MidwesternITEInside this issue

District News .................................2 - 5

Area and National News....2,4,12-14

Students & Education .................6 - 7

District Conference ....................8 - 9

Achievement Award Forms...10 - 11

Professional Services Directory ..... 14

District ‘11 - ‘12 Planner ................. 15

District Directory...............Back Page

The MidwesternITE is theofficial publication of theMidwestern District Institute ofTransportation Engineers.Opinions expressed herein donot necessarily reflect officialInstitute or Midwestern Districtpolicy unless so stated.Advertisements do not consti-tute endorsement of productsor services. Submission ofarticles, comments or lettersto the editor are encouragedand appreciated. Addresscommunications to Mark Rin-nan, Jacobs, One NorthFranklin, Suite 500, Chicago, IL60606 or e-mail toMark.Rinnan@jacobs.com

International Director’s UpdateInternational Director Robert Seyfried, Illinois Section

The ITE 2011 Annual Meeting and Exhibit in St. Louis Missouri was a great success and achance for the Midwestern District to show off its hospitality. Excellent technical sessionsand networking opportunities made the meeting an event to remember. CarrieFalkenrath and Jennifer Dugan (MOVITE Section) co-chaired the Local ArrangementsCommittee and did a terrific job.

The Midwestern District was represented by the University of Kansas in the Traffic Bowlcompetition during the Annual Meeting. The KU team won the Midwestern District Traf-fic Bowl at our District Annual Meeting in Dubuque in June. Although the KU team wasedged by the University of Toronto by one point in the elimination round, the studentteam did a credible job in representing our District against teams from the other ITEdistricts throughout the United States and Canada. The 2011 Traffic Bowl was ultimatelywon by the team from Brigham Young University. Traffic Bowl competition had the ef-fect of dramatically increasing student involvement in the District and InternationalAnnual meetings.

C O N G R A T U L A T I O N S

I want to extend my personal congratulations to the Midwestern District members whoreceived awards during the Annual Meeting. This includes:

Transportation Achievement Award for Facilities received by the TransportationManagement Center of the Ozarks (Springfield Missouri)

(Continued on page 2)

Autumn IssueOctober 2011

Volume 7, Issue 1

Institute of Transportation Engineers

District President Doug Ripley, MOVITE Section

As we look forward to fall and all it has to offer I would like to reflect on some reallyimportant events that took place this past summer.

The MWITE District meeting in Dubuque, Iowa in June was a great meeting and a tre-mendous success. The host community was very gracious, the facilities excellent, localarrangements impressive, and the 185 attendees were treated to a powerful technicalprogram, including Dr. Dan Turner’s presentation on Leadership in our profession. Wecelebrated the 60th Anniversary of MOVITE and several Past Presidents attended andreflected on the history of MOVITE, the District, and ITE in general. Thank you to every-one who participated in making it an outstanding joint meeting.

(Continued on page 3)

District President’s Message

International Director’s Update (Continued)

Transportation Achievement Award for Operations received by Edward Hines Veter-ans Administration Hospital Campus Traffic and Parking Project completed by TrafficAnalysis and Design, Inc.

Transportation Education Council Innovation in Education Award received by theTransportation Leadership Graduate Certificate Program, North Dakota State Univer-sity

Traffic Engineering Council Best Paper Award received by Richard Dowling, AimeeFlannery, Bruce Landis, Nagui Rouphail, and Paul Ryus

Young Consultant’s Award received by Jason J. Stribiak

Newsletter Award: Circulation of 250-500 received by Illinois Section ITEms Newslet-ter, Mark Rinnan Editor

2011 Young Professionals Scholarship received by Jason J. Stribiak

N E W S F R O M T H E I N T E R N A T I O N A L B O A R D O F D I R E C T O R S

International ITE remains on solid financial footing. Through cost-cutting and cost-avoidance, our budget will come close to breaking even again this year. This is nosmall feat in today’s economic climate, and significantly better than the performanceof many other professional associations.

One of the priorities established by the Board of Directors is to enhance the ITE AnnualMeeting and Technical Conference experience for members. Many of the memberswho attended this year’s Annual Meeting remarked about how much they enjoyed the“Route 66” themed reception. More social activities, as well as high-quality technicalsessions, are planned for next year’s Technical Conference in Pasadena and the An-nual meeting in Atlanta. The Board wants to make sure that ITE members receive ex-traordinary value for the time and expense involved in attending these meetings.

P L A N N I N G A H E A D

Now is the time to plan ahead, reserving both time and budget to attend next year’sITE meetings:

International ITE Technical Conference: Pasadena, California, March 4-7, 2012

Midwestern District ITE Annual Meeting: Chicago, Illinois (in conjunction with theTransportation Research Board Urban Streets Symposium), June 24-27, 2012(abstracts for paper presentations are due by October 31)

International ITE Annual Meeting and Exhibit: Atlanta, Georgia, Saturday, August 12-15, 2012

(Continued from page 1)

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S T L O U I S P H O T O L O G

A MoDOT engineer explains the safetybenefits of a J-Turn interchange

Jennifer Dugan on the Traffic Bowljudging panel

A new Diverging Diamond Inter-change was the focus of this field trip

A Better Wheel?

The University of Kansas MidwesternDistrict Traffic Bowl champs enjoy theirtrip to St. Louis (let’s see the DistrictBoard top this pose!)

LEED-ND, the I-LASTTM Rating System and Guide, the NYDOT GreenLITES Program, theUniversity of Washington’s Green Roads Manual, ARUP’s Aspire, and the FHWA Investare among the plethora of infrastructure and rating systems now available. No, wait,let’s add envisionTM , a collaboration of the American Council of Engineering Compa-nies (ACEC), the American Public Works Association (APWA) and the American Societyof Civil Engineers (ASCE).

