In Memoriam...

Chad Smith, City Traffic Engineer for the City of Bloomington, MN, passed away at age 41. Chad had been suffering from the effects of skin cancer over the past year, and suffered cardiac arrest last weekend.

Chad is survived by parents, Ruth and Jim Smith; sister, Becky (Loren) Schmidt; niece, Sarah Schmidt; nephew, Owen Schmidt; aunts, uncles, cousins and many friends. Funeral service was 10:00 AM Wednesday, July 1 at Community of the Cross Lutheran Church, 10701 Bloomington Ferry Rd., Bloomington, MN. Visitation was 9-10 AM Wednesday at church. Interment Cedar Memorial Park Cemetery, Cedar Rapids, IA was at 6:00 PM Wednesday.

Chad was a quiet, but talented traffic engineer for the Iowa DOT prior to working with the City of Bloomington. He was also an active member of the MOVITE and more recently NCITE, having served recently on the Board of Direction. He will be missed.

Passing the torch...

At last Friday's Midwestern District Business Meeting, the next MWITE District Director to the International Board of Direction was announced. He is Robert K. Seyfried, P.E., PTOE.

Congratulations, Bob!

An Open Letter to the District Membership...

June 10, 2009

Dear ITE Midwestern District Members:

I would like to extend an invitation for you to attend the Institute of Transportation Engineers 2009 Annual Meeting and Exhibit in San Antonio, TX, USA, August 9–12, 2009. This year’s meeting is chock full of opportunities to meet and network with peers, vendors and influential industry leaders

Now more than ever, you want to make the most of your learning experiences. ITE realizes the challenges facing transportation professionals in these trying economic times and has developed a meeting program to maximize your collaboration and networking experience.

Some highlights from the Annual Meeting and Exhibit include:

·         If your company registers three or more people for the meeting you will receive a 20 percent discount.

·         Positions available/wanted booklets to assist members in hiring the best and the brightest and to find employment.

·         An exhibit catered to making the most of your limited time and resources.

·         52 technical sessions ranging from roundabouts and pedestrian bike issues to new trends in parking and emerging green technologies.

·         Discussion on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and its impact on our community.

·         Student poster sessions where you can meet the next generation of transportation professionals.

For information about these opportunities and a complete list of technical and special sessions, tours and exhibit information, visit www.ite.org/annualmeeting. 

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Sallie Dollins at +1 202-289-0222 ext. 149 or sdollins@ite.org. We hope to see you in San Antonio!

Sincerely,

 

  

Stephen J. Manhart, P.E., PTOE, PTP

ITE Midwestern District Director

Roundabout voted down...

reprinted from the Tokepa Capital-Journal

By Rick Dean

Created June 9, 2009 at 10:48pm

Updated June 9, 2009 at 11:34pm

Susan Helbert, her voice breaking as she spoke, talked about how her life and home on the corner of S.W. 17th and MacVicar would be forever affected by a proposed roundabout that would bring traffic “right to my bedroom window.”

Helen Gaither, who has lived for nearly 60 years in the neighborhood, talked about escorting three generations of children through the heavily traveled intersection on trikes, bikes and foot. She wondered if she could ever cross the intersection again without the four-way traffic signal she has depended on for years.

Jorge Nobo, a Washburn University teacher and resident of the College Hill neighborhood, acknowledged that roundabouts are an effective way of slowing down traffic, something everyone says needs to happen on the busy northwest corner of the WU campus.

“It’s like rush hour every hour,” Nobo said of the traffic during class changes. “But a roundabout isn’t the most effective way to control that intersection. It’s like saying Hondas are good cars, but the one particular Honda I’m considering may have been underwater in New Orleans for six weeks. You have to look at each particular case.”

Consequently, when the Topeka City Council heard overwhelming opposition — 11 of 14 speakers Tuesday night spoke against it — to its proposed roundabout at the central city intersection, it voted 8-1 not to proceed with the proposed $1.2 million project, $800,000 of which would have come from the Kansas Department of Transportation.

