zero-fatality vision. 

As Spokane grows and the national conversation around traffic and walkability intensifies, Kittelson & Associates integrates those elements into every level of planning and design, working to reconcile car-centric roadways with the needs of people walking, biking, and riding public transit, she says.  

“We’ve got to improve our roadway design to help people make better decisions,” Wilber says. “And then we’ve also got to educate people, and we’ve got to change driver behavior, and we’ve got to change policy.”

The Spokane office started with a team of four and has grown to six and is actively hiring, Wilber says. With more cities in the region prioritizing safety and walkability, Wilber says there's a steady need to hire transportation engineers who know how to design for people, not just cars.

Wilber declined to disclose the company's annual revenue. 

 Inland Northwest projects

One of the most prominent local efforts Kittelson & Associates has undertaken is the traffic calming project in the West Central neighborhood, an underserved area just northwest of downtown Spokane. Known as the West Central Neighborhood Infrastructure Project, it is a community-led effort to improve transportation safety and connections throughout West Central. 

According to the project report, the West Central neighborhood is one of the oldest districts in Spokane, dating back to 1887 when it was originally platted. Over 75% of the community's homes were built between 1900 and 1912. At the time, this area was a "thriving, streetcar-connected suburb for the city's middle class." The remnants of streetcar tracks can still be seen along West Central's streets. 

The north bank river area, where the Kendall Yards development stands today, was used as a switching yard and siding for the Union Pacific Railroad as far back as 1915. The 77-acre area was cleared in the 1970s and left vacant and contaminated from decades of railroad use. With the development of the Kendall Yards mixed-use planned community, the West Central neighborhood has transformed considerably, the report notes. However, after years of disinvestment, the heart of the district remains one of the most impoverished communities in Spokane and the state. 

Some of the neighborhood's transportation challenges include speeding, cracked and broken sidewalks, and uncontrolled intersections, which create potential conflict points between drivers, bicyclists, and people crossing the street, the report states.

Kittelson & Associates provided the technical expertise, from analyzing traffic patterns, proposing safety interventions and ensuring the plan complied with city standards. The final decisions about which project to prioritize were made by the project team, which is made up of three groups. Each group includes representatives from city departments, developers, business owners, property owners, neighborhood agencies, and nonprofits. 

The plan, now approved, includes 10 priority projects designed to improve walkability and slow vehicle speeds. A few of the projects outlined include traffic calming at Boone Avenue, the creation of Broadway Avenue bike lanes, enhanced crossings at parks, schools, and key destinations, and the building of the Chestnut Street and Elm Street Greenbelts, which have been identified in the city of Spokane’s Bicycle Master Plan. The first project installation, a quick build traffic calming pilot, is expected to begin this summer. 

Along with designs to make the West Central neighborhood walkable and safe, multimodal infrastructure is also good for business, Wilber contends. According to data presented in the West Central Neighborhood Infrastructure Project report, people who walk, bike, or take transit spend more on average at restaurants, bars, and convenience stores. Additionally, multimodal infrastructure investments can also act as a sign that a particular area is being prioritized by the city and, therefore, worth investing in. 

“Whenever there is a public investment, private businesses are more likely to follow,” Wilber says. 

In other parts of the region, Kittelson is also supporting several multimodal planning projects. In Pullman, the firm contributed to a freight study designed to reduce conflicts between heavy truck traffic and a newly revitalized downtown. Wilber explains how the city of Pullman recently renovated its Main Street, making it more pedestrian-friendly and inspiring sidewalk dining. However, the way the roadway network was designed in the past puts the majority of freight, such as agricultural trucks carrying wheat and hay, to barrel down Main Street, which then discourages a pedestrian-friendly environment, Wilber says. 

While a different engineering firm led the project, Kittelson provided origin and destination analysis for freight vehicles, which helps planners evaluate whether rerouting efforts would be viable and effective. 

The firm is also preparing to support the Division Street Transit-Oriented Development project, a city initiative focused on improving land use and mobility along one of Spokane’s busiest corridors. Led by Berkeley, California-based planning and landscape architecture firm MIG, the project aims to support the Spokane Transit Authority’s upcoming bus rapid transit line by enhancing pedestrian and bike access to key nodes. Kittelson’s role will focus on active transportation connectivity along the Division Street corridor from downtown all the way up to the North Division Y. Planning work is expected to start this summer. 

Looking around Spokane, Wilber notes the range of traffic safety projects underway in downtown and adjacent neighborhoods that reflect a broader shift toward pedestrian-first street design. From curb bump-outs on Bernard Street to safer crossings in East Central and South Perry, many of these efforts are shaped by principles of the Safe Systems Approach and Vision Zero. 

While Kittelson & Associates isn't directly involved in these projects, the firm supports the region’s growing focus on multimodal infrastructure and safety-oriented design. 

"There's still so much more work to do," she says. 

Outside of Spokane

Though relatively new to Spokane, Kittelson & Associates is a national transportation engineering and planning firm with 27 offices and about 400 employees across the U.S. Founded in Portland, Oregon, the firm applies data-driven research to practical transportation challenges.

Its founder, Wayne Kittelson, launched the company 40 years ago, and despite stepping back from formal leadership roles, remains actively engaged in the work. 

“He would make photocopies if we still needed them,” Wilber jokes. 

Recently, Kittelson earned his drone pilot’s license to help the team better understand pedestrian and vehicle movements at busy intersections. He was also instrumental in pushing the firm to plan for electric vehicles long before they became mainstream. 

“He is still innovating,” Wilber says. 

Despite its size, the firm operates within a collaborative and decentralized structure. Staff across different offices frequently support one another’s projects, and senior leaders—including Kittelson—remain closely involved in mentorship and idea sharing. 

“We really work as one firm, “Wilber says. “If someone in Spokane needs help from someone in Portland or Orlando, we just call them. It’s a very fluid system.” 

That fluidity extends to how Kittelson builds project teams. The firm not only collaborates with cities and counties but also with local neighborhood committees, nonprofits, landscape architects, and other transportation firms, depending on the scope and context of a project. 

“We want to deliver the best product to the client,” Wilber says. “Sometimes that means bringing in others who know the area better or offer a specific expertise. We’re really about collaboration.”