When it comes to expertise in everything from foreign languages to physiology, The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) has the market cornered. So it's no surprise that when Rocket City officials needed help, they called on UAH civil engineering professor Dr. Michael Anderson for assistance. At issue was a recent traffic study to determine whether the construction of a new 24-hour Wal-Mart on Drake Avenue east of Memorial Parkway would negatively impact traffic flow at the proposed location. The conclusion was that it would not, but residents were not convinced. "The big concern was that Wal-Mart paid the consultants to do the original study, and that the same consultants have done the previous 30+ Wal-Mart studies in the state of Alabama," says Dr. Anderson. "So the residents were nervous there was some sort of bias; they wanted someone who could speak more freely."