Councilman Jeff Preisner was the lone dissenting vote. “Change is hard in Topeka,” he noted.

Not that the neighborhood doesn’t want changes in dealing with an intersection traffic engineers say has become dangerous. They recommended new traffic signals to replace the 1976 signal system, signs warning of heavy pedestrian traffic, stepped-up police patrols. They gave city officials high marks for a tree-trimming project that increased visibility at the intersection following public concerns voiced last week at a public hearing. They also credited the council for listening to their concerns.

“Now we hope that they’ll continue to implement some of the recommendations that came out of his whole thing,” said Helbert, no longer concerned about losing part of her front yard to accommodate the roundabout.

Column: Roundabout overload coming dangerously close

reprinted from The Topeka Capital-Journal

By Gwyn Mellinger
April 8, 2009 - 8:50pm

American traffic engineers are ga-ga over roundabouts, which means circular intersections will become increasingly common on our streets and highways. As is the case anytime public dollars are thrown at a trendy idea, taxpayers need to keep an eyebrow raised.

This isn’t a distant phenomenon. Even Topeka has manifested early symptoms of roundabout fever. Since the beginning of the decade, several roundabouts have been built in the area, and more are planned. For example, Shawnee County commissioners approved a project late last year that would construct a roundabout at N.W. 46th and Oakley. That is no big deal — except this particular roundabout will be built one block east of a circular intersection at N.W. 46th and US-75 highway.

This is what has happened throughout the United Kingdom, where roundabouts are more common than pubs. Left unchecked, roundabouts multiply until a road literally becomes short stretches of pavement linking traffic circles.

When this occurs, the automobile becomes an inefficient mode of transportation. It’s not unusual for a highway trip in England to average less than 40 mph, largely because drivers are forced, again and again, to reduce their speed to about 20 mph — sometimes in the middle of a freeway — in order to negotiate a roundabout.

On divided British highways, roundabouts commonly replace ramped exits. This is traffic engineering at its worst.

The inefficiency of the roundabout as an intersection design really comes into focus when a driver wants to keep going straight but has to slow down to enter the circle, then take the exit where his road continues.

Deployed sparingly and far from other circular intersections, the roundabout has several things going for it, which explains traffic engineers’ enthusiasm for the concept. Depending on the project, a roundabout is often less expensive to build than a traditional intersection regulated by a traffic signal.

Problems arise, though, when traffic at a roundabout becomes so heavy that lights must be installed to allow vehicles into and out of the circle.

Another benefit of roundabouts is they often can handle more vehicles in an hour than a traditional intersection. Again, however, if traffic volume exceeds the design of the intersection, cars will be backed up trying to enter the circle.

The best and most compelling reason to build roundabouts is that they slow traffic to the point that casualties from intersection crashes drop dramatically. Now, that’s difficult to argue with.
The key, then, is for the governments that fund these projects to make sure the roundabouts can handle growth in traffic and to use common sense in deciding their location. The public also has an interest in efficient transportation.

Roundabouts should continue to be the exception rather than the rule.

Gwyn Mellinger is the chairwoman of the department of communications and mass media at Baker University. She is teaching this semester at Harlaxton College near Grantham, England, and can be reached at gwyn.mellinger@bakeru.edu.

Congratulations, Earl --

ITE Past President and former MWITE District Director Earl Newman has been selected as a Top Ten Public Works Leader for 2009 by the American Public Works Association (APWA). Formal award ceremonies for Earl will be held in Springfield, MO on May 18.

Earl will be the fourth past president of ITE to receive this recognition (others are David Gwynn, Ed Mueller, and Marshall Elizer).

Congratulations, Earl, on the receipt of this prestigeous award. You are well-deserving and an inspiration to us all!

Desert Skies and Margaritas --
Headlines from the Phoenix Board Meeting

MWITE International Director’s Update
By Stephen J. Manhart, P.E., PTOE, PTP


It is hard to believe that I have entered my third and last year serving the Midwestern District as International Director. Time truly does fly when you’re having fun. I look forward to encouraging both District Director candidates from the Illinois Section, Bob Seyfried and Ray Benekohal, to savor this opportunity that the District membership bestows.

