Midwestern District Director Report...

Yesterday, I filed my March District Director Report to ITE HQ. Below is text from that report. Thanks to the Section and District Presidents who all contributed to this report.

Institute of Transportation Engineers
International Director Report

International Director: Stephen J. Manhart, P.E., PTOE
Date Submitted: March 8, 2007
District: Midwestern District

I. Issues or topics discussed at chapter, section and district board meetings that may need to have ITE Board and/or staff discussion/action (please list for each issue/topic—the chapter, section or district person to contact for further information):

a. Issues with Membership Database -- The North Central Section continues to have problems with maintaining their own database (for email lists) and not getting timely updates from ITE on new member/member contact info changes. This is the lifeblood of our organization and should be the top priority of ITE. (Contact Marcus Culver, NCITE President.)

b. Web Pages -- Will ITE ever host section/district web pages? Would ITE ever consider having a staff of 2 to 3 people to maintain these web pages? It is a tough call, but we find it is becoming more and more difficult to find volunteers to keep our website up to date. Having a paid professional would help but also introduce issues with how to share those 2-3 people across all the Districts and Sections. (Contact Marcus Culver, NCITE President.)

c. District Dues -- There was a question a while back from someone about whether one could only pay local and national dues without paying district dues. According to Earl Newman, technically, one could opt out of paying District dues, but that isn't really advertised. Not that it is a common request, but it raised the issue of whether there is a need for the District to inform members more clearly on the services provided on the District level. (Contact Peter Lemmon, Illinois Section President.)

d. Section Restructuring -- The MOVITE Board is currently evaluating their Board make-up and representation. Any changes could be taken to a vote this year if a restructuring gets that far. The Section President would be the contact person who can elaborate as needed. (Contact Doug Ripley, MOVITE President.)

II. “New” topics and papers that you feel the other Board members and ITE Staff should be aware of that were presented at one of the chapter, section or district:

a. Real Time Traffic Database -- The winning paper for the Wisconsin Section’s Martin Bruening Award described Wisconsin DOT’s new database system, WISTRANSPORTAL, which will link all of the state’s real time traffic data and archival data such as accident reports into a central location for data analysis. This system will ultimately feed the State’s new “511” initiative and will assist designers in identifying high crash locations. These are just two of the possibilities derived from the new system which is still under development. For more information, contact Steven Parker, UW-Madison, Traffic Operations Lab, author, 608-265-4921

b. Modern Roundabouts – As with other areas of the country, modern roundabouts are becoming quite “fashionable” in the Midwest. Nevertheless, operational analysis of them remains a subject of much debate. For example, RODEL is becoming the accepted norm for roundabout analysis in Minnesota, while some agencies are admitting RODEL’s limitations and are considering other analysis tools. Some members are looking to ITE to provide leadership and direction in settling this operational analysis issue. NCITE’s Intersection Traffic Control Committee is looking at which analysis methods may be best for the Minnesota condition.


III. Student Chapter or student-related innovative activities and/or products that the ITE Board and/or staff should be aware of:

a. Professional Ethics at the Student Level – MOVITE will be discussing the topic of professional ethics as part of student activities this summer. (Get to ’em while their young!)

b. “Job-Shadowing” -- Last fall, after the Illinois Section’s monthly luncheon held at Illinois Institute of Technology and following a job fair, section members tried a "job shadow" program where students could go back to the office with participating firms for the a few hours in that afternoon to get a sense of the office environment, talk about different aspects of our jobs, answer questions, and hopefully get a feel for what we actually do at work. They are hoping to expand on this program this fall. Have other Sections tried something like this and if so, how was their experience?

c. ITSO -- NCITE’s student chapter at the University of Minnesota is called ITSO, Interdisciplinary Transportation Student Organization, and is actually a compilation of ITS MN, WTS and NCITE. The advantage of this, while it may appear that ITE is not strongly emphasized, is that you get a broader exposure to students you might not otherwise reach. NCITE has joint meetings and offers scholarships opportunities to OTSO, as well as mentoring programs. This group has surprisingly increased student membership and activity in our organization.

d. Students at TRB -- Both UW-Milwaukee and Madison sent student delegations to the TRB Annual Meeting. UW Milwaukee has sent a group every year since 1998 through innovative fund raising and Section support. (Contact Professor Alan Horowitz, Chair of Civil Engineering, UWM, 414-229-6685, for more information.)

IV. Unique programs or projects of the chapter, section or district:

a. Research Grant -- The North Central Section is looking at offering a small transportation research grant for a member or group in their section to further some already in-place project. The recipient would be required to write an article in their newsletter, perhaps give a section meeting presentation on the topic and submit an article to the ITE Journal and even perhaps present an International Meeting presentation. NCITE hopes to spur some good research and communication with this grant. This is in response to the lack of quality articles and reports being submitted for the newsletter, which is a result of members being so busy.

b. Green Bay Chapter – The Wisconsin Section is exploring the possibility of starting a regional chapter in the Green Bay (Fox Valley) area.


VI. General Comments / Other Significant Issues to bring to the attention of the Board and HQ Staff:

a. St. Louis Meeting -- MOVITE is hosting a joint Section and Midwestern District Meeting in St. Louis, MO, on June 13-15, 2007.

b. Billing of Non-International, Section Affiliate Members -- Can this be done at the International Level to use their billing resources? (Please contact Katie Belmore, WI Section Treasurer 414-225-3729)

c. E-Balloting -- Can Section elections be done under the same system that international uses for e-balloting under an ITE wide contract? (Contact Dan McCormick, WI Section Secretary 608-266-4761)

d. Midwestern ITE Blog – Since January, I have maintained a blog of ITE District and Section activities, news, and information of interest. My weblog address is:
www.midwestern-ite.blogspot.com