In February 2011, these groups provided funding to a new non-profit organization enti-tled the Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure (ISI) to be the implementer of the newrating system, as well as an inclusive association to bring together all parties willing toparticipate in an industry-wide effort for sustainable civil infrastructure, public works andindustrial projects. Admittedly, envisionTM does address much more than the morefocused LEED and transportation related systems are designed to rate. Still, how manysystems do we need? Are organizations just looking for a way to generate funds? Well,here is your chance to comment, at least on the envisionTM system.

(Continued on page 4)

The Midwestern District was also the host district of the 2011 International Meeting in St.Louis, Missouri in August and it was great to see so many transportation professionalstake advantage of the opportunity to meet, learn, and enjoy all that ITE has to offer.

Congratulations to the Missouri Department of Transportation and City of Springfield,Missouri for being awarded the ITE Transportation Achievement Award for their JointTraffic Management Center. I was honored to be able to present the award to theSpringfield City Council recently and to acknowledge the efforts that went into thedesign and construction of such a great facility.

I was also honored to be able to present to the Kansas University Student Chapter theaward for winning the District’s Traffic Bowl. It is always a pleasure to meet with thestudents and to appreciate the interest they have in the transportation profession. Ifyou have an opportunity to participate with or support your local student chapter youwill be amazed at how engaged the students are, and I am always impressed withthe skills and knowledge they are bringing to the transportation industry.

Please join us in shaping the future of our organization by getting involved. Feel freeto contact any current or past board member for ways to assist in the efforts.

Again, we thank you for your membership and involvement and look forward to thefuture as you help shape our organization.

In Service,

Doug Ripley

MWITE President

(Continued from page 1)

Election Results and Treasurer’s Report

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District President’s Message (Continued)

Barge traffic under the historic Eadsbridge

S T L O U I S P H O T O L O GC O N T I N U E S O N P A G E 1 2

Congratulations to Kristi Sebastian for her election to the position of Secretary-Treasureron the 2012 Board. A special thank you to Tom Sohrwide for conducting a fine cam-paign in a closely contested election.

A District Board meeting was held June 26th as part of the Annual Meeting. At themeeting, Secretary-Treasurer Szymkowski presented the District Audit Report. The goodnews is that the District is in sound financial condition, beginning 2010 with a bank bal-ance of $17,515.41 and an ending balance of $17,928.40. The board subsequentlyreviewed and approved the report.

Tim Sjogren, Sara Disney-Haufe (TrafficAnalysis & Design) and Aaron Carlson(Edward Hines Jr. VA Hospital) beforeaccepting the TransportationAchievement Award for Operations

Jennifer Dugan, Carrie Falkenrath,their spouses, and newsletter editorMark Rinnan enjoy networking at theHonoree’s Banquet

The Actelis Networks booth, one of 70exhibitors in St Louis

College Bowl contenders Midwestern District Traffic Bowl champions from the University of Kansasaccept their $1,500 award prize

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Traffic Bowl runners up from the Univer-sity of Wisconsin - Milwaukee ponder aquestion

By District Conference Local Arrangements Committee Member Brian Will-ham, MOVITE Section

I wanted to give you a quick update on where things ended up for the 2011 Annualmeeting. Here are few of the highlights:

In attendance were 97 regular and 52 student attendees. There were fourteen ex-hibitors and nine Sponsors. Ten people attended the Technical Training Session titledLow Cost Traffic Engineering Improvements to Enhance Safety and Reduce Conges-tion conducted by Earl Newman on Sunday afternoon.

More than 75 people attended the Sunday evening Ice Breaker at Stone Cliff Win-ery. The MOVITE 60th Anniversary slideshow was a big hit and everyone I talked tohad a great time.

We had a great keynote by Cindy Steinhauser, the Assistant City Manager of Du-buque, great sessions all day, a huge turnout for the Traffic Bowl, and a packed patiofor the dinner on Monday night. The weather was perfect, many people came outfront to play yard games, and I think everyone enjoyed the evening overall.

The MOVITE Past Presidents Breakfast on Tuesday was well attended and it was neathaving many of the past presidents stand up and share some thoughts.

On Tuesday morning for the general session Doug Ripley lined up a great speaker onhow ITE is looking at leadership. To cap off the conference, about 20 people wentover and toured the Dubuque Traffic Operations Center where we had a nice presen-tation on the City’s system and what has been working well for them.

Overall, I heard many great things about the facilities at the Grand Harbor, whichalways makes things run smoother.

For the financials, we are currently up $5,460. We took in about $39,200 and spentabout $33,740. That gives us the chance to pay back the seed money (to the Districtfor $2,500 and to MOVITE for $1,000), have a “thank-you” party for the Local Arrange-ments Committee (currently setting up), and end up with some more profit to giveback to the District and MOVITE.

Overall, I felt the conference was awesome, the LAC did a great job, and I had a tonof fun with it.

Midwestern District Conference RecapD U B U Q U E P H O T O L O G

Traffic Bowl contenders from SouthernIllinois University - Edwardsville givetheir answer

Past District and InternationalPresident Earl Newman is honored

It’s not all play - Midwestern Districtboard at the annual meeting

A Better Wheel? (Continued)

As stated on the ISI website (http://www.sustainableinfrastructure.org/index.cfm), “TheenvisionTM Sustainability Rating System uses a set of objective-based goals that willguide the engineer, owner, constructor, regulator, and policymaker to provide moreeffective levels of reliability, resilience, efficiency, organizational adaptability, andoverall project performance... The philosophy of the ISI rating system approach sup-ports the recognition that infrastructure and industrial projects built and operated inthe natural environment are not only consumers of natural resources capital (sic) butalso human and economic capital resources. All resource bases are increasingly con-strained, and effective infrastructure solutions will balance allocations between thesevarious resource bases while providing the desired functionality.”

