When University professor and traffic engineer Brian Wolshon addressed colleagues, students and concerned citizens Tuesday night, he stood not at the podium of a lecture hall, but on the bandstand of a dimly lit bar room.
Wolshon’s lecture on traffic was the latest installment of LSU Science Cafe, a lecture series that unites the University’s academic elite on the crowded floor of Chelsea’s Cafe.
As Wolshon spoke, undergraduate students lounged in the back VIP room, and University Vice Chancellor for Student Life and Enrollment Services Kurt Keppler leaned against the bar with his sleeves rolled up and a beer in hand.
Astrophysics professor Peter Diener said he had been to about six of the lectures, which are sponsored by University’s Office of Research and Economic Development.
“You get to hear some people you don’t normally hear,” Diener said.
Wolshon, an assistant professor in the University’s Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, said Baton Rouge’s traffic was bearable compared to major urban cities, but added that Louisiana drags a great deal in traffic safety.
“We lose a lot of our best students to Houston and Atlanta and other places,” Wolshon said. “If we had more smart people, I’d think we’d solve a lot more of these problems.”
He also said the University lacks alternative transit classes.
Wolshon said traffic jams occur for many reasons, including “non-recurring congestion,” in which random events like flat tires, wrecks or police ticketings halt traffic flow.
“Shockwaves” can also cause traffic jams — when one car begins to slow, causing all vehicles behind it to slow one by one.
Wolshon said it takes a long time for research on traffic to develop into government policy, noting that current traffic laws were first developed as long ago as 50 years.
“I’ve seen politics make improvements and run projects into the ground. If we don’t like it, [citizens] have the power to make changes [through voting elected officials out of office],” Wolshon said.
University Professor Speaks on Traffic Trends
By Quint Forgey
August 27, 2014
More to Discover