Fall 2017 Edition    
ITS Michigan Quarterly Newsletter
Greetings!

There are lots of exciting things happening in the world of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) in Michigan. The Intelligent Transportation Society of Michigan (ITS Michigan) is your link to these activities. This quarterly newsletter will help you keep up to speed on what's happening in ITS in Michigan and learn about opportunities to network with others in the field.
Dec. 13 ITS Michigan webinar :
Using new data sources to solve emerging transportation issues

Steve Remias, PhD, assistant professor at Wayne State University, will lead this ITS Michigan webinar from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 13.

Dr. Remias will present an overview of GPS-based crowd-sourced probe-vehicle data and current applications being used by local and national agencies. He will also present new approaches to assessing traffic signal performance using these data sources.

Register for the free webinar at www.itsmichigan.org.
Long-time ITS Michigan Board member
Dick Beaubien honored
Dick Beaubien, a founding member of ITS Michigan and long-time Board member, was honored for his many years of commitment at the ITS Michigan Annual Meeting Sept. 27.

Beaubien, who is managing director of Beaubien Engineering, formerly worked for engineering firm Hubbell, Roth & Clark and also served as the city transportation engineer and head of the Traffic Engineering and Right of Way Department for the City of Troy. For many years he has led ITS Michigan’s incident management initiative, which brings together first responders, road agencies and others involved in roadway incident management. The incident management initiative is viewed as one of the most active in bringing together all the parties involved in responding to freeway and roadway incidents.

In addition to serving on the ITS Michigan Board, Beaubien has also twice served as ITS Michigan president.
ITS Michigan at ITS World Congress 2017 in Montreal
ITS Michigan was well represented at the ITS Word Congress in Montreal, Oct. 29 to Nov. 2. Below are some of the scenes from the World Congress, which is the largest international ITS-related gathering in the world.
ITS Michigan Board Member John Abraham (right) with Michigan Governor Rick Snyder on the floor of the World Congress.
Representing Michigan (left to right): John Abraham (Macomb County Department of Roads), Deputy Oakland County Executive Matt Gibb, Chris Olzem of Oakland County Economic Development and Vicky Rad of Macomb County Economic Development.
Above left, WJR personality Guy Gordan broadcasting from the Michigan booth. Above, Ken Yang of AECOM presenting a paper. At left Planet M materials at the Michigan booth.
ITS Michigan Annual Meeting a hit with participants
The ITS Michigan 2017 Annual Meeting, which took place Sept. 27 at NextEnergy Detroit, was well received by the sell-out crowd. A series of speakers and panels filled the day-long event with stimulating discussion of a variety of topics related to intelligent transportation systems. 
Paul Pebbles, chief technology officer for General Motors' Urban Mobility organization shares an insight with the crowd.
The audience listens as panelists discuss various topics.
Alan Lecz, director of the Advanced Transportation Center at Washtenaw Community College makes a point during a panel discussion of ways to ensure Michigan talent is up to the challenges of ITS.
WSP Connected/Automated Vehicle Market Leader Scott Shogan discusses the "race to automation."
Matt Gibb, deputy executive for Oakland County, and Vicky Rad, deputy director of the Macomb County Department of Planning and Economic Development, listen during a discussion of how to grow the ITS-related economy in Michigan.
Member Profile:
Member name:  U.S. Department of Transportation Center for Connected and Automated Transportation (CCAT) at the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI)

Primary contact:  Debby Bezzina

How long a member of ITS Michigan: UMTRI has been involved with ITS Michigan since the associatin's inception. UMTRI fully supports the mission of ITS Michigan -- as an advocate for the development and deployment of ITS throughout the state and as a voice for Michigan’s ITS issues, concerns and policy development. 

Type of organization (company, individual, public sector, academic):  Academic

Primary product or service: 
Connected and automated transportation research.
Founded in 1965, UMTRI is a global leader in transportation research and a partner of choice for industry leaders, foundations and government agencies. We have conducted more than 1,000 research projects with a multidisciplinary approach involving traffic-safety analysis and bioengineering to human factors, mechanical engineering, psychology, economics and public policy. UMTRI has achieved international recognition for contributions to road traffic safety, and many of those contributions are now an integral, everyday part of transportation systems and technology. For the past 20 years, we have worked alongside government and industry in the areas of connected and automated research and are considered a global leader in this transformative technology and its deployment. 

Reason you’re involved in the field of ITS: 
Motor-vehicle crashes are the largest single public-health crisis facing the U.S. Crashes are the leading cause of death of people under 35 years old. There are more than 32,000 traffic fatalities a year in the country. Each year 2.3 million patients visit emergency rooms as a result of crashes. These crashes cost $240 billion per year cost in terms of medical care and work loss. Congestion-related delays cost this country $70 billion in economic impact including accidents. Transportation has a major impact on global sustainability; it is responsible for 30 percent of U.S. carbon emissions and 70 percent of oil consumption . ITS is at the heart of solving the most negative impacts of our current transportation system. 

What are your favorite benefits of ITS Michigan: 
UMTRI faculty and staff have benefited greatly from the relationships that have been established through ITS Michigan, fFrom creating a network of professionals to advocating for ITS with industry and government. ITS Michigan has brought greater awareness of important policy issues facing the transportation industry to the state and throughout the industry.

What excites you most about ITS and the future of the ITS industry? 
The last half-century has seen startling economic and technological changes in the automotive industry. Those changes are accelerating as the industry strives to transform the “intelligence” of the global transportation system. More than merely keeping pace, ITS Michigan, together with its members, is playing an exciting role in the transformation of the transportation system.

Anything else you would like to add about ITS Michigan? 
ITS Michigan is on the fore-front of the transportation transformation. Driven by the rapid development of connected- and automated-vehicle (CAV) technologies, ITS Michigan is on the cusp of a new revolution in transportation safety and mobility on a scale not seen since the introduction of automobiles a century ago.
ITS Michigan Lunch and Learn focused on US-23 Flex Route project

ITS Michigan conducted another successful Lunch and Learn webinar earlier this year featuring the US-23 Flex Route/Active Traffic Management project north of Ann Arbor.
Here's a summary of the information presented. The webinar was presented by Stephanie Palmer of the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) and Karianne Steffen of engineering firm HNTB.

The US-23 Flex Route is the first Active Traffic Management (ATM) project in Michigan. The project extends from the western US-23/M-14 interchange to just south of M-36 (9 Mile Road) north of Ann Arbor.

The project involved upgrading the median shoulders and installing lane-control gantries along the corridor to allow the median shoulder to be used as a third lane of travel during peak traffic conditions. The US-23 Flex Route utilizes overhead gantries equipped with various intelligent transportation system (ITS) equipment to facilitate the following ATM strategies:
  • Dynamic shoulder use -- the use of the median shoulder as a third lane during peak travel periods, incidents, and/or other conditions as warranted during non-peak periods.
  • Dynamic lane control – the ability to dynamically close or open individual general purpose lanes as warranted and provide advance warning of closures to safely merge traffic into adjoining lanes.
  • Variable speed advisories -- the adjustment of speed advisories based on real-time traffic, roadway and/or weather conditions.
  • Queue warning -- the real-time display of warning messages to alert motorists that queues or significant slowdowns are ahead.
  • Real-time Truck-Parking Information and Management System (TPIMS) – delivery of real-time truck-parking availability information to truck drivers along the US-23 Flex Route.
With the US-23 Flex Route being the first ATM project in Michigan, the project team faced several challenges during the planning and design phases, which included the following:
  • Gantry spacing and placement
  • Lane-control sign and dynamic-message sign standard messaging
  • Regulatory signing and pavement markings
  • Advanced Traffic-Management system software upgrade and integration
  • Safe dynamic-shoulder lane endings
  • Cost-effective power and communication considerations
  • Using existing devices in new ways
The President's Corner...
A few words from ITS Michigan's President Yousuf Taufiq
By Yousuf Taufiq,
ITS Michigan President a nd
Assistant Vice President, Manager, Michigan Traffic and ITS Engineering,
WSP USA / WSP Michigan Inc.
 
As technology evolves and becomes more mature, the application of technologies in our transportation system will improve and enhance safety, mobility and efficiency on our roadways.

Right here in Michigan, industries and organizations representing the public, private and academic research institutions are moving the needle forward to make this state a hub of mobility innovation that will transform the transportation system for the better. Exciting things are happening right here in Michigan, with the expected opening of the American Center for Mobility at Willow Run in December, and the testing of autonomous applications at the Blue Water Bridge in Port Huron by the U.S. Army’s Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC) and the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT).
In late September, ITS Michigan held its annual meeting in Detroit. The theme, “Life on Planet M” emphasized not only the great things that are happening now in Planet M, but helped to start dialog about what the future of Planet M will be in a world of mobility solutions enabled by ITS, open innovation, connected and automated vehicles (C/AV), cyber security, shared use/multi-modal mobility solutions and the built environment to support it all.
We lined up a diverse set of panelists to discuss how we are enhancing our people to keep up with the changes in technologies, to examine how we can make Michigan cities “smart,” to assess what role ITS and mobility will play in the growth of our economy, and to explore where we are headed in the race for automation.
The event was wildly successful and included a diverse group of speakers who provided an interesting range of perspectives. The annual meeting could not be possible without the support for our sponsor organizations. Thank you for your contributions to the event.

I also want to personally thank all who attended and participated in the event. Your involvement in the annual meeting reminds us just how important our work is.

Thank you to NextEnergy for hosting the meeting at their facility and for providing participant tours of various electrification and mobility concepts. And, of course, a sincere thank you to all ITS Michigan member volunteers for bringing the event to fruition.

At the event, we honored one of our own members, Richard (Dick) Beaubien for his contribution to the success of the ITS Michigan organization since its inception. Dick has been one of the major anchors of the ITS Michigan Board, providing his leadership and guidance for the last two decades. He continues to engage transportation professionals in meaningful ways through his work with the Traffic Incident-Management Committee. Thank you, Dick!
It’s been an exciting year thus far, and our organization has accomplished so much! We are looking forward to next year as we welcome ITS America members to Detroit for the ITS America Annual Meeting in June 2018. In addition, we look forward to continuing our bi-monthly technical “lunch and learns,” and networking events.
Thank you all for your continued support for ITS Michigan.
Newsletter comments or content? Contact:
Craig Bryson 
(248) 645 2000 
Intelligent Transportation Society of Michigan (ITS Michigan)