Chrissy Mancini Nichols

Thanks for visiting to learn more about my work. You can also turn in to my weekly podcast on the latest news in planning and mobility called Mondays at The Overhead Wire by searching for Talking Headways on your podcatcher of choice.

I am currently the National Director of Curb Management and New Mobility at Walker Consultants. I’m leading a research and development initiative with cities across the nation to review and test technology to collect curb use data and implement curb management solutions to manage demand, congestion, and promote access and safety. The research is also creating curb space typologies based on city priorities and adjacent land use well as evaluating policy issues including curb fees and partnerships.

I’ve led over 100 projects - Highlights of my current portfolio include:

  • Transit Microgrids/Resiliency Hubs: Working with transit agencies to plan and implement solar powered microgrids/resiliency hubs to allow for 100% zero emissions buses and provide community amenities at the hubs such as EV charging stations, carshare, gardens and power during emergencies

  • New Transit Service: Working with transit agencies to plan more reliable transit service and transit-oriented development along CA Highway 99

  • Microtransit: Designing and implementing a shared electric vehicle microtransit service in Fresno County, CA with the National Rural Transit Assistance Program

  • Micromobility: Planning and implementing a micromobility program and successfully securing an operator for the City of Columbia, MO and University of Missouri

  • Parking and Curb Pricing: Planning and policies for demand-based parking pricing and curb access fees for the City of Boulder, CO to generate revenue for transit and reforming minimum parking requirements in California to promote new housing development

  • Curb Management and Street Design: Developing plans, policies, and designs for curbs and streets for dozens of cities including Sacramento, CA, Seattle, WA, Ann Arbor, MI, San Luis Obispo, CA, and Mercer Island, WA

  • Sustainable Parking, Access, and Mobility Policies: Implementing sustainable parking and transportation policies for the cities of Sunnyvale, CA, West Sacramento, CA and County of Alameda, CA

  • Curb Management Planning: Creating a regional curb management guide for the North Central Texas Council of Governments in Dallas/Ft-Worth, TX

  • Parklets and Streateries: Creating design standards and regulations for parklets and “streateries” in the City of Benicia, CA and Winters, CA

  • Ride App Passenger Loading Zones: Designing and implementing passenger loading zones for Ride App pickup and drop-off in several cities, airports, arenas, and stadiums across the country.

  • Transit Funding and Finance: Working with transit agencies across the country to plan and fund existing and new transit operations and capital.

I have extensive experience working with local and regional governments and transit agencies. I previously was the Transportation Policy Manager at Remix, a planning platform for public transit used by more than 350 agencies worldwide.

For seven years I was the Director of Transportation Policy and Director of Research at the Metropolitan Planning Council, a regional planning organization in Chicago. During this time, I worked to pass transit-oriented development and parking zoning reforms, build bus rapid transit, refine two federal transportation bills and a state capital program to create more sustainable funding sources and transportation policies, worked to implement performance measures for transportation spending that were included in the federal MAP-21 reauthorization, implement congestion pricing, create a state P3 intermediary, evaluated the economic returns of parklets for local businesses, and was awarded funding for the Cost of Segregation study on tax and transportation policies that reduce income inequality. I also led a strategy to establish a transit tax increment district to fund major Chicago Transit Authority projects—including using value capture to finance the $5 billion Red and Purple Line Modernization and the $1 billion renovation of Chicago Union Station. For the first time, I quantified the organization’s direct impact making the Chicago region the best place to live and work in the country.

I’ve worked on several state and local public-private partnerships including for transit, highways, parking assets, and airports. I led a financial analysis of Chicago’s private parking meter concession to recommend changes to the system to reduce the City’s annual payment to the private concessionaire and make the system more efficient for users. I also staffed the Midway Advisory Panel, a process to explore privatization of Midway Airport that included a financial and policy evaluation to ensure the City’s long-term interests were secured.

I served on the the North Lake Shore Drive Corridor Planning Committee and the Chicago Bus Rapid Transit Steering Committee, and staffed Mayor Rahm Emanuel's Transportation and Infrastructure transition committee.  I was appointed to the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning's Technical Advisory Group on the Fiscal and Economic Impacts of Development Decisions.

I was granted a U.S. State Dept. professional fellowship to work in Ho Chi Min City and Danang, Vietnam, advising local governments in using public-private partnerships to build infrastructure including transit, bike share, water systems, bridges, and placemaking.  

Prior to joining MPC, I was the associate executive director of the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability, a Chicago-based fiscal policy think tank, where I worked on tax, budget and education funding policies. I was a steering committee member of A+ Illinois, a state education funding reform coalition comprised of school officials, union leaders, advocates, business, and elected officials.  I led the research, policy modeling, and legislative strategy — drafting legislation to create a more equitable and fair education and tax system. I also was appointed by the Illinois General Assembly as technical advisor to the Task Force on Economic and Workforce Development, Joint Committee on Property Tax and School Funding Reform, Senate Education committee, and House and Senate Revenue committees. 

I also served as an analyst at the U.S. Dept. of Education and as a seventh-grade social studies teacher.

I was awarded the Northwestern University Graduate School’s Distinguished Thesis Award for The Implementation of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) in Illinois, which analyzed each component of NCLB compared with state and federal fiscal policies to find how tax policy affects the implementation of the law at the local level in terms of equity and outcomes. 

My work has been featured in various media and policy outlets including the ITE Journal, Chicago Tribune, National Academies of Science, International Parking and Mobility Institute, RailVolution, Chicago Sun Times, National Public Radio, CBS News, The Atlantic, The Government Finance Officers Association's Government Finance Review, Reboot Illinois, The Chicago Policy Review, Streetsblog, BusRide Magazine, Chicago Magazine, the Urban Land Institute Magazine, the American Planning Association Planning Magazine, the Sustainable Cities Collective, Planetizen, The Brookings Institution, the Mayors Innovation Project, Center for American Progress, the biography Seeking Bipartisanship: My Life in Politics, by U.S. Dept. of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.

I currently live in San Francisco and have also called New York City, Chicago, Hawaii, and Washington, D.C. home.  I grew up in Youngstown, Ohio.

I love my work, but I love my rescue dog Bob even more.