Jack W. Boorse, 78, principal professional associate for transport engineering in the Philadelphia office of Parsons Brinckerhoff (PB) since 1988, died May 9. Before joining PB, Boorse had served the Philadelphia Streets Department since 1957, spending the last five years of his tenure as chief traffic engineer.

Boorse was a founding member and chairman of the Philadelphia Traffic and Transit Coordinating Committee, which instituted dedicated traffic lanes for trolley lines in the city operated by the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority. He also installed the first U.S. “trolley-only” traffic bar signal.

As a consultant, Boorse was responsible for the integration of automobile traffic and light rail trains for 12 light rail systems operating today. At the time of his death, he was working on new light rail systems in Baltimore and San Diego.

“Jack’s unique background brought immediate creditability with municipal traffic engineers,” said T.R. Hickey, vice chair of APTA’s Streetcar Subcommittee. “He spoke to them on their terms and convinced them that autos and trains could mix safely.”

Boorse was an emeritus member of the Transportation Research Board (TRB) Committee on Light Rail Transit and the founding chair of its Subcommittee on Light Rail Circulator Systems. He published numerous papers in TRB journals and was a frequent contributor to Transit Cooperative Research Program reports. Boorse also was the author of Rapid Transit in Canada, published in 1968 by Almo Press, and Philadelphia in Motion, published by Bryn Mawr Press in 1976.