MPC
Region 8 Student of the Year is Utah State University's Holly Lloyd

Posted: Jan 12, 2017

Holly Lloyd, a December 2016 graduate of Utah State University's master's program in civil engineering, was named the 2017 Student of the Year for USDOT's Region 8. Lloyd's master's project involved the analysis of the safety effectiveness of the diverging diamond interchanges in Utah. Her advisor was MPC researcher Ziqi Song and her work was part of MPC Project 480.

Lloyd grew up in Roy, Utah, and attended Weber State University where she earned her bachelor's degree in business administration with an emphasis in supply chain management. After working in the private sector, she decided to continue her education and pursue a master's degree in civil engineering with an emphasis on transportation.

The diverging diamond interchange is a possible solution to problematic interchange locations because it can accommodate higher and unbalanced traffic flows. The analysis results demonstrated statistically significant decreases in crashes at most of the locations studied. This analysis can be used by government agencies and other transportation engineering professionals considering the implementation of diverging diamond interchanges.

Lloyd also won the ITE Intermountain Section Student Paper competition and presented her research at the ITE Intermountain Section annual conference.

Congratulations Holly, on being selected 2017 MPC Student of the Year!