Version 1.0 is now released for comment, review, and updating before it is upgradedto a version that can be used for project assessments and eventually project recogni-tion by ISI. This Public Comment Period is scheduled through the remainder of 2011and all comments and feedback will be used by ISI to create that upgraded versionof the rating systems. Directions on how to comment are posted at: http://www.sustainableinfrastructure.org/comments/howtocomment.cfm

(Continued from page 2)

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Getting the Word OutStudent Chapter Contacts

Illinois Institute of Technologyhttp://www.mypages. iit.edu/~ite/Dr. Zongzhi LiPhone: (312) 567-3556lizz@iit.edu

Iowa State Universityhttp://www.ctre.iastate.edu/transa/Nadia GkritzaPhone: (515) 294-2343nadia@iastate.edu

Kansas State UniversityDr. Robert W. StokesPhone : (785) 532-1595Drbobb@ksu.edu

Marquette Universityhttp://www.eng.mu.edu/%7Edrakopoa/ite/MU_chapter/chapter.htmDr. Alex DrakopoulosPhone : (414) 288-5430Alexander.Drakopoulos@Marquette.edu

Missouri University of Science &Technologyhttp://web.mst.edu/~ite/Dr. Hojong BaikPhone (573) 341-4693baikh@mst.edu

North Dakota State University -FargoDr. Donald AndersonPhone : (701) 231-7725Donald.Andersen@ndsu.edu

Student Chapter Participants in ITEAnnual Meeting Traffic Bowl

We offer advertising opportunities that can get your company's name out to a respectedaudience saturated with traffic and transportation professionals.

Website Advertisement: 135x135 pixel rotating banner displaying on the side bar of nearlyall pages (as shown below), including a link back to your company's webpage.

If submitting a banner, we prefer images to be either .gif, .jpg or .png format. If you don'thave the resources to create your own banner, you can send us your information andwe will work with you to create a banner that represents your company.

The cost for advertising is $100 per year for a small banner. The cost also includes publish-ing the banner in 2 newsletters (Spring and Fall). The DEADLINE for submitting 2012 Adver-tisements is FRIDAY, December 9, 2011.

For more information or to purchase advertising, please contact Todd Szymkowski atszymkowki@engr.wisc.edu.

With about 1,800 members in an 11 state region,advertising with the Midwestern District is a verycost-effective way to present your firm to like-minded professionals through on-line and elec-tronic print media

An image of the Midwestern District website highlighting the link for details on advertising.To access the site click http://www.midwesternite.org/

Attention student chapter members! There are scholarships and support funds avail-able! The place to start you search is at the Section level. Most Sections in the Districtaward student scholarships and provide a monetary award for student paper competi-tions. The District website has links to Section websites where additional information isposted (visit http://www.midwesternite.org/). Annually the District awards $500 for abest student paper, and that’s on top of what winners receive at the Section level.Just competing provides recognition and might help land you that first job.

P A S T S T U D E N T P A P E R A W A R D R E C I P I E N T S I N C L U D E :

2006 – Joshua Hochstein, Iowa State University

2007 – Xinkai Wu, University of Minnesota – Twin Cities

2008 – Siddharth Sharma, University of Missouri-Columbia

2009 – Yan Huang, University of Minnesota – Twin Cities

2010 – Jiguang Zhao, Southern Illinois University – Edwardsville

2011 - Dharamveer Singh, University of Oklahoma

The District also awards at least $500 for best student chapter. Good student leader-ship results in strong support from the chapter advisor and can influence the amount ofbacking the chapter will receive. District winners are then eligible to compete at theinternational level for the Daniel B. Fambro Student Paper Award (up to $1,750 fortravel to the ITE Annual Meeting) and the Student Chapter Award (up to $1,500 intravel.)

Past chapters at Marquette and Iowa State Universities are great examples of goodprograms. The Marquette chapter was strong in setting up technical tours of transpor-tation facilities, and in 2009 the Iowa State chapter organized a trip to Washington, DC.

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Student Scholarships and Competitions

Student Chapter Contacts

Northwestern UniversityDr. Joseph SchoferPhone : (847) 491-8795j-schofer@northwestern.edu

Oklahoma State UniversitySamir A. AhmedPhone : (405) 744-5261sahmed@okstate.edu

South Dakota State UniversityDr. Ali SelimPhone : (605) 688-6355selima@sdstate.edu

Southern Illinois University -Edwardsvillehttp://www.ce.siue.edu/ite/index.aspDr. Huaguo (Hugo) ZhouPhone : (618) 650-2815hzhou@siue.edu

University of ArkansasProfessor J.L. GattisPhone : (479) 575-3617Jgattis@uark.edu

University of Illinois Chicagohttp://www.uic.edu/~kourosDr. Kouros MohammadianPhone : (312) 996-9840kouros@uic.edu

University of Illinois UrbanaChampaignhttp://ict.illinois.edu/TOL/ITE/default.htmDr. Ray (Rahim) BenekohalPhone: (217) 244-6288rbenekoh@uiuc.edu

2011 Midwestern District Traffic Bowl Results

Results of the 3rd annual Traffic Bowl were announced at the District’s Annual Meeting inDubuque. The winner was the team from the University of Kansas who went on the repre-sent the District at the international competition in St Louis. Runners Up were the teams fromthe University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and from the University of Wisconsin-Platteville. Theperformance of the Platteville team was especially impressive considering this was the firsttime the chapter has fielded a team.

