The Alan M. Voorhees Transportation Center (VTC) was seeking a way to highlight Alan Voorhees’ impact on national and global transportation planning issues. The Alan M. Voorhees Legacy Project provided the path forward.
Alan M. Voorhees circa 1961.
As Robert B. Noland, Ph.D., Distinguished Professor and VTC Director said, “The gift from the Voorhees family has enabled VTC to flourish over the last 25 years. We hope this new gift, and especially the Alan M. Voorhees Legacy Exhibit, will inspire young planners.”
Since 1988, VTC has been a leader in informing public discussion of transportation policy issues. Committed to conducting research and finding innovative approaches to transportation problems, VTC’s research identifies and explores transportation linkages to public policy areas such as economic development, land use, political governance, finance, and social policy.
Speaking of the Alan M. Voorhees Exhibit at the Bloustein School, Dr. Noland said, “It will also help to cement an enduring connection between the work Alan and his associates did over the years and the ongoing and future research and planning activities undertaken by Bloustein School faculty, staff, and students.”
A pivotal figure in U.S. city planning and transportation concerns, Alan set the pace in initiating a myriad of ventures related to planning and transportation. He was a pioneer in transportation planning and engineering during a transformational period of transportation development in America.
In 1961, he founded the transportation consulting firm Alan M. Voorhees & Associates, Inc. With Mr. Voorhees steering the course, the firm was instrumental in designing many of the metropolitan transit systems built in the 1960s and 1970s, including those in Washington, DC, and Atlanta, Georgia.
In the late 1970s, Alan moved his career into a new area to become dean of the College of Architecture, Art, and Urban Sciences at the University of Illinois-Chicago. In 1980, his multifaceted interests took him in new directions. He founded Atlantic Southeast Airlines (ASA), which became one of the most successful commuter airlines. It was absorbed by Delta Air Lines, Inc. in 2022.
He also served as president of the American Institute of Planners and chairman of the Executive Committee of the Transportation Research Board, the largest unit of the National Academy of Sciences. He managed a wide range of philanthropic interests and support following his professional years.
The Alan M. Voorhees Legacy Project
The Alan M. Voorhees Legacy Project is a collection of historically significant materials archived at Rutgers University honoring the life of Alan M. Voorhees (1922-2005).
The idea was originally conceived by Thomas Deen, a partner in Alan M. Voorhees & Associates, Inc., and later Executive Director of the Transportation Research Board, and a member of the VTC Advisory Board. He spoke at the Voorhees Transportation Center’s 25th Anniversary Symposium in April 2023.
“The reason we are here today for the celebration of Al Voorhees is because he had friends who ‘saved his letters’,’’ Mr. Deen noted, referencing how modern historians are increasingly relying on digital archives and preserved records to piece together the stories of influential individuals.
“Historians tell us that they are concerned because people today don’t have those stories and letters anymore. While Al did not write letters, we are, thankfully, not dependent on his letters to tell his story. We instead have digital records of what he accomplished, to be permanently housed at Rutgers,” he continued.
“School records, military records, business records, emails, maps, technical reports, newspaper clippings, magazine articles, correspondence. We have interviews, organized and edited oral histories of people who knew Al personally.”
The collection of Alan’s life’s work will be housed at Rutgers University and the Bloustein School to create a digital library. The materials will be available in perpetuity for the research community and the interested public.
“By housing this collection at Rutgers, it is now accessible to researchers seeking a better understanding of the many changes in transportation in America in the last half of the 20th century,” said Dr. Noland, “both in terms of technology and the many policy changes instituted by governments at all levels to increase the benefits and minimize the adverse impacts of transportation investments in all modes.”
These indexed and archived documents, reports, and other materials were collected with the help of former associates of Alan Voorhees. These historical materials, significant to transportation planners and engineers, are not readily available through other sources. Future plans call for fundraising efforts to eventually make these materials available through the Rutgers University Libraries, including many of the resources and reports provided by friends and alumni of Alan M. Voorhees & Associates.
A second phase of the project, the Oral History Initiative, is an effort to preserve the contributions and stories of renowned transportation professionals from New Jersey and throughout the United States. Numerous prominent transportation professionals have already been interviewed. Video interviews and transcripts of all interviews are available online.
Panelists at the Voorhees Transportation Center’s 25th Anniversary Symposium celebrating the opening of the Alan M. Voorhees Exhibit included (from left to right) Paul Wiedefeld, Secretary, Maryland Department of Transportation; Thomas Deen, Retired Executive Director, Transportation Research Board; Stephen Lockwood, Steve Lockwood LLC, Transportation Institutional Engineering; Gloria Shepherd, Executive Director, Federal Highway Administration and Robert Skinner, Retired Executive Director, Transportation Research Board.
The final part of the project was the opening and dedication of the Alan M. Voorhees Exhibit at the Bloustein School. Housed on the fourth floor of the Civic Square Building in downtown New Brunswick, NJ, the exhibit is professionally designed and constructed as a museum-type exhibit. It was completed in April 2023 to coincide with VTC’s 25th anniversary.
The exhibit was designed with guidance from staff at Rutgers Zimmerli Art Museum and input from Scott Voorhees, VTC staff, former AMV Associates colleagues and close friends. Multiple panels, which include text, photos, and graphics, portray major milestones of Alan’s life and the transportation firm he established.
“This has been an incredible project that I never saw coming…Tom [Deen] contacted me about his vision and the formation of the Alan M. Voorhees Legacy Committee. I, of course, thought it was a great idea and offered all my support, particularly the part about ‘putting a few visual panels on the walls of the center to say a little about Al’,” said Scott Voorhees in his remarks at the dedication.
He acknowledged the effort it took to pare the visual exhibit to the selected highlights and thanked the numerous individuals who put their heart and soul into the project to create a story of his father’s legacy.
“Al—my father—always supported education, and it is the aim of this project and the exhibit to do the same. We hoped that it would provide inspiration to young planners in the Bloustein community as they pass by on their way to classes,” Mr. Voorhees concluded.
“We expect that the online world will embrace these stories as well, which are represented in the digital content online. And we hope they also explore the archives where the many interesting details reside.”
More information about The Alan M. Voorhees Legacy Project, including materials from the exhibit and links to the transportation library, oral history, and other resource files, may be found on the Voorhees Transportation Center website by visiting go.rutgers.edu/voorheeslegacy.
Members of the Voorhees family in attendance at the exhibit opening included (from left to right) Alan Voorhees, Scott Voorhees, Melissa Roberts, Susan Hunt, Tom Hunt, Sarah Hunt, Alan Hunt, and Sarah Lion.