ITE Washington Section Scribe Report
By Paul Cho
October luncheon meeting (10/12/10)
Heading to this month’s luncheon meeting at the Lytle House in Bothell, I was pleasantly reminded that progress is happening in Bothell. Faced with a sea of orange cones, signs, blockades and a right in and right out only access from the wrong direction, I found the need for some creative U-turns to realign myself to arrive at my destination. Apparently the mapping function on my i-phone did not receive the traffic alerts.
Each of the 39 attendees settled into their seats as they partook of the neatly prepared boxed lunches. Washington Section President, Katherine Casseday started the formal part of the meeting by briefly introducing our speaker, Ted Trepanier, on the topic of Best Practices. In addition, Ms. Casseday reminded everyone regarding papers for the Western District Meeting in Alaska. She continued with information regarding the Quad Meeting being hosted in Washington.
With over 26 years with WSDOT and now with INRIX, Ted Trepanier’s vast experience in traffic operations, design, planning and project management were put to great use during the domestic scan conducted as part of National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP.) The scan had focused on congestion throughout major cities which directly impacted mobility, environment, economy and community among many things.
The findings were grouped into several categories:
- Common Practices
- Best Practices
- Emerging Practices
- Recommendation
Since half the congestion is from lack of capacity and half from incidents, a universal agreement to maximize existing capacity along with better incident detection and management rose to the top of the common and best practices list. Among the recommended practices, ramp metering, adaptive traffic control systems, improvements in incident response, establishing social networking and many others were presented.
Following the formal presentation, Mr. Trepanier invited questions from the members. With so much information presented, the Power Point presentation would be available on the ITE Washington Section’s website for reference. Before closing, Jeanne Akutanza (CH2M Hill) announced the successful simulation roundtable meeting was well attended; especially from Vancouver and Portland.
The members were dismissed to enjoy the sunny return trip. This time, the right out traffic control worked just fine.
Accessible Pedestrian Signals Workshop (10/26/10)
Gathered in the Everett Station conference room, the APS Workshop provided a wealth of information to optimize safe and independent crossing at signalized intersections by pedestrians who are visually impaired. The presentation was further enhanced by the interaction between Traffic/Transportation professionals with Orientation and Mobility professionals that train visual impaired pedestrians.
Janet Barlow and Daniel Carter lead six hours of instructions that add to Professional Development Hours (PDH.) Each module focused on the travel needs of the blind or low vision pedestrian and how intersection designs can impact their safe travel. The modules grew in more detail regarding device design, installation, operation and maintenance. A video of a blind pedestrian crossing a busy intersection and what tools he uses to safely complete his movement provided seven minutes times a thousand words of information on how APS is needed and may be applied to provide additional tools in crossing the intersection.
The attendees were able to take away a 350-page reference book entitled “Accessible Pedestrian Signals: A Guide to Best Practices” as well as strengthening their understanding on how best to accommodate visually impaired pedestrians at new and existing signalized intersections.
November luncheon meeting (11/09/10)
It’s been <cough, cough> years since I stepped foot onto a college campus which made this month’s ITE meeting quite the stroll down memory lane. Driving onto campus brought back a mixed bag of experiences. There was such energy and enthusiasm oozing from the hallowed halls. Unfortunately the oozing stopped several flights short on the out of service escalators. Fortunately, the stair climb started the blood flowing to absorb this month’s speaker, Scott Rutherford’s (Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Washington) presentation on a new online master’s degree program on Sustainable Transportation.
Members gathered into the UW Club at the University of Washington and partook of a variety of pasta dishes and salads. Section president, Katherine Casseday, waived the introductions and invited Scott Rutherford to step right up and begin his formal presentation; which Mr. Rutherford cheerfully obliged.
The proposed program gathers up all the pieces on Sustainable Transportation and organizes it into three certificate programs when combined results in a master’s degree from CEE. The program utilizes technology as students log onto Adobe Connect online with voice over internet to attend a real-time virtual classroom. Logged-in students are listed on the page along with icons indicating a raised hand and a dialogue box for questions or discussions. In return, the professor is able to call on students or remove the dialogue function to manage the classroom. Class sessions are recorded to view at a later date in the event of a schedule conflict. Students are able to review the session but lack the interactivity that real-time affords. An online student forum is provided enabling sharing resources, comment on readings and lectures and other activities that students typically engage. Students from North Carolina to San Fransisco were among 19 out of 23 enrolled to complete the pilot. With many of the students already in the profession the energy and participation level was much higher than traditional classrooms.
The program is currently undergoing final review and is expected to enroll students in the fall of 2011. These students will graduate in the spring of 2014 with a Master’s of Science in Sustainable Transportation. In light of the current economy, distance learning programs may provide a win-win for the tightly budgeted University and the busy schedules of current professionals to further their education in this field.
Mr. Rutherford concluded his formal presentation and invited questions. This time it was Ms. Casseday that obliged with querying the speaker on his definition of Sustainable Transportation. “Scott’s definition” on ST and other responses to questions continued until the meeting was adjourned shortly thereafter.
