The Colorado/Wyoming ITE Section held their October Luncheon on Friday the 22nd at the Budweiser Event Center in Loveland. Section President, Greg MacKinnon, presided over the Section’s luncheon meeting. The meeting began with Greg MacKinnon welcoming the attendees. Self-introductions and announcements followed.
The Section’s Executive Committee has adopted a Strategic Plan. The purpose of the Strategic Plan is to set goals for the Executive Committee so that the Section will grow in capability and value to its members. The Executive Committee will measure its progress towards these goals annually. The Strategic Plan can be found under the Section Documents link on the Section’s website.
The Section has also revised our old 1996 Bylaws. Adoption of the new Bylaws will require a vote by the Section members. Voting will open on November 29th. More information will follow in the November newsletter and via email. The proposed 2010 Bylaws can also be found on the Section’s website under the Section Documents link.
Our Section is looking for Student Chapter Liaisons to serve as a link between the Section and the Student Chapters. Chris Vokurka and Freddy He have volunteered to work with the University of Wyoming and CU-Denver Student Chapters, respectively.
Doug Eberhart was the winner of the October Newsletter Contest. He was the first person to correctly solve the newsletter’s Puzzle Maniac brainteaser. Doug graciously chose to donate his winnings to the Section’s scholarship fund.
Engineers Without Borders will be hosting their 5th Annual EWB Wine Tasting Fundraiser in Denver at Translations Gallery on November 11th. Proceeds will fund the Chapter’s ongoing humanitarian projects in Togo, Madagascar and Ecuador.
Jim Root and Ryan Sisson addressed the Section as the ASCE Transportation Co-Chairs. The ASCE Chapter is looking for continuing education programs that ASCE and ITE can pursue together. Please contact our Section’s Continuing Education Chair, Joe Henderson, with suggestions.
ASCE / Transportation Development Institute’s will be hosting the First Green Streets and Highways Conference in Denver from November 14 -17. You can find more information on http://coloradoasce.org/transportation.php.
Scott Thomas gave a Legislative Committee Report on several Colorado upcoming ballot initiatives that impact the transportation industry. Greg MacKinnon allowed the attendees to comment and discuss their views on the impacts of the ballot measures in the November 2nd election.
Vice President, Chris Sheffer, introduced Tony DeVito, CDOT Regional 1 Director. Tony discussed CDOT’s Draft Programmatic EIS on the I-70 corridor. He described CDOT’s feasibility analysis of adding an extra, temporary eastbound lane to Interstate 70 in an effort to relieve some of the ski traffic congestion. The extra “zipper” lane would be borrowed from westbound I-70. CDOT found using a reversible “zipper” lane on winter Sundays would cut the drive time from Silver Plume to El Rancho from 91 minutes to 46 minutes. The I-70 Reversible (Zipper) Lane Study can be found at: http://www.coloradodot.info/projects/I70reversiblelane.
The Section’s Holiday and Lifetime Achievement Award Luncheon will be held on Friday, December 3rd at the Oxford Hotel in Denver. The luncheon presentation will be related to the “soft skills” that engineers need in giving presentations. Registration will be available at www.cowyite.org.
A video of the luncheon will be posted on the Section’s website at www.cowyite.org.
The Colorado/Wyoming Section contact is Greg MacKinnon of the Denver Regional Council of Governments, (303) 480-5633; GMacKinnon@drcog.org . Also, please visit our Section’s website at www.cowyite.org.