Last weekend, March 19 and 20, 2009, I attended the International Board of Direction meeting in Phoenix, Arizona, held in conjunction with the ITE Technical Conference and Exhibit. The Board was joined by selected ITE Staff and the 2009 Candidates for ITE International Vice President, Hibbett Neel and Robert Wunderlich.

MWITE’s own Ken Voigt, 2009 ITE International President, presided over this meeting. Several issues were pervasive during the course of the meeting -- the country’s state of the economy, the recent stimulus monies to states, and the upcoming transportation reauthorization bill.


Membership

ITE’s Executive Director and CEO Tom Brahms reported to the International Board that the downturn in the economy is having an impact on our membership and the Institute’s principal revenue sources. The extent of impacts on public and private sector members is directly dependent on the condition of public agency budgets. Although collections of 2009 membership dues are ahead of 2008 collections (in part due to earlier and more frequent billings), Tom anticipates that collections in the next nine months will fall behind to reflect the increasing layoffs of our members and severely constrained budgets. Nevertheless, ITE publications, professional development and contract revenues are on budget. Organization advertising and meeting revenue are below budget, and if they continue at the current rate, will be 79% of budget. The Board is monitoring all revenue and expenses, and has been assured by Tom that he will take the necessary steps to meet the budget.

As of March 10, 2009 we have received 80% of the budgeted 2009 membership dues. Of the 196 agency members, 177 have paid in full, 2 have made partial payments, and 8 have decided that they would not be renewing. Fortunately, none of those agencies not renewing are within the Midwestern District.

Tom Brahms informed the Board that ITE will be doing what we can to keep our members active -- even in the event of layoff or unemployment. If members face the prospect of losing their jobs, Tom encourages them to contact ITE Headquarters for consideration of a “Hardship Waiver” rather than dropping membership.

Due to budget constraints this past January, ITE had suspended hosting ITE Student and Member Receptions during TRB. After further consideration, the International Board felt that it is important to interact with future and existing members of our profession at ITE Headquarters. It is one time every year when many from our profession travel from around the world to be in Washington, DC. Therefore, ITE will resume its tradition next January of hosting a Student Reception during TRB, and a decision will be made by August 1 whether to hold a Member Reception likewise during TRB.


Publications

This month, ITE will deliver three major publications -- Traffic Engineering Handbook 6th Edition, Transportation Planning Handbook 3rd Edition and the Traffic Signal Timing Manual. Sales from these three publications, as well as continuing sales from Trip Generation 8th Edition and Geometric Street Design Handbook should result in record publication revenue, and should allow ITE to recoup the costs associated with publishing these books.

Other key publications that are or soon will be produced include:

• Parking Generation, 3rd Edition,
• Manual of Transportation Studies,
• Trip Generation Handbook,
• Introduction to Transportation Engineering,
• An initially biannual academic journal.

There was discussion about on-line delivery options for future ITE publications. For instance, an on-line version of Trip Generation is being considered. Options would be to pay a subscription for the data you need, and to be able to plot your data directly onto the overall trip generation plot, etc. In addition, ITE is considering 24-7 availability of webinar podcasts, and even a student webinar competition.


Initiatives

In 2009, ITE continues to expand its professional development Web seminar offerings. All of the seminars developed as part of the Investment in the Membership program have been completed, scheduled and in many cases conducted. So far this year 39 Web seminars/briefings were held. For those modules, there were 545 registered sites reaching more than 1265 participants. Thirty-three new web seminars and 14 new planned seminars will be offered.

ITE has sent to Congress a recommended proposal to fund a “Traffic Signal Timing” program as part of the stimulus package. The benefits that were touted are:

• Reduction in gasoline consumption;
• Improved safety;
• Savings of electric power by completing the relamping to LED signal heads;
• Revision of pedestrian walk time when appropriate using new walking speeds;
• Time savings;
• Reduction of emissions;
• Facilitation of rubber-tired transit; andImproved freight movement.

