#ITEAustin2019 Daily Edition
|
|
A Transformative Day for Transportation
|
|
It was a packed room for the Opening Business and Plenary Session on Monday morning in the Grand Ballroom, which was no surprise, given this year’s turnout at the ITE Joint International and Texas District Annual Meeting. “This meeting will be the largest gathering of ITE members in 15 years,” said Jeffrey Paniati, CEO and Executive Director of ITE. He encouraged attendees to take advantage of the conference’s many networking opportunities, and described what a fitting location Austin, TX is as host city for this year’s event. “The things that they’ve been doing here and the innovation and leadership in transportation—this is a great place for all of us to learn and see it in action,” he said.
|
|
ITE’s Immediate Past President and Chairman of the Nominating Committee Michael Sanderson swearing in the newest ITE officers, 2020 International President-Elect Randy McCourt and 2020 Vice President-Elect Alyssa Rodriguez.
|
|
Texas Department of Transportation Deputy Director Marc Williams address #ITEAustin2019 in the Opening Business and Plenary.
|
|
The newest ITE Honorary Member Ken Voigt
was recognized for his dedication to ITE and the profession at the Opening Session and received a standing ovation.
|
|
|
State of ITE 2019 Annual Business Meeting Report
|
Make sure to read the
State of ITE Report. This yearly recap released in conjunction with the Opening Business and Plenary Session at the Annual Meeting, shows a snapshot of membership organizational transformations, activities, Institute Initiatives, publications, certifications, and ITE's District, Section, and Chapter involvement.
|
|
|
|
Awards Lunch and
LeadershipITE
Graduation
|
|
ITE's 2019 Excellence in Transportation Awards showcased the best and brightest in the transportation field. From Rising Stars, to large and small transformative transportation projects, to recognizing ITE council involvement, to ITE's board of direction, and honoring the TexITE awardees, to the graduation of the
LeadershipITE class, this year's lunch had something for everyone. For a complete list of winners
click here.
Make sure to read tomorrow's newsletter for more photos of the Awards Lunch.
|
|
HSIS Student Competition Winners Honored
|
|
Florida International University Ph.D. candidate Seyedmirsajad Mokhtarimousavi received first place for the
2019 HSIS Excellence in Highway Safety Data Award competition. The winning paper, "A Time of Day Analysis of Pedestrian-Involved Crashes in California: Investigation of Injury Severity, a Logistic Regression and Machine Learning Approach Using HSIS Data," explores the contributing factors for pedestrian-involved crashes in California. The second-place recipient is Alyssa Ryan, University of Massachusetts Amherst, and the third-place recipient is Jianqing Wu, University of Nevada, Reno. The winners were honored at Monday's Awards Lunch, and the first place paper will be published in the October 2019 issue of
ITE Journal.
|
|
University of Texas Wins ITE Collegiate Traffic Bowl
|
|
The home team reigned supreme at Monday night's ITE Collegiate Traffic Bowl, a Jeopardy-style tournament in which college teams competed by answering questions about traffic engineering. Categories such as “Gimme a Signal,” “ITE Fearless Leaders,” and “Love at First Sight,” which pertained to driver sight questions, were among the topic areas. In the championship round, the University of Texas at Austin blew past the two remaining teams, the University of Kentucky and Penn State, to clench the $2,000 prize. Other semifinalist teams that competed were the University of Florida, the University of Alberta, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Trine University, the University of Kansas, and the University of Massachusetts-Amherst.
|
|
|
The audience added to the overall excitement of the ITE Collegiate Traffic Bowl with hand-clappers provided by
Siemens
.
|
|
|
Terry Gortney, Charlotte Department
of Transportation, presents a poster on
Innovative Route-Based Signal Control
Priority System.
|
|
John Habermann, Texas A&M Transportation Institute, explains his poster,
State and Local DOTs’ Contribution to the Disruption of Human Trafficking.
|
|
Scott Poska, Alliant Engineering presents on his poster session,
The Popularity of Navigation Apps and Impact on Traffic Operations.
|
|
Jeffrey Kupko, Michael Baker International, talks about his poster
Mobility Hubs - The Equitable Congregation of Transportation.
|
|
Monday Technical Sessions Explore Roundabouts, Speed Management, Leadership, and More
|
|
Monday's technical program offered a chance for attendees to explore a range of topics. Whether looking to dive deeper into their expertise, get familiar with a new topic, or explore new areas of the profession they were interested in and want to learn more about, the technical sessions had something for everyone.
In
Local Leader Perspectives on the Future of Transportation, Michael Morris, Director of Transportation, North Central Texas Council of Governments, talked about the challenges and opportunities facing local leaders. He highlighted the fact that many are quick to embrace the latest and greatest technology without first thinking of the end user. "We don't look at the needs of the user enough when evaluating technology," he said.
