Transportation Planning Stories

My goal is to make a fictional film about transportation planners. Some people I know support my efforts, while others think I’m crazy and nobody would ever find a story about transportation planners interesting. I will try anyway. I hope you will support me.

In preparation for this project I have begun to write a series of short stories and articles to explore the possibilities. I would appreciate any feedback you can give me on what I have done so far.

New Short Story

Tom Swiftly and his Incredible Traffic Model
Tom, Dick and Harry try to please the mayor and councilors.

“The Barrier” – A Transportation Planning Movie

I recently posted The Barrier a feature length movie about a transportation planner.

You can learn about the movie more at: https://dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/the-barrier/

I used my two short stories below as the basis for the movie.

The project is an experiment to see if I can make a feature length movie with Xtranormal Desktop. Unfortunately, Xtranormal has gone out of business and the software is not currently available.

Note 2022 August 25: Xtranormal is now available under the name NAWMAL https://www.nawmal.com/

You can follow the development of this movie on my blog at https://dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/category/film-projects/the-barrier/.


Short Stories

The Gladstone Barrier
After he avoids an automobile collision one morning, Arthur thinks he’s found a new mission in life. However, what seemed to be clear cut has unexpected challenges. He learns that there are other dangers besides those on the roads.

The Glencoe Project: A Transportation Planning Adventure Story
Arthur looked forward to a quiet vacation with his wife, then a rush job landed on his desk. He worried that he might have to cancel his vacation, but more serious threats loomed in his future.

Although I wrote The Glencoe Project first, it happens after The Gladstone Barrier


Articles
The Evolution of My Transportation Planning Story
I’ve worked on this idea for a long time and have tried several different approaches.

Transportation: Planners Versus Modellers

A Review of “Future Babble: Why Expert Predictions Fail – and Why We Believe Them Anyway”


Blog Posts

Blog posts related to this project are listed here

I wrote a series of blog posts about conflicts in transportation planning that could be used in stories.

Issues in Transportation Planning #1: What I Want to Say

Issues in Transportation Planning #2: The Limitations of Models

Issues in Transportation Planning #3: Political Interference

Issues in Transportation Planning #4: It’s All Bad News

Issues in Transportation Planning #5: The Public and the Media

Issues in Transportation Planning #6: The Stick and The Map

I wrote several other blog posts that also addressed transportation planning issues.

Transportation Planning Movies and Stories

Transportation Infrastructure as Status Symbol

Transportation Planning Humour


Transportation Planning Experience

I worked as a transportation engineers for over 30 years. Here is my resume and two articles I published.

Resume for James Beattie Morison Last updated March 2011

Equilibrium Concepts in Modal Split Modelling Printed in the ASCE Transportation Engineering Journal September 1982.

Forecasting Demand for Demand Forecasting District 7 (CANADA) ITE conference, Victoria B.C. 1991

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