Active Transportation, For Who?

Our world has drastically changed since COVID-19 hit in March. Half of the department stores anchoring retail districts have closed permanently. Hotels are projecting occupancies below 20 percent. Student housing, multi-family, and senior housing demand have experienced uncharacteristic, disproportional demand reductions. Increased work from home has reduced the need for office space. Major event venues are closed. Active transportation depends upon people's need to travel. Here, McCourt examines what happens when near-term events etch indelible change in how and what people find a need to travel for.

Tennessee Section of ITE-Meaningful Meetings, Meet-Ups, and More!

The Tennessee Section of ITE (TSITE) has strong local Section meetings, which were allowed and encouraged in 2022 as conditions improved from the COVID-19 pandemic. In-person meetings resumed in each of the larger cities: Memphis, Nashville, Chattanooga, Knoxville, and Johnson City. Technical sessions at meetings included applications of cutting-edge transportation elements and offered professional development hours (PDHs) for participants. TSITE was able to host all four of its quarterly Section meetings in person. The quarterly meetings rotate across the state and are typically full-day events. They begin in the morning with technical presentations and lunch is provided, followed by the business meeting, additional technical sessions, and/or a technical tour. In 2022, the Summer and Fall Section meetings were 3-day events. In 2022, the quarterly meetings were hosted and well-attended. The Winter Meeting in Cookeville TN at Tennessee Tech University in February had 71 participants. Meeting presentations included "MDOT Traffic Signal Asset Management & Preventative Maintenance," "Campus Like Emergence Evaluation Modeling," "Evaluating factors associated with Abandoned and Disabled Vehicle Incidents in Tennessee," and "MAQ award for deploying an NDOT Traffic Management Center and other emerging projects."

Downtown Vibrancy Plan Complete Streets Project

During the Great Recession in 2009, the City of Salinas began receiving requests from stakeholders concerned with the city's downtown to evaluate the area's circulation and parking. While the initial intent was to improve mobility and manage parking, the focus of the plan expanded through an extensive outreach process. Residents expressed a desire for downtown to become the heart of the city, and a place to gather for civic and community events. Through this process, the plan evolved to include four major themes: Creating a Destination Downtown, Managing Parking Resources, Building the Heart of Salinas, and Stimulating Development Activity. The process, dubbed "The Road to Vibrancy," sought to construct a plan to capture and discuss aspirations, ideas, and concepts;develop and expand concepts jointly through workshops and meetings;debate and refine the Vibrancy Plan to ensure it was done right;and to gain broad-based support so that the plan can and will be implemented. The Vibrancy Plan was shaped heavily by public input through a robust planning process. In fact, nearly all the ideas and concepts presented in the plan were discovered through dialogue with residents, property owners, business owners, and others who shared their aspirations.

director's message

Paniati offers his message as ITE Executive Director and CEO. He shares that when they ask their members why they belong to ITE, connecting with their peers is a big part of the answer. Through these personal interactions and with ITEs products and services, members find new practices and solutions allowing them to positively impact their communities. There are many different avenues to make these connections within ITE. During 2023, ITE will be providing a wide variety of opportunities to Connect People and Communities. In Nov, they kicked-off their year-long transportation planning professional membership drive. In just the first month, more than 250 planners have taken advantage of the free membership offer. In Feb, their first All-member survey since 2016 will be conducted, helping ITE benchmark its progress in meeting member needs, serving members in the post COVID-19 environment, and identifing opportunities to improve.

director's message

For Paniati, the year started a bit ominously with a case of COVID-19 right before he was supposed to attend the first Board of Direction meeting of the year in January. Fortunately, it was a very mild case and technology allowed him to participate virtually. From there, things improved, and they are finishing the year with a strong record of accomplishment and continued enhancement in member value. ITE continues to grow as an organization fueled by strong public agency participation. In 2022, they added a significant number of public agency members, including three of the largest state Departments of Transportation--California, Texas, and New York. They have exceeded 16,500 members and are on track to reach their highest membership ever in 2023. Their strengthened financial position has allowed them to bring more value to membership.

How Las Vegas Upped Its Transportation Game with the Arrival of Pro Sports

It's no secret that Las Vegas NV is well equipped to handle large-scale events, hosting an average of 300 major events each year--including National Football League (NFL) and National Hockey League (NHL) games, NASCAR races, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) events, World Boxing Council-sanctioned matches, and high-profile college football games like the PAC-12 championship and ESPN-owned Las Vegas Bowl. Added to the mix are all-star celebrity residencies that helped to fuel the city's steady drumbeat of more than 42 million annual visitors in 2019. Powerhouse headliners like Katy Perry, Carrie Underwood, Adele, and Usher, in addition to major music festivals like Electric Daisy Carnival and Life is Beautiful, ensure that Las Vegas keeps its moniker as the "Entertainment Capital of the World." Added to that are more than 20,000 conventions of all sizes, including 60 of the world's largest, that easily make Las Vegas one of the country's top convention destinations.