Brian Walsh with Washington State DOT (WSDOT) emphasized the importance of communication and community involvement with roundabouts in the session
Cheaper by the Dozen: Practical Low-Cost Roundabouts. He said Washington State has about 420 roundabouts, and community buy-in has gotten easier over time. For example, on one WSDOT project, “There was no opposition in the community process because they had seen other roundabouts,” he said. “We have a fairly good culture supporting roundabouts, but now we need to innovate them.”
|
|
Industry Council Meeting Focus on Resource Development
|
|
Representatives from more than fourteen private sector companies, multiple public agencies, as well as the ITE Executive Committee participated in today's ITE Industry Council Meeting. An energetic conversation covered a number of topics including the update of a procurement guide, an educational tool to help public agencies with procurement processes and methodologies, and the potential for in-person training opportunities during upcoming ITE meetings and virtual webinars. If you were unable to attend and would like more information, please contact Pam Goodell at
pgoodell@ite.org
.
|
|
Don't Miss Tonight's Closing Reception at Maggie Mae's!
|
|
You've attended technical sessions, explored the exhibit hall, and networked with fellow attendees. Now that the Annual Meeting is winding down, it's time to kick back and relax by attending the ITE Closing Reception at Maggie Mae's tonight. Come grab a drink and a bite to eat. This event will be among your final opportunities to network with fellow attendees, enjoy a fun atmosphere, and see the best of what Austin has to offer.
When: TONIGHT, Tuesday, July 23
6:30 p.m.
–8:00 p.m.
Where: Maggie Mae's
323 E. 6th St
|
|
A Terrific Turnout for ITE's STEM Activity Day
|
|
The ITE STEM Subcommittee hosted a successful STEM Activity Day for kids in 5th
–8th grades at #ITEAustin2019. Children participated in a variety of hands-on activities that taught them more about everything from traffic signs to retroreflectivity. Local students from the Austin community participated, including Kian Hall, who came with his mom Estelina. She says she saw the event advertised on a Facebook post and thought it would be a great way to get her son more involved in STEM. "He's been playing with Tinker Toys since he was little," she said. "He could build those before he could talk." Kian was busy at the STEM Activity Day coloring a creative traffic warning sign with bright colors. "I like making stuff. I like putting stuff together," he said. "I like working with metal and plastic." Kian added that he wants to be an NBA player when he grows up, and also own a food truck. "I want to keep it downtown," he said, adding that Austin is a great town to live in.
|
|
Student and Faculty Leadership Forum
|
|
Students and faculty from ITE student chapters gathered on Tuesday morning to collaborate and discuss ideas for growing and sustaining their chapters. They participated in an activity to share how they approach four areas: activities, fundraising, recruitment, and officer elections. "The overall goal here is to get ideas from the students on what they're doing well so we can share it with other students and make all of the student chapters the best they can be," said David Schulz with Brigham Young University. Added David Hurwitz with Oregon State University, "It's the first time we've run this session at this meeting, so that's pretty exciting. We've been running a session like this in the Western District for the last three years and it's been adopted at other District and Session meetings across the country."
|
|
Choose Your Wednesday Workshop
|
|
Reserve your spot for the workshops being offered tomorrow, Wednesday, July 23. Topics include the Safe Transportation for Every Pedestrian Workshop, Targeted Efforts to Improve Rural Road Safety Workshop, State of the Art in Traffic Calming Workshop, and more! Please note, some workshops require a separate fee to register and this fee is indicated on the link below.
|
|
TexITE Annual Business Meeting
|
|
Get caught up on what is happening with the Texas District and what initiatives and work has been completed. Show your support for our wonderful host district.
When: Wednesday, July 24
8:00
–9:00 a.m.
Where: Governor's Ballroom, 4th floor
|
|
Tomorrow's closing plenary will be a TED talk-style format with special guest Dr. David Harkey, President of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) and Highway Loss Data Institute (HLDI). Dr. Harkey came to IIHS-HLDI in January 2018 after serving as Director of the North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center for 12 years. With a long and distinguished career in the transportation safety field, Dr. Harkey will share his insights on Vision Zero and the roles that both infrastructure changes and new technology can play in driving down the number of fatalities and serious injuries on the transportation system.
When: Wednesday, July 24
11:00 a.m.
–12:00 p.m.
Where: Governor's Ballroom, 4th floor
|
|
TSMO Workforce: Recruitment, Retention, and Career Development
|
|
In today’s transportation workforce do you face challenges like advancing needs for technology knowledge, intergenerational management, matching skills to needs through existing public sector hiring practices, evolving recruiting practices to attract top talent in fields which transportation agencies traditionally have not hired, and providing competitive wages and benefits? If so, then we have the session for you. Join Alexandra Lopez, Gannett Fleming ITS engineer, on
Wednesday, July 24, from 9 a.m.–10:30 a.m., as she participates in a panel that will hit on these topics and better prepare you for the workforce of the future.
|
|
Transoft Solutions Completes Acquisition of UK-Based Keysoft Solutions
|
|
Suite of BIM Solutions Adds to Expanding Line of Civil and Transportation Engineering Software
Keysoft Solutions, developers of Building Information Modeling (BIM) software for traffic management and landscape planning and design, has been a close partner and reseller of Transoft Solutions products in the UK since 2005. Keysoft Solutions will continue to operate, manage and support key operations and customers from its head office in Warwickshire, UK. The terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
This acquisition is consistent with Transoft Solutions' global business goals. As well, the new acquisition facilitates Transoft's mission of providing our combined customers, with access to new innovations that help get their design projects done quickly and confidently.
Full release available
here.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|