ITE’s draft positions on reauthorization have been revised in response to the many comments that were received. These will be sent out to ITE’s Policy and Legislative Committee for their review, and then on to the International Board for review and approval.

ITE staff continues to reach out to existing and potential partners and clients to seek opportunities to collaborate and fund projects that are within the Institute’s strategic objectives. We have expanded efforts with AARP, FHWA, EPA and the Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA).

To serve our audience outside of North America, ITE has an RFP on the street to co-fund the development of a web seminar with partners in Australia and/or New Zealand. We are continuing to search for and publish information in the e-newsletter and ITE Journal from outside the United States and Canada. ITE intends to expand these efforts in 2009.

The recession has created an interesting circumstance for ITE Headquarters in Washington, DC. The lease for ITE Headquarters office space expires on August 31, 2010. Tom Brahms is working with office space brokers to see what options exist in DC for securing a more favorable lease arrangement, either with the existing landlord or with landlords of other office space. Time is of the essence, since it is expected that the Federal Government will be seeking an additional 2 million additional square feet of office space in Washington very soon. To this end, the International Board authorized Tom to seek all options and report back his recommendations.


Make A Difference!

I was proud to inform the International Board that the Lincoln-Omaha Chapter (LOCATE) of the Missouri Valley Section (MOVITE) received a recognition from the State of Nebraska regarding their "Make A Difference" (MAD) campaign. They received a 2008 Governor's Safety Challenge Award under the category of Engineering.

I reported to the Board that if ITE needs a “poster child” activity to highlight our Core Value of Social Responsibility, this is it! I had attended the Fall 2008 MOVITE Section Meeting in Omaha, and was given an update of their Make a Difference Campaign. 2008 MOVITE Section President Matt Selinger had challenged his section and chapters with the following: Find a need in your community that is related to transportation and creates a way to make a difference for the public or for those in need. In response, the Lincoln and Omaha, NE local chapter, LOCATE, established a MAD Committee and they conducted several presentations at the local high schools on the use of seat belts, the impacts of drinking & driving, and the effects of driver distractions. Their goal was to make young drivers more aware, and thus, save lives. By the end of 2008, they presented this life saving message to hundreds (or maybe thousands) of teens in Nebraska and Iowa. They want this to be a model for other chapters, sections and districts to use to increase safety awareness. Kudos to 2008 MOVITE President Matt Seligner and to LOCATE Chair Mark Lutjerharms for their great work in raising driver awareness among high school aged drivers.

The ITE Board was genuinely impressed with this campaign, and felt that ITE does not do enough to encourage driver safety and responsibility. Many felt they would spread the word of this success, and work to encourage their districts, sections and chapters to adopt similar initiatives.


The Future

As ITE looks into the future, funding of transportation system capital, operations and maintenance will be an increasingly common discussion item for local, regional, state/provincial and national governments. ITE sees that the many-decade-long dialog of multimodal transportation system planning, operations, maintenance, objectives by modes and funding will expand to include the potential of the reorganization of the U. S. Department of Transportation and Congressional committee responsibilities.

The economic recession is impacting many of the employers of our members, resulting from the reduction of development and the reduction of tax revenues. The Federal stimulus “package,” along with the approval of FY2009 funding, should help to provide funding to keep more of our members working. ITE will be monitoring all revenue streams and making any necessary modifications to expenditures as required.


Desert Skies and Margaritas

While in Phoenix, the Board worked diligently during the day on the organizational matters. In the evenings, we were treated to drinks and fellowship at the conference hotel patio. On Saturday and Sunday nights, ITE Past President Jenny Grote and her local arrangements committee for the Phoenix conference, led attendees to the new light rail system, The Valley Metro, and to one of their favorite Mexican restaurants. It was great for this Northerner to wear shorts and sandals again, feel the warmth of the desert sun, enjoy the taste of margaritas and nachos, and to revel in the camaraderie that is our organization! Here’s to ITE!