ITE Talks Transportation Podcast

Louisiana Department of Transportation (DOT) Secretary Dr. Shawn Wilson joins the ITE Talks Transportation podcast for a dynamic conversation on the state of the industry and why he feels it's "the most exciting time" ever to work in transportation. He shares his perspectives on the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and how the funding can help state DOTs address safety, especially for vulnerable users. He also addresses the myriad of challenges brought on by COVID-19 for DOTs, and discusses how agencies can gain a competitive edge among the current workforce.

INDUSTRY NEWS

Smart Growth America's brand new Dangerous by Design 2022 report provides the most up-to-date look at how dangerous each state and largest metro areas are for people walking or rolling. While the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic upended many aspects of daily life, including how people get around, one terrible, long-term trend was unchanged: the alarming increase in people being struck and killed while walking. More than 6,500 people were struck and killed while walking in 2020, an average of nearly 18 per day, and a 4.5 percent increase over 2019. Design has a strong impact on how people drive with higher speeds making conflict harder to spot and avoid and crashes more deadly.

Call for Data-ITE Parking Generation Manual, 6th Edition

The Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) has initiated the process of developing the 6th Edition of its widely used informational report, Parking Generation Manual, for release in the second half of 2023. In addition to a continuous, multi-hour count of vehicle parking demand, ITE needs a complete description of the site characteristics (i.e., gross square footage, number of dwelling units, parking supply, parking cost) and its setting (street address is preferable, from which ITE can classify the site as general urban/suburban, dense multi-use urban, center city core, rural, or some other classification). To ensure data are considered for inclusion in the 6th Edition of Parking Generation, please submit by January 31,2023, to Lisa Fontana Tierney, Traffic Engineering Senior Director, ITE, 1627 Eye Street, NW, Suite 550, Washington, DC 20006 USA or lfontana@ite.org. itej

State of ITE 2022

At the Opening Session of each ITE Annual Meeting and Exhibition, Paniati provides a "State of ITE" report. He wanted to take this opportunity to share the highlights of his presentation in New Orleans: Membership Is Growing -- Despite COVID-19, their membership continues to grow. They expect to exceed 16,500 members in 2022. If recent trends continue, they can reach 17,000 in 2023--which would be the highest membership in the more than 90-year history of ITE. Fueling their growth are new public agency members;the past year they added Caltrans;New York State DOT;Kentucky Transportation Cabinet;Connecticut DOT;City of Atlanta GA;City of Orange CA;City of Victoria, BC and City of Richmond Hill, ON, both in Canada;St. Charles County MO;and Douglas County, Castle Rock CO. With strong fiscal leadership by the International Board of Direction (IBOD) and the ITE staff, they have built their financial reserves from 20 percent of their annual operating budget in 2016 to 100 percent at the end of 2021. The considerable effort to create a more consistent member experience and organizational structure across their Districts, Sections, and Chapters is resulting in more effective Districts and stronger Sections.

Stemming the Tide: Approaching Urban Freight in the Era of e-Commerce

The relationship between cities and freight is undergoing an unprecedented and tumultuous transition. While e-commerce has long been chipping away at traditional flows of goods, the COVID-19 pandemic caused a massive acceleration of trends, with some experts estimating that 10 years' worth of e-commerce adoption took place in the space of 3 months. This shift has had a profound effect on goods movement, and consequently, the transportation systems on which it depends. The number of small parcels delivered in the US rose to 20.2 billion in 2020. Crucially, a large portion of these parcels end up at individual residences rather than consolidated at retail locations. At the same time, customers expect goods to arrive faster than ever, often in 2 days or less. This rapid increase in volume, disaggregation, and speed requires a constant flow of delivery vehicles that manifests as urban truck traffic. More freight vehicles require more places to load and unload, and these activities often take place at the curb. Cities typically require off-street loading zones for some types of new construction, but these requirements vary widely and most freight is accounted for by extant buildings or areas where there is not space for off-street loading.

Sustainable Solutions

An interview with Kittelson & Associates Inc Senior Engineer Krista Purser is presented. Among other things, she discusses the projects that are most significant to her, the possible improvement for the transportation system and how she works with some Committee members.

