Election Nominees for 2011:

The Institute’s Nomination Committee has selected as their nominees to run for election to serve starting 2011:

International President

• Robert C. Wunderlich, P.E., FITE

International Vice President

• Troy A. Peoples, P.E., FITE
• Rock E. Miller, P.E., PTOE, FITE  — From our District

Mississippi and Missouri to receive $9.4 Million for transportation improvements

Taken from US DOT:

U.S. Secretary of Transportation Awards $9.4 Million for Mississippi and Missouri Transportation Improvements

WASHINGTON – Nine highway projects in Mississippi and Missouri will receive $9.4 million from the Federal Highway Administration’s Delta Region Transportation Development Program (DRTDP), U.S Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood announced today.

“Investments like these will not only improve the safety of the Delta Region’s highways, they will also strengthen its economy and put people back to work,” said Secretary LaHood.

Created in 2005 as a provision of the “Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users,” the program provides up to $10 million each year for highway projects in the eight states comprising the Delta Region –Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri and Tennessee.

Follow this link to view the full article.

Transportation Communication Newsletter: A website to visit

Below are a selection of news updates taken from the Transportation Communication Newsletter: (http://transport-communications.blogspot.com/)

The transport communication newsletter is a frequently updated blog that hosts volumes of great transportation news. I have placed a permanent link to the website at the right hand side of the page in the section titled. “Transportation News Sites”. Please be sure to visit the site; and again, all research below is taken from said website.

TRANSIT NEWS

1) Overland Trains to Accept Oyster Card

Link to BBC News story:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/8373913.stm

Link to news release from the City of London:

http://www.london.gov.uk/view_press_release.jsp?releaseid=24359

2) Zambian Transporters Urged to Display RTSA Number to Facilitate Passenger Communication

Link to article in the Times of Zambia:

http://www.times.co.zm/news/viewnews.cgi?category=6&id=1258954716

3) The Days May be Grim, but Here’s a Good Word to Put In Your Pocket

Link to article in The New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/20/nyregion/20metrocard.html

Link to further information from the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority:

http://www.mta.info/mta/aft/about/optimism.html

4) Eyes on the Street: Is This Our Stop? Signage Shortcomings on Muni Metro

Link to blog on Streetsblog San Francisco:

http://sf.streetsblog.org/2009/11/23/eyes-on-the-street-is-this-our-stop-signage-shortcomings-on-muni-metro/

Crash Tests Help Reduce Traffic Deaths

NPR’s Brian Naylor recently published an article detailing exactly how the use of crash tests and the dummies involved help to reduce traffic deaths. The article also linked to a top safe vehicles list published by the Institute for Highway Safety that can be found by following the link within the article. The use of crash tests for vehicles has traced a dramatic improvement in the overall safety of our vehicles since the year 1995, and this research is compounded through the use of high-tech crash dummies which can now sense loads applied by both the deformation of the vehicle and the impulse of the crash. Be sure to follow the link (here) to read the full and informative article.

Source: npr.org

WesternITE Newsletter October 2009 Is here!

What’s in this edition of WesternITE Online?

• President’s Message
• Changing Campus Culture: Making the Bus Cool
• 2009 Denver Awards
• Section and Chapter Updates
• 2009 Annual Board Meeting Highlights
• Call For Traffic Bowl Questions
• Student Initiatives Committee
• Legislative Update
• 2009 Denver Annual meeting
• Section and Chapter Spotlight: Alaska
• International Director’s Report
• Student Endowment Fund: A Winning Formula? We think So!
• Editor’s Corner

Enjoy! – and thanks to all of the wonderful contributors that make this newsletter possible!

President’s Message: A Year of Opportunity

Michael Sanderson, P.E., PTOE

Denver, Colorado was recently the scene of another terrific Western District Annual Meeting. Thank you to Nate Larson and Will Johnson for your leadership and thanks to all the hard working members of the Local Arrangements Committee.  All of us who attended enjoyed your Rocky Mountain hospitality  and I extend my gratitude to you for the great kickoff to my year as president.

Changing Campus Culture: Making the Bus “Cool”

Union and Classroom Express Route

Charles W. Huffine, P.E., P.T.O.E., A.I.C.P., and Joanna Morsicato

Abstract

Most colleges and universities are trying to solve parking problems these days.  People want to park near their destinations.  Parking supplies never seem to be large enough, and providing more parking brings more cars into the high pedestrian environment.  Faced with building huge parking structures on campus, the University of Wyoming has instead begun to shift its culture from single occupancy vehicles to transit/park-n-ride.  Starting with University of Wyoming Transportation and Parking Master Plan¹, the university was able to employ various methods to successfully get people to leave their cars and hop on buses.

Editor’s Corner

I would like to begin by thanking you, the reader, for checking out this edition of the Western ITE Newsletter. For those interested in the contents of this newsletter, please note that extended versions of some articles, such as the informative “Making the bus cool” technical piece, can be read only on the online newsletter. In the coming months we will be posting all of the technical papers submitted to Western ITE that unfortunately could not be fit into the physical newsletter. While on the topic of the physical newsletter, we have announced that from here on out there will be only two printed editions per year with the majority of our content now being placed on this website. This is in keeping with the theme of Michael’s message to us this month and we are doing our best to work in a manner that is more economically efficient. The upside of moving to a primarily web based format is that much more content can be posted, including both articles and photos that would have taken too much space in a physical newsletter. To go directly to our photo album which now includes photos from Denver, follow the link http://picasaweb.google.com/zakiladot. (or simply click the photos link to your right) From this point forward, I would like section updates, technical papers and any other prospective articles to be sent to ntmustafa@gmail.com. The newsletter’s new format is exciting for us all, and I cannot say enough how much I appreciate the readership.

Together We Are the Best– Interim Managing Editor Zaki Mustafa

2009 Denver Awards

Congratulations to the First Student Traffic Bowl Winners

University of Wyoming

Section and Chapter Activities

Colorado/Wyoming

The Colorado/Wyoming Section of ITE had a busy summer!  The Section kicked off the summer with our annual golf tournament on Friday, June 26th at the West Woods Golf Club.  There were 82 players at this year’s Colorado/Wyoming Section golf tournament, and generous donations from our sponsors made for some great prizes and allowed us to raise well over $300 for the scholarship fund.  The winning team included Mike Harmer, Skip Hlad, Chris Paiz, and John Sabo.  A special thanks to the golf committee:  John Seyer, Craig Faessler, Eric Boivin, John Muscatel, Scot Lewis, and Jeff Ream.