The judges were duly impressed with the sound knowledge displayed by all the teams, in-cluding participating teams from Iowa State University, Kansas State University, MarquetteUniversity, Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville, the University of Illinois-Urbana/Champaign, the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities (also a first time fielded team), and theUniversity of Wisconsin-Madison.

Iowa State University student chaptermembers enjoy a start of school socialgathering

The entire field of informed and competitive teams impressed Midwestern District Traffic Bowl judges.The competition was held as part of the Annual Meeting held this year at Dubuque in late June

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Student Chapter Contacts

University of Kansashttp://www.ceae.engr.ku.edu/organizations/ite/Dr. Steven SchrockPhone : (785) 864-3418schrock@ku.edu

University of Minnesota - Twin CitiesCampushttp://blog.lib.umn.edu/itso/itso/Henry LiuPhone (612) 626-0024henryliu@umn.edu

University of Missouri - ColumbiaDr. Carlos SunPhone (573) 884-6330csun@missouri.edu

University of Nebraska - Lincolnhttp://www.nuite.orgKaren SchurrPhone : (402) 472-2233kschurr1@unl.edu

University of OklahomaProfessor Richard S. MarshmentPhone : (405) 325-2399Rmarshment@ou.edu

University of Wisconsin - Madisonhttp://www.cae.wisc.edu/~uwits/Professor David NoycePhone : (608) 265-1882uwits@cae.wisc.edu

University of Wisconsin - MilwaukeeProfessor Yue (Troy) LiuPhone : (414) 229-5422liu28@uwm.edu

University of Wisconsin - Plattevillehttp://www.uwplatt.edu/org/itechap/Dr. Samuel Owusu-AbabioPhone : (608) 342-1554owusu@uwplatt.edu

Washington Universityhttp://userfs.cec.wustl.edu/~ite/Adjunct Professor Shawn LeightPhone : (314) 878-6644ite@cec.wustl.edu

RFP - Methods and Technologies for CollectingPedestrian and Bicycle Volume Data

TRB’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) has issued a requestfor proposals to assess existing, new, and innovative technologies and methods andprovide guidance for transportation practitioners on how best to collect pedestrianand bicycle volume data.

The objective of this research is to assess existing, new, and innovative technologiesand methods and provide guidance for transportation practitioners on to how to bestcollect pedestrian and bicycle volume data. The assessment should consider, amongother factors, feasibility, availability, quality, reliability, cost, and compatibility. Theguidance should include methods to (a) efficiently mine and manage existing datasources; (b) acquire and use data from new and innovative technologies; and (c)summarize and disseminate pedestrian and bicycle volume data for site-specific,local, and systemwide needs assessments, project development, and safety manage-ment.

Accomplishment of the project objective will require at least six designated tasks. Foradditional information about these tasks and other RFP requirements, access http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3159. Proposals are dueNovember 17, 2011

Hit the road with all four tires laying rubber! That seems to be the motto forthe Transportation Student Association (TSA), an umbrella group that includes the ITEstudent chapter at Iowa State University. A review of the organization’s calendarindicates they have already met twice and have seven other meetings in 2011. The21 members of the TSA are ably led by student chapter President Steve Lavrenz(slavrenz@iastate.edu), who is supported by Vice President Eirini Kastrouni(ekast@iastate.edu), Treasurer Bo Wang, Secretary Katie Maurer, Engineering StudentCouncil Representative Mohammad Shaheed, Social Chair Mike Stinn, and Recruit-ment Chair Christa Van'T Hul. The chapter advisor is Dr. Konstantina "Nadia" Gkritza(nadia@iastate.edu).

The TSA has a dynamic website as well (http://www.stuorg.iastate.edu/transa/homepage.html), and includes a Facebook page to easily communicate with mem-bers about upcoming events. More to the point, these students are already thinkingbeyond their studies and have posted their resumes at that website. Hiring from amotivated group of young adults such as these is undoubtedly a good decision!

The chapter is going a long way towards educating members outside the class-room. Presentations by the Federal Highway Administration on Highway FinanceChallenges, Working with Regional Planning Organizations on Highway Projects, andFuture Planning Issues and Efforts for the Ames MPO provide a public sector perspec-tive on transportation. Private sector viewpoints are in the works for presentations onCurrent & Future Transportation Challenges for Logistics Firms and Interstate 70 Truck-Only Lanes. Finally, academia is represented by Dr. Matthew Karlaftis of the NationalTechnical University of Athens, presenting on Statistical Methods in Transportation DataAnalysis later in October. The chapter also provides community service through activi-ties such as the upcoming Engineering Middle School Day, and Engineering Day atthe Mall.

The Iowa State University Transportation Student Association was founded during thesummer of 1997 by students and is run by a combination of graduate and under-graduate students. TSA strives to provide its members with real-world information ontransportation topics. TSA is multi-disciplinary and encompasses students from engi-neering, planning, and transportation & logistics. In recognition of their efforts, theIowa State TSA chapter received the MOVITE section and Midwest ITE district studentchapter awards for the 2010-2011 academic year.

Chapter Shout Out - Iowa State University

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Sponsors:

Conference HotelHoliday Inn Chicago Mart Plaza

350 West Mart Center DriveChicago, IL 60654

http://www.martplaza.com(312) 836-5000

CALL FOR ABSTRACTS

The 2012 program will include three days of podium and poster board presentations, includinga special poster session for students. The program will be comprised of your submittedabstracts. Please organize your submissions around the key themes of the conference,including:

Abstracts are due October 31, 2011.