Transformative Leadership

In 2017, the ITE International Board of Direction (IBOD) embarked on the most significant change initiative for the organization since the ITE Constitutional Convention in the 1970s. The "ONE ITE" effort, as it came to be known, sought to create a consistent member experience for all ITE members, regardless of where they are in the organization, and to enhance member value and benefits. The IBOD discussions started with a simple map of the US tacked up in the ITE Board room that illustrated the variation in District, Section, and Chapter sizes and definitions. This was followed by a series of conversations by the IBOD about the inconsistencies in the ITE member experience caused by widely differing membership definitions, charters, bylaws, and operating procedures.

Southern Alberta Section of ITE-Team Spirit

From its humble beginnings in 1975, the Southern Alberta Section of ITE in Canada has grown to more than 240 members in a third of a century. Although most of the membership resides in the Calgary region, the Section has members from many smaller towns and cities from Red Deer south to the US border. In general, the Section hosts monthly luncheon meetings (September to June) where technical presentations are made to the broad transportation community. The group is also actively pursuing several professional development courses and seminars to provide learning opportunities for the membership. The Section continues to partner with transportation professionals in the region through numerous technical, social, and student activities, even through the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2020, the Section hosted two regular monthly luncheon meetings in January and February. In March, due to COVID-19, the City of Calgary declared a state of emergency and the province implemented tight restrictions on gatherings. The March luncheon was therefore postponed until further notice. However, in May, the Section was one of the first to host a virtual presentation for their members.

ITE Colorado-Wyoming Section-Creating Community

The Colorado/Wyoming Section of ITE serves approximately 500 members across two states. The Section aims to bring together transportation professionals and student and younger members to network, learn, and build community while sharing knowledge and experience about key transportation-related information and fostering participation in Section function and development. The Section was honored to receive the Outstanding Section Award from the Mountain District in 2021 for activities completed in 2020. Under creative and adaptable leadership and unwavering support from Committee chairs and volunteers, the Section has maintained robust and engaging content for members both during, and now transitioning out of, the COVID-19 pandemic. The Section has not missed a beat. In fact, over the last 2 years, the mentorship program has resumed, a new Committee focused on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion was formed and organized its first activities, large-scale events such as the Transportation Symposium and golf tournament are selling out, and corporate sponsorship support is higher than ever. The annual calendar of events for the Section includes at least six monthly lunch meetings, with an average attendance of approximately 100 members at each event.

Our Biggest Challenge

One of the most confounding and unexpected results of COVID-19 has been the dramatic increase in the loss of life on our nations roadways. If you had told me at the start of the pandemic that travel would drop dramatically during this period, but fatalities would increase significantly, it would be hard to believe. Unfortunately, that is exactly what happened. In 2019, prior to the pandemic, the National Safety Council estimated that there were 39,107 motor-vehicle deaths. That increased to 42,339 in 2020, and again in 2021 to 46,020. Across this same period, the fatality rate increased from 1.20 fatalities per hundred million vehicle miles traveled in 2019, to 1.43 in 2021. What to do? No single action or solution will reverse this trend. As a community of transportation professionals, this vexing problem requires all the tools in our toolbox. This is the essence of the Safe System Approach. ITE has championed this approach in the United States, which is built around the idea of creating a multifaceted safety net of safer users, safer vehicles, safer roads, safer speeds, and effective post-crash care.

2022 Kicks-Off with Three ITE Student Leadership Summits

The ITE Student Leadership Summits are discussed. Among other things, San Jose State University (SJSU) hosted the virtual 2022 Western District Student Leadership Summit from Jan 28-30, 2022. This event brought students from various chapters including members from the US states of Hawaii, Washington, Oregon, and California. Over the span of 3 days, the SJSU ITE Student Chapter focused on the themes of interpersonal development and finding ways to be more aware of personal care, equity in transportation, and exposure to different technical work in the industry.

Back In-Person, Finally!

Paniati asserts that throughout COVID-19, we've learned more about reaching members virtually. The online delivery of professional development opportunities is really valued by the members, and we need to continue to deliver those in both virtual and hybrid forms. The recent Spring Conference is a great example. We just completed our second annual delivery of this event, and it is clear from the strong registration that there is continued interest in this learning opportunity, particularly by the public sector. This conference offers a great low-cost way to stay on top of our profession's latest developments and earn professional development hours. While the online tools for delivering learning opportunities are stellar, they can't replicate the other critical part of professional development: in-person networking.

Engineering for Equity: Asking the Right Questions

Equity is becoming a higher priority for transportation agencies and organizations, particularly as the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted gaps in access and as racial injustice has inspired new commitments to antiracist practices. Still, while questions of diversity, access, and bias have come into focus within our industry and have even, at times, led to more equitable public engagement during the planning stages of a project, centering equity should not stop there. Here, Thompson et al encourage transportation practitioners to remember that our work does not have an unspecified end--it impacts actual people whose lived experiences matter and who should be treated equitably.