Wisconsin Roundabouts in the News...

Roundabouts seem to be spring up all over Wisconsin lately. Here are a few examples:

State Highway 38 and County Highway K in Racine County: http://http://www.journaltimes.com/articles/2007/01/21/local/21734710.txt

Highway 26 Bypass around Watertown, with 10 roundabouts throughout the project: http://http://www.wdtimes.com/articles/2007/01/26/news/news3.txt

Multi-lane roundabout proposed in Green Bay (-- Will they put a big "G" in the center?): http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070119/GPG0101/701190607/1206/GPGnews

ITS Project of the Year Nominations...

NCITE member Daryl Taavola of URS here in Minneapolis is a member of the ITE Management & Operations/ITS Council Project Awards Committee and he are seeking nominations for the 2006 ITS Project of the Year. Please read the request below from Kenny Voorhies.

"The M&O/ITS Council of the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) is seeking nominations for the ITS Project of the Year. The eligibility requirements for this award are simple and straightforward: 1) the project must be completed and/or published within the past year (calendar year 2006) and 2) the project must produce a product which will have utility to ITE, its members or the profession over time.

"Your project nomination should be in the form of an email reply and shall consist of a brief narrative (250 words or less) describing the project, how the project meets the eligibility criteria and any products of the project. A previously written project description that addresses the project criteria may also be submitted.

"Please respond with your nomination by Friday February 28, 2007 to Kenny Voorhies at kvoorhies@camsys.com. If you have any questions you may contact Kenny at (404) 443-3200. Thank you."

Catching Up...
It's been nearly two weeks since I've had a chance to post anything on here. I feel somewhat derelict in my duties to those who may regularly check this blog. Nevertheless, there has been a lot going on...

Illinois Section Annual Banquet -- I was fortunate to attend the Illinois Section Annual Banquet last Friday, January 12. There were over 80 members and guests in attendance. The meeting was held at the Wellington Banquet Room in Arlington Heights, Ill. ITE President Earl Newman and 2007 V.P. Candidate Ken Voigt were also in attendance. After dinner, Earl and I addressed the section, and I had the pleasure to install the section officers into their new section offices. Also, Earl had the honor of presenting awards to members and student scholarship winners.

Outgoing Section President Dennis Dal Shanto, who was out of the country, had asked Earl to present special certificates of recognition to several section volunteers. What a great idea! There are so many people in our organization who are not the section boards, but who volunteer so much time and effort to ensure our activities run smoothly. It was great to see these people formally recognized. I was so impressed, I will work to promote the recognition of volunteers within other sections!

After the presentations, a game was played. The object was to name the obscure Recreational and Cultural Interest signs found in the MUTCD. The trick was not to identify the correct meaning of the sign, but rather to come up with the most creative meaning for each sign. Each table wrote down their sign names, and then each table's entry was judged. People at the winning table each received a gift card. The game was imaginative and sparked great interaction!

The evening concluded with a raffle, as well as silent and live auctions. Among the items auctioned were Chicago Cubs tickets, Section apparel, wine baskets, an autographed photo of Michael Jordan and a "Bob the Builder Traffic Trouble" childern's book. Money raised by these activities was applied directly to the Section's Scholarship Fund. In all , over $3000 was raised that night. Great job!

Thanks to Incoming Illinois Section President Peter Lemmon and the entire Board for a great evening! Thanks, too, to Mark Rinnan for the use of these photos for posting here. I look forward to next year's event!

District Representatives to ITE Committees -- I am pleased to announce District representatives to two ITE Committees. Peter Lemmon from the Illinois Section has been appointed to the 2007 Nominations Committee. Stephan Hoffman from the Wisconsin Section has been appointed to the 2007 Constitutional Amendments Committee. Thanks to each of these members for their service.

OTEA Meeting Rescheduled -- The Oklahoma Traffic Engineering Association (OTEA) has rescheduled their Spring Meeting for April 11-13, 2007. The formal banquet and Technical Session will be on Thursday, April 12, 2007. T he presentation of the new Chapter and the oath of office for the new board members are scheduled for that evening. For information on this event, please contact Angelo Lombardo at Angelo.Lombardo@NormanOK.gov.

Monday Update... There are several items to update you on today:

1) NCITE is hosting their first section lunch meeting of the new year. The meeting will be held on Wednesday, January 17, 2007, at the Hampton Inn/Green Mill Restaurant in Shoreview, MN. The speaker will be Marc Goess, PE, from Mn/DOT, to discuss the impacts and planning for the full closure during construction this year of the heavily-travelled Trunk Highway 36 through North Saint Paul. For registration information, please contact Sue Zarling at 651-582-1282, or e-mail her at susan.zarling@dot.state.mn.us.