Congratulations LOCATE and MOVITE!

Last week, the Lincoln-Omaha Chapter received word from the State of Nebraska that the they received a recognition regarding their "Make A Difference" (MAD) campaign. They received a 2008 Governor's Safety Challenge Award under the category of Engineering.

Kudos to 2008 MOVITE President Matt Seligner and to LOCATE Chair Mark Lutjerharms for their great work in raising driver awareness among high school aged drivers. In 2008, several chapter members visited high schools throughout Nebraska to discuss traffic safety.

This is sterling a example of one of ITE's Core Values -- Social Responsibility. I encourage all levels of the District to consider their responsibility to society, and work toward bringing these types of programs to your areas.

Great job!

Are You Stimulated Yet?

The visulaization website Many Eyes has developed a graphic depiction of the relative funding of proposed highway and bridge stimulus monies by state. These bubbles reflect the funding amounts states would receive as passed by the House of Representatives on January 28, 2009, and have not yet been updated for the actual bill signed by President Obama earlier this week. Nevertheless, this graphic provides a good comparison of state-to-state funding.

Fun in the Phoenix Sun..

Please consider attending the ITE 2009 Technical Conference and Exhibit, Transportation Operations in Action. Join more than 1,000 transportation professionals as they exchange ideas on transportation operations. Highlights include two plenary sessions by well-renowned transportation experts. Attend the numerous technical sessions, discover what innovative research is being conducted and share your perspective in the open dialogue between the audience and panelist(s) in the conversation circle sessions. Visit the exhibits and see the latest products and services being showcased.

Join your colleagues in Phoenix, AZ, USA, March 22–25, 2009 to make a difference in transportation operations! Here is the link: http://www.ite.org/Conference/default.asp

NOTE: Five or more registrants from the same company or agency qualify for reduced registration. Please check with ITE Headquarters for more information.

Danger with Portable Changeable Message Signs...

As you may have seen on the news or read on the internet, hacking sites have given people the instructions to hack into portable changeable message signs, like the one above. Although these hack sites give the stern warning, "***WARNING YOU SHOULD NEVER TAMPER WITH THESE SIGNS***", they then list the four-point instructions to do just that!

HELPFUL HINT: If you deploy PCMSs, make sure you reset the password to something other than the default "DOTS". This may not stop the hackers, but at least it will slow them down for a while.

ITE CALL TO ACTION...CALL 202-224-3121– URGE YOUR SENATOR TO SUPPORT TRANSPORTATION INVESTMENT BY VOTING “YAY” on S. 336

On January 27, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved its portion of S. 336, American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The bill, which will be considered on the Senate Floor the week of February 2, includes more than $27 billion for investments in highway infrastructure and $8.4 billion for transit. It also includes a $5.5 billion competitive grant program for long-range regional and national megaprojects.

During floor debate, Senate Democrats are expected to introduce amendments to increase infrastructure spending in the bill by an additional $3 billion for mass transit projects and other highway spending. ITE is advocating for investment in traffic signal timing programs as a part of the infrastructure investment to improve transportation system mobility, create jobs and reduce fuel and energy consumption.

ITE has written a letter to Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Inouys (D-HI) -- contact me if you would like to see a copy.

According to the Senate Appropriates committee report, “the bill requires that States spend at least 5 percent of their apportioned funding on activities eligible under the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality [CMAQ] Improvement program…Such activities include, but are not limited to, diesel retrofits, congestion mitigation, parking facilities, and traffic flow improvements.” (If you would like to see a copy of Senate Appropriations Committee Report on S. 336, please contact me.)

On January 27, the House of Representatives approved it’s version of the bill, which includes $30 billion for highways and $12 billion for mass transit. During floor consideration three amendments were passed to:
- increase mass transit funding by $3 billion;
- change the time frame in which states must obligate half of their recovery funds from 180 days to 90 days; and
- clarify that federal funds received by states shall not be use for planned expenditures.

FHWA and