VAG Transportation Engineering Consultants, PSC

VAG Transportation Engineering Consultants, PSC (VAGTEC) is an engineering firm established in Puerto Rico in 2010 to provide traffic and transportation engineering consulting services. We saw a void in the local market and an opportunity for a firm committed to delivering high-quality, reliable work in this field.

 

In over 15 years of practice, our commitment to quality has made us the consultant of choice for many of Puerto Rico's leading developers, architects, engineers, and real estate owners, as well as public-sector clients. With over 50 years of combined experience, our principals are registered professional engineers with proven track records. Dr. Vanessa Amado, our president, has managed numerous PRHTA design projects and has a thorough understanding of the agency's policies, standards, and procedures. We maintain a solid professional relationship with the agency's staff.

Our firm has performed complex traffic engineering studies for projects such as Ciudad de las Ciencias in Río Piedras, the Comprehensive Cancer Center, San Juan's Paseo Lineal, the Dynamic Toll Lane operations study from Caguas to San Juan along PR-52/PR-18/PR-30 (AC-800489), the PR-158 Connector in Cayey (AC-015801), geometric improvements to PR-2 in Peñuelas (AC-000265), the Dynamic Toll Lane expansion and geometric improvements to PR-22 Eastbound and Westbound, and the feasibility study for improvements to PR-3 from Río Grande to Fajardo (AC-301133). We have also completed more than 100 traffic impact studies for private developments across the island — including hospitals, hotels, vertical and detached housing, retail centers, and mixed-use projects — all reviewed and approved by the PRHTA.

Our traffic engineers have extensive experience in traffic flow modeling and analysis. We evaluate roadway capacity, level of service, delay, queue length, and other measures of effectiveness that define performance on roads, highways, and intersections in both rural and urban settings, including freeways. Our analyses follow current Highway Capacity Manual methodology, and we model facilities using Highway Capacity Software (HCS), Synchro/SimTraffic, TSIS-CORSIM, Vissim, and SIDRA, selecting the appropriate platform for each project's needs.

We design and refurbish traffic signal systems for effective operation, both as standalone intersections and as coordinated networks. Our team has designed more than 20 traffic signal systems across Puerto Rico, including new installations and upgrades to existing systems. We are fully familiar with PRHTA's traffic signal design standards and specifications, including Special Provision to Standard Specification 654.

Since 2014, we have built a robust traffic data collection and analysis department. We have successfully collected automatic traffic counts at over 1,000 locations throughout Puerto Rico's roadway network for private and public clients, including PRHTA and Metropistas, in support of compliance with the Highway Performance Monitoring System (HPMS) and other programs. For turning movement counts, we record video at intersections and road segments and process the footage remotely, with capacity to process over 100 hours of video per day and to capture continuous recordings of up to 100 hours. Turnaround is typically 72 hours from the date of recording. Our turning movement counts are guaranteed to be at least 97% accurate and are classified into four categories: light vehicles, heavy vehicles, pedestrians, and cyclists. Videos are archived on our servers for one year and remain available to the client for inspection upon request.

Beyond collection, we analyze traffic-generated data from multiple perspectives to produce useful information, suitable models, and accurate summaries. We build and maintain working databases, review datasets for completeness and accuracy, conduct complementary field surveys when required, and deliver summaries of major findings tailored to the client's decision-making needs.

VAGTEC is certified as a Woman-Owned Small Business (WOSB) by the U.S. Small Business Administration under 13 CFR Part 127. Our WOSB status means that 100% of the value of contracts awarded to our firm counts toward Woman-Owned Business Enterprise (WBE) participation goals on federally assisted and public-sector projects that recognize SBA certification.