2) Rick Zygowicz from the Wisconsin Section sent out a meeting notice for the section's upcoming "Public Service Appreciation Lunch Meeting", to be held on Wednesday, January 17, 2007, at Rocky Rococo's East in Madison WI. For registration information, please contact John Bruggeman at R.A. Smith at 262-317-3353, or e-mail him at john.bruggeman@rasmith.com.

3) As I stated last week, the MOVITE is hosting the Midwestern ITE's 2007 annual meeting in St. Louis on June 13 -15, 2007 at the Hyatt in Union Station. You are encouragedto submit an abstract focused on their theme of a "multi-modal" adventure. The conference will include experiences on St. Louis's light rail system, bicycle rides along the Mississippi River, a segway tour around Forest Park; and even an evening riverboat ride on the Becky Thatcher. The deadline for our Call for Abstracts has been extended to February 1, 2007. Please limit abstracts to one-page in length. Send your abstract to:
Tom Ryan
2004 Highpoint Street
Springfield, Missouri 65810
thomas.ryan@hdrinc.com

4) Southern Illinois University Edwardsville students are looking to create a student chapter. Due to their proximity to St. Louis, they are exploring an affiliation with TEAM in St. Louis. Because student chapters are chartered by the district, not the section, they may be able to establish a relationship with the section they are most closely located. As a result, SIUE students and faculty may attend the Chapter meetings with TEAM, the Section meetings with Illinois Section or in fact, any member of ITE can attend any ITE meeting wherever they wish. On the other hand, MOVITE would not consider SIUE to be one of “their” student chapters since it is located outside of the MOVITE geographical limits. Therefore, the Illinois SEction may wish to establish Chapters within the state, and respect relationship the SIUE Chapter would have with TEAM in St. Louis. Stay tuned...

LOS-F...

I could not beleive this photo of this roundabout intersection in Xiamen, South China. Apparently, the boom in auto sales is having an impact on the Chinese roadway network. So we can all rest easily that there is a growing demand for traffic engineers in China if work is slow over here!

Meet Me in St. Louis... I saw that old Judy Garland movie again during the holidays. As you may recall, one of the background themes of the musical is the preparation being made for the 1903 Worlds Fair in St. Louis.


I know that I am a little strange, but the title of the movie made me think of our own "coming together" event to be held in St. Louis this June. I am, of course, talking about the Midwestern ITE Annual Meeting. While I don't expect a lot of signing and dancing (well, maybe at the ice breaker or out at one of the bars), I do expect the Local Arrangements Committee to show us what St. Louis has to offer.

The meeting website, http://www.meetmeinstl07.movite.org/, has been activated, and is ready for you to make some preliminary plans to attend the St. Louis meeting. Please pass along the dates, June 13 - 15, 2007, throughout your membership. Let's have a big turn-out!


See you in St. Louis!

And So It Begins... HAPPY NEW YEAR! And with the ushering in of 2007 comes my official installation as Midwestern District Director. I thank Ken Voigt for doing such a great job as District Director for the past three years. Ken, you are a hard act to follow. I wish him well in his campaign for the office of International Vice President of ITE this year.

Congratulations are also due to the Midwestern District's own Earl Newman, who now officially takes the reigns as International President of ITE. Earl's care and concern for the organization have been made evident to me int he last two Interational Board meetings I have attended. ITE is in good hands this year.

I look forward to working with Earl and Ken this year and throughout my term. I also look forward to working with the District Board and the leadership of each section. I had made it a campaign pledge to act as a conduit of information between the International Board and the District membership. I regard this blog as a means to that end. Please use this blog to communicate, complain, comment or critique issues or ideas you may have or read here. Please, also, share this blog website address with your Board and your membership. I look forward to this new forum for interaction.

I also intend to use this blog to note upcoming events. The Illionois Section, for example, will be hosting their Annual Banquet on Friday evening, January 12, 2007. The event will be held at the Wellington of Arlington Heights, IL, and will begin at 6:00 p.m. Cost is $40. The banquet is also the occasion for the section's annual auction, which acts as the main fundraiser for their student scholarship fund. The section will also be awarding their student paper award, their student scholarship award, and will be installing their new board members. Earl Newman, Ken Voigt and I are scheduled to attend. A fun night will be had by all. For further information, please contact Joel Christell at Civiltech Engineering, 630-773-3900.



Here's to a successful 2007!