Please prepare your abstracts in Word, using “2012 Abstract [primary author’s last name]” asthe file name. The Word document should be organized in the following way:

General topic area(s) for the abstract from the list above Names of all authors Name, address, phone number, email for corresponding author Title Abstract (limit to 250 words)

Email your abstracts to:

Erik Cempel, PEEmail: ecempel@camsys.comPhone: 312-665-0223

Put “2012 Abstract [primary author’s last name]” in the subject line of the email.

Midwestern District Conference &TRB 4th Urban Street Symposium

Chicago, Illinois – June 24-27, 2012www.mwite-uss4-2012.org

My Street, Your Street, Our StreetDeveloping Livable Transportation Solutions

Access management Advanced technology Context Sensitive Solutions Doing more with less Engineering curriculum/ education Performance management Public involvement Safety

Self-enforcing urban streets Simulation and/or Visualization

of urban streets Sustainability and livability Traffic calming Transit, bicycle, or pedestrian

use and urban street design Other topic: please specify

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Sponsors:

Conference HotelHoliday Inn Chicago Mart Plaza

350 West Mart Center DriveChicago, IL 60654

http://www.martplaza.com(312) 836-5000

Conference HotelHoliday Inn Chicago Mart Plaza

350 West Mart Center DriveChicago, IL 60654

http://www.martplaza.com(312) 836-5000

COMING SOON!The 2012 ITE Midwestern District Annual Conference will be held inconjunction with the TRB 4th Urban Street Symposium in Chicago,Illinois at the Holiday Inn Chicago Mart Plaza hotel.

My Street, Your Street, Our Street – Developing Livable TransportationSolutions is the conference theme for 2012. Looking to the future,transportation professionals will be required to develop and evaluateprojects based upon softer, qualitative measures that relate to quality oflife. Already, we have seen increasing awareness on livability throughContext Sensitive Design and a greater emphasis on sustainability.

Panel discussions TRB Committee meetings Social Events

In addition to the excellent technical program and conference activities theconference will host the 4th Annual Collegiate Traffic Bowl, a Jeopardy-stylecompetition of student chapters from regional universities.

For additional information, registration, and conference updates visit;www.mwite-uss4-2012.org.

See you in Chicago - June 24-27th, 2012!

Hosted by:Illinois Section ITETRB 4th Urban Streets Symposium

Conference Co-ChairsChad Hammerl – ITEJacobschad.hammerl@jacobs.com(312) 424-5425

J.L. Gattis – TRBUniversity of Arkansasjgattis@uark.edu(479) 575-3617

Tim Sjogren – ITETraffic Analysis and Design, Inc.tsjogren@traffic-ad.com(630) 370-0086

Kay Fitzpatrick – TRBTexas Transportation Institutek-fitzpatrick@tamu.edu(979) 845-9903

ProgramErik Cempel – ITECambridge Systematics, Inc.ECempel@camsys.com(312) 665-0223

Local ArrangementsMark de la VergneSam Schwartz Engineeringmdelavergne@samschwartz.com(773) 305-0800

FinanceThomas BrownTranSmart Technologiestbrown@trafficonline.com(312) 502-8213

PublicityKim GrabowCity of NapervilleGrabowK@naperville.il.us(630) 548-1199

SocialTracy ShandorCH2MHillTracy.Shandor@CH2M.com(773) 693-3809

Midwestern District Conference &TRB 4th Urban Street Symposium

Chicago, Illinois – June 24-27, 2012www.mwite-uss4-2012.org

My Street, Your Street, Our StreetDeveloping Livable Transportation Solutions

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ITE Midwestern District

2011 Transportation Achievement Award

Deadline: March 1, 2012

The Transportation Achievement Award is awarded annually for excellence in the advancement oftransportation to meet human needs.

MWITE will select winners at the District level. Separate application to those interestedshould be made to ITE International.

AWARD: Recognition at the MWITE District Annual Meeting and in MWITE Newsletter Plaque

AWARD CATEGORIES: Awards will be presented to outstanding transportation achievements in the following

categories: Facilities, Operations, and Safety. All applicants are limited to submitting under one category only; applications may not be

submitted under multiple categories.

ELIGIBILITY OF APPLICANTS: To be an eligible recipient for the proposed awards, the candidates can be a: government

agency, legislative body, transportation consulting firm, private business or corporation,combined public/private institution, academic institution, or any other appropriate entity.

SUBMITTAL: Each submittal may be no longer than 3 total pages in length (the submittal form, plus two

additional pages). Each application must be submitted electronically in one document with the submittal form as

page one, formatted in Adobe Acrobat. Please send submission electronically (in Adobe Acrobat) no later than 5:00pm on March 1,

2012 to MWITE Vice-President Todd Szymkowski (szymkowski@engr.wisc.edu) Re:Transportation Achievement Award.

EVALUATION CRITERIA: Development of an innovative concept in transportation planning, design or operations; The innovative application of a proven concept in transportation planning, design or operations; The implementation of a “difficult” transportation program through perseverance in its

development and promotion; A program or project having a significant effect on transportation; A multi-faceted transportation program or project, combining many innovative and/or well-

applied concepts; A program or project promoting a major advance in the efficiency and/or economy of

transportation.

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ITE Midwestern DistrictTransportation Achievement Award

Submittal Form

Deadline: March 1, 2012Title of Project:

1. Description of Project (To include Objective, Status, Outcomes, etc):

2. Why do you feel this project is worthy of this award?

Please answer above questions each on a separate sheet not to exceed a page. The total application cannotexceed three pages which includes this submittal form.

Award Category (please check the appropriate category, ONE category only):

___Operations ___Facilities ___Safety

Agency / Client

Address Information:

Contact Person:

Title:

Organization:

Telephone: E-mail:

Submitting Organization:

Full Address Information:

Contact Person:

Title:

Telephone:

E-mail:

The sponsoring organization has been notified of this submittal.

NOTE: The Agency/Client, if not the submitting organization, must be notified that the project has beensubmitted for consideration for this award.

Please complete the form and return by email no later than5:00pm on March 1, 2012 to

MWITE Vice-President Todd Szymkowski szymkowski@ngr.wisc.edu

The purpose of the Transportation Achievement Award is to recognize an organization for: Development of an innovative concept in transportation planning, design or operations; Innovative application of a proven concept in transportation planning, design or operations; Implementation of a “difficult” transportation program through perseverance in its development and

promotion; Program or project having a significant effect on transportation; Multi-faceted transportation program or project, combining many innovative and/or well-applied concepts; Program or project promoting a major advance in the efficiency and/or economy of transportation.

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Show Me My Buzz Smartphone App Now Available

August 19, 2011, Jefferson City, Missouri - Missouri Department of Transportation(MoDOT) is launching a new smartphone application to help people make smartchoices about designating a sober driver.

The "Show Me My Buzz" free smartphone app, available soon in the Apple App Storeand the Google Market, allows users to calculate their estimated blood-alcohol con-centration (BAC) based on how many drinks they have consumed, how long theyhave been drinking and their gender.

"Drinking and driving is always a bad decision because even a small amount of alco-hol affects your reflexes," said Don Hillis, MoDOT's assistant chief engineer. "This newapp is a creative way to get people talking about the subject and then finding a so-ber driver."

The app indicates designating a driver who has not been drinking is the only safe op-tion, and it will even provide the phone number of a local cab company with just atap of the screen.

"The added feature of finding a phone number for a taxi in more urban locations,takes away one more excuse for a person who has been drinking," said Hillis. "It is easyto just touch the button to call a cab."

The BAC calculator is only a guide that calculates averages. Alcohol affects every-one differently. Influencing factors include food consumption, medication, healthand psychological conditions. The best plan is to always designate a sober driver. Asober driver is someone who has not had anything to drink.

The app launches as law enforcement agencies across the state increase DWI en-forcement from Aug. 19-Sept. 5. During the 2010 "You Drink & Drive, You Lose" cam-paign, law enforcement statewide made 909 DWI arrests. Last year, there were 207people killed and 831 seriously injured in crashes involving a drinking driver.

Download the free "Show Me My Buzz" app on your smartphone. For more informa-tion, visit http://www.modot.org/.

Student Chapter Participants in ITEAnnual Meeting Traffic Bowl

It’s not all work - attendees at the ITESt Louis conference enjoy a St. LouisCardinals game (Can you pick themout from the crowd?)

Crunch time for the University ofKansas team during the Traffic Bowlcompetition

The East-West Gateway (St Louis MPOhosts a Streetscape planning exercise

Milwaukee ConnectorThe downtown Milwaukee Streetcar is a two mile starter streetcar system being rec-ommended to connect the heart of the central business district with the MilwaukeeIntermodal Station and high-density residential areas just north of downtown. Thestreetcar would provide many benefits, including increased mobility, enhanced multi-modal connections and economic development.

The initial system will have five vehicles powered by an overhead electric contactsystem. The vehicles operate in mixed traffic with 10-minute headways throughoutmost of the day and 15-minute headways during early morning and late eveninghours. The vehicles would be modern low-floor Streetcars similar to those operating inthe City of Portland. The initial route would have 12 station pairs strategically locatedwithin walking distance to numerous parking structures to facilitate Milwaukee's "ParkOnce" concept.

Two route extensions that would add 1.55 miles and seven stations to the initial routeare also recommended. The 4th Street extension would connect the Intermodal Sta-tion and several large entertainment venues within the Park East and Brewery redevel-opment areas. The Prospect/Farwell extension would provide Lower East Side residentsand the Brady Street commercial district with a direct connection to downtown. Ser-vice characteristics would be identical to the initial system, however, the additionalroute length would require one more Streetcar vehicle to maintain the planned head-ways. Federal funding under the Exempt Discretionary Program Grants (Section 5309)for Urban Circulator Systems is being requested to implement the extensions. If fundingis approved, the goal would be to implement the extensions concurrently with theinitial route. For more information, visit the project website at http://www.milwaukeeconnector.com/home.html

Oklahoma Governor Announces BridgeImprovement Plan

October 3, 2011, Oklahoma City, OK – Governor Mary Fallin today announced a newinitiative to target and fix all 706 of the Oklahoma state highway system’s currentlyidentified structurally deficient bridges by 2019. Oklahoma has frequently and notori-ously topped national “bad bridge” lists. Fallin’s new “Bridge Improvement and Turn-pike Modernization Plan” would, upon completion, bring the number of currentlyknown structurally deficient highway bridges to less than one percent and make Okla-homa a national leader in that area.

Her plan also calls for projects that would significantly reduce congestion on the Creekand Kilpatrick turnpikes (in Tulsa and Oklahoma City respectively). These improvementswould be made without increasing taxes or tolls. Fallin said the historic number of up-coming infrastructure improvements will benefit safety, commerce and travel in Okla-homa for decades to come.

