Agreement allows longtime partners to expand services, geographic reach.
Kittelson & Associates, Inc. (KAI) (with an office in Bend) and Dowling Associates, Inc. are joining forces in a merger that they say will provide broader service capabilities and geographic presence for both firms. The agreement builds on a collaborative relationship that dates back more than 25 years.
Kittelson provides transportation planning, engineering, and research services to government agencies, municipalities and private organizations across the United States and Australia. In addition to its Bend and Portland offices, the firm has offices in Anchorage, Alaska; Tucson, Arizona.; Fort Lauderdale and Orlando, Florida.; Boise, Idaho; Baltimore, Maryland.; Reston, Virginia and Brisbane, Australia. Dowling Associates, which has offices in Oakland and Sacramento, California, also specializes in transportation engineering, planning, research and education.
“We have long respected Dowling Associates and our firms share very similar values, particularly when it comes to fostering long-term relationships with our clients and promoting a family-friendly culture in our offices,” said Mark Vandehey, KAI’s chief executive officer.
“Dowling Associates’ expertise in areas like travel demand modeling and Active Traffic and Demand Management (ATDM) creates a great opportunity for our company and to better serve our clients. Dowling staff also adds additional depth to KAI’s strong national research credentials,” Vandehey added.
Richard Dowling, founder and president of Dowling Associates, noted that he looks forward to offering clients traffic design services – one of KAI’s client service areas – that complement the front-end planning Dowling Associates already provides.
“We could take our clients to second base, but we couldn’t take them all the way home until now,” he said. “KAI’s success in designing roundabouts, traffic signals, striping and lighting, as well as its leadership in highway safety, is going to be a great plus for our existing clientele.”
Dowling added that KAI’s corporate support will allow him to dedicate more of his time to direct involvement in projects and with clients. In addition, the merger bolsters the safety and other transportation research and education both firms are leaders in nationally.
