About Us

MK Planning works for public and private sector clients on transportation planning, policy, funding, and land use issues and is recognized nationally for its work on demand-based parking management programs. Our firm understands how to successfully work with community based organizations, stakeholders, and government agencies, developing creative programs and projects that involve public and private sector partnerships.

MK was founded in 1992 and now has offices in Burbank and in Washington DC. MK is DBE certified in California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, New York, and Maryland.

Michael R. Kodama is the President of the firm. He has an M.A in Urban Planning from UCLA and currently is a Professor teaching Transportation Planning at USC in the School of Policy, Planning, and Development. He has over 20 years of transportation and parking experience.

Barry Samsten is a senior project managers. He has has led efforts involving multiple modes (freeways, highways, transit, goods movement, parking management, transportation demand management) and understand transportation planning, funding, and policy issues.

Michael Kodama

Michael R. Kodama is an urban planner with a background in transportation planning, funding, and policy issues. He has also worked on economic development, environmental and land use issues. During the past fifteen years, Mr. Kodama has worked on a wide variety of projects involving highway, rail (passenger and freight), transportation demand management, traffic safety, goods movement, parking management, waste management, park and recreation, special event centers, foreign trade zones, e-government, community transportation issues, environmental justice and downtown revitalization. This includes working with businesses and stakeholder groups on transportation needs assessments in downtown areas and working with residents in local communities on transportation-related issues.
Mr. Kodama has worked on Federal Reauthorization issues as well as a number of boards and commissions including the vice-chair of the Los Angeles Neighborhood Initiative (LANI) and as a commissioner with the State Senate Asian Pacific Islander Advisory Commission. He has also worked with governments of other countries from Asia, Africa, Europe, South America, and Central America. He is currently teaching transportation planning at the University of Southern California and has also taught public funding courses at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Mr. Kodama has a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California at Los Angeles in Sociology and Economics and a Masters of Arts degree from the University of California at Los Angeles in Urban Planning, with an emphasis in Social Policy Analysis and Transportation.

Barry L. Samsten

Barry L. Samsten is a senior project manager and has a background in transportation planning with over 30 years of regional and local experience. He understands demand based transportation issues while working with transit and regional transportation planning agencies.

Recent assignments include conducting national research on a variety of local and regional parking programs as well as developing programs for local jurisdictions that combine transit and parking management programs. Mr. Samsten is well respected for his ability to understand how to balance regional and local transportation planning issues. He has led efforts in multi-modal planning to develop transportation policies, regulations and programs. 

Mr. Samsten formerly worked for the Southern California Association of Governments, Riverside Transit Authority, Basin Transit District, and Fargo Metropolitan Area Transit.