“Our plan also delivers much-needed improvements to two of the state’s most widelytraveled highways: the Creek and Kilpatrick turnpikes. I’m looking forward to workingwith both ODOT and the state legislature to fully implement this plan, improve our turn-pikes and to finally deliver a safer, more modern bridge system to Oklahoma.”

Three immediate actions called for by Gov. Fallin include:

Directing the Oklahoma Department of Transportation to include 126 additionalprojects targeting structurally deficient bridges into its FFY 2012-2019 ConstructionWork Plan. With 413 bridges already in the plan, this represents the largest number ofhighway bridges ever scheduled for work in the department’s 8-Year Plan.

Beams removed from the current I-40 Crosstown bridge replacement project inOklahoma City will be offered for use in county bridge projects. Selected beams willbe inspected for reuse, and could help reduce costs for around 300 county bridgeprojects statewide.

The Oklahoma Turnpike Authority is directed to include projects in its Capital Plan toadd capacity and for safety improvements on the Creek Turnpike in Tulsa and theKilpatrick Turnpike in Oklahoma City, at a cost of about $150 million.

Shortly after, the expansions of the two turnpikes can begin in order to help meet cur-rent and future traffic demands. Additionally, Fallin will ask legislators to provide fundingfor the 167 structurally deficient bridges through the Rebuilding Oklahoma Access andDriver Safety (ROADS) fund. An increase to help hundreds of county bridge projectsthrough the County Improvement for Roads and Bridges (CIRB) fund will also be re-quested. The additions are generated by raising the annual ROADS fund increases to$56.7 million from $41.7 million, and raising the cap to $550 million from $435 million.Similarly, the counties would benefit from increases of about $25 million a year to theCIRB program, phased in over a three year period.

In 2006, Oklahoma topped national lists for the number of deficient bridges. At thattime, nearly 1,200 of ODOT’s 6,800 bridges were considered structurally deficient. Sincethat time, ODOT has been able to repair or replace some of the worst bridges on itssystem and reduce that number to 706 thanks to increased state funding by the Legis-lature in recent years. Under Gov. Fallin’s plan, ODOT expects to remove those remain-ing bridges off the list, and counties will be able to begin work on several hundredbridges.

Gov. Fallin asserts transportation is a key element in commerce and job creation, andexpects these improvements to put Oklahoma on the map as a state known for goodroads and bridges. She believes restoring the state’s transportation assets creates amore competitive business environment and builds a transportation infrastructure of thefuture.

Click on http://www.okladot.state.ok.us/newsmedia/press/2011/11-059_additional_bridge_plan_graphics.pdf to access a map showing bridge locations.

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Phase II of the Ship Canal Bicycle trailunder construction in Seattle, Wash-ington Photo by SDOT Photosdownloaded from Flickr

KEEP YOUR MEMBERSHIPINFORMATION CURRENT...

...by accessing the ITE Interna-tional web-site at http://www.ite.org/ then clicking onthe MY PROFILE selection in theleft menu bar, You will thendirected to the log in pageand be prompted for your login ID and Password. After click-ing the SIGN ON button you willbe directed to your profilepage. Click on the EDIT buttonto make changes to your ac-count. After making changesclick on SUBMIT. It’s as easy asthat!

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Professional Services Directory

How to Advertise or PostEmployment Opportunities

For details on how to include yourfirm in the MidwesternITE Profes-sional Service Directory contactthe District Secretary Treasurer atthe phone number and e-mailshown on the back page of thisnewsletter.

For $100 a business card size ad ispublished in two successive semi-annual editions of MidwesternITEand posted on the District websitefor 12 months.

The cost for Employment Opportu-nity postings is paid per issue andvaries by size of the advertisement.A full page ad costs $100, a halfpage is $50, and a quarter pagead is $25. Web only postings are$25 for 6 months regardless of adsize. Your best value is a 6 monthweb posting combined with aquarter page ad in one edition, allfor $65.

MidwesternITE is distributed tonearly 1,500 transportation profes-sionals and to student chapters at22 universities throughout 11 stateswithin the District.

The Coalition to Lower Obesity in Chicago Children (CLOCC), a program of Chil-dren’s Memorial Hospital, is a nationally recognized leader for community-basedobesity prevention. CLOCC supports, coordinates, and unites partners to promotehealthy and active lifestyles for children and families. CLOCC’s multi-sector ap-proach emerged in Chicago but can be adapted for use anywhere.

A key component of addressing the childhood obesity issue is finding ways to inte-grate more physical activity into the daily routines of children and families. One ofthe easiest ways to integrate more physical activity is walking. However, many peo-ple are concerned with the safety and walkability of Chicago neighborhoods andcommunities.

CLOCC, serving as a bona fide agent for the City of Chicago, received funding fromCommunities Putting Prevention to Work (CPPW), an initiative of the Center for Dis-ease Control and Prevention. CLOCC’s cooperative agreement is to implementsustainable policies that address obesity and have lasting healthful effects beyondthe funding period.

Teamed with the Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT) two active transpor-tation components were initiated. One component is the development and adop-tion of Complete Streets Design Guidelines and policies to be utilized by the City ofChicago. This project represents a unique collaboration between public health andtransportation disciplines.

Another component is a Safe Access to Parks Policy and Plan. The Safe Access pro-ject includes both the development of design guidelines and policies for improvingmulti-modal access to parks within Chicago. This plan will be sensitive to the range ofparks within the city (such as size, location, types of facilities) and include carefulconsideration for the historic character of many of Chicago’s largest parks.

Both components could serve as a model for future active transportation planningthroughout the nation. Work on both components is planned to be completed in2012.

CLOCC has also created the Neighborhood Walkability Assessment Tool. TheNeighborhood Walkability Assessment Tool is a resource available to any group, or-ganization or school wanting to assess the walkability of their neighborhoods andthen take action to fix the issues. For additional information about CLOCC’s multi-section approach access their website at http://www.clocc.net/index.html.

Active Transportation - A Tic of the CLOCC

Plan now for the 2014 Joint Westernand Midwestern District ConferenceYou too may find wisdom such as thatoffered on a handrail in Dubuque

DATE EVENT LOCATION

2011October 14-15 MWITE International Director at International Board Meeting Washington, DC

October 16 ITE International Nominating Committee Meeting Washington, DC

November 17 North Central Section Annual Meeting Pinstripes - Edina, MN

November 18-19 District Officer Workshop TBD

December 1 2011 District Annual Meeting final account due

December 7 Wisconsin Section Annual Meeting Delafield, WI

2012January 1 MWITE elected officers assume office

January 13 Illinois Section Annual Meeting and Awards Banquet TBD

January 15 Annual Report due to ITE International

February 1 MWITE nominations & consent for new officer due

By February 28 MWITE nomination lists sent to section Presidents

March 1 Nominations for District Transportation Achievement Award due

March 2 - 3 MWITE International Director at International Board Meeting Pasadena, CA

March 4 - 6 ITE National Technical Conference & Exhibit Pasadena Convention Center - Pasadena, CA

March 15 Deadline for articles: Spring edition of MidwesternITE

By March 31 Sections informed of MWITE nomination list

District Audit Committee report due

April 15 Outstanding Internet Web Page Award nominations due

April 25 - 27 MOVITE Section Annual Spring Meeting Embassy Suites - Lincoln, NE

By April 30 Petition for additional MWITE nominees due to Secretary-Treasurer

June 10 2013 District Annual Meeting budget due

June 24 - 27 Midwestern District Annual Conference Holiday Inn Mart Plaza - Chicago, IL

By July 26 District officer final ballot sent to eligible voters

August 4 2011 District Annual Meeting preliminary account due

August 4 - 7 ITE International Annual Meeting and Exhibit Westin Peachtree Plaza - Atlanta, GA

September 15 Deadline for articles: Autumn edition of MidwesternITE

September 19 - 21 MOVITE Section Annual Fall Meeting Oread Hotel - Lawrence, KS

Midwestern District `11 - `12 PlannerEvent dates are highlighted in blue

15

International DirectorRobert K. Seyfried3441 Davis St.Evanston, IL 60203(847) 530-4032r-seyfried@northwestern.edu

Newsletter EditorMark D. RinnanJacobsOne North FranklinSuite 500Chicago, IL 60606(312) 424-5419Mark.Rinnan@jacobs.com

Institute of Transportation Engineers, Midwestern DistrictInstitute of Transportation Engineers,Midwestern District

The Institute of Transportation Engi-neers is an international educationaland scientific association of trans-portation professionals who areresponsible for meeting mobility andsafety needs. ITE facilitates the ap-plication of technology and scien-tific principles to research, planning,functional design, implementation,operation, policy development andmanagement for any mode oftransportation. Through its productsand services, ITE promotes profes-sional development of its members,supports and encourages educa-tion, stimulates research, developspublic awareness programs andserves as a conduit for the ex-change of professional information.

Institute of Transportation Engineers, Midwestern District

PresidentDouglas A. RipleyMOVITE SectionTraffic Control CorporationP.O. Box 1051Ankeny, IA 50021(515) 289-4114dripley@trafficcontrolcorp.com

Section RepresentativeTimothy P. SjogrenIllinois SectionTraffic Analysis & Design, Inc.1898 Waverly WayMontgomery, IL 60538(630) 370-0086FAX (630) 689-9458TSjogren@Traffic-AD.com

Section RepresentativeAnne ReshadiWisconsin Department ofTransportation433 W. St. Paul Ave.Suite 300Milwaukee, WI 53203(414) 227-2149FAX (414) 227-2165anne.reshadi@dot.wi.gov

Vice PresidentPeter LemmonIllinois SectionTraffic Analysis & Design, Inc.1898 Waverly WayMontgomery, Illinois 60538(773) 450-3532plemmon@traffic-ad.com

Section RepresentativeBrian VinesMOVITE SectionJacobs10816 Executive Center Drive,Suite 300Little Rock, AR 72211(501) 223-0515FAX (501) 223-2470brian.vines@jacobs.com

Secretary—TreasurerTodd SzymkowskiUniversity of Wisconsin-Madison2205 Engineering Hall1415 Engineering DriveMadison, WI 53706(608) 265-4921szymkowski@engr.wisc.edu

Section RepresentativeKristi M. SebastianNCITE SectionDakota Co. Transportation Dept.14955 Galaxie Ave. 3rd FloorApple Valley, MN 55124-8579(952) 891-7178FAX (952) 981-7127kristi.sebastian@co.dakota.mn.us

Past PresidentJohn CrawfordNCITE SectionURS Corporation100 South Fifth Street , Suite 1500Minneapolis, MN 55402(612) 373-6871John_Crawford@URSCorp.com

AdministratorThomas E. Campbell976 TransitRoseville, MN 55113(262) 786-4176te.campbell@comcast.net

WebmasterTodd SzymkowskiTraffic Operations and Safety (TOPS)

LaboratoryUniversity of Wisconsin-Madison2205 Engineering Hall1415 Engineering DriveMadison, WI 53706(608) 265-4921szymkowski@engr.wisc.eduwww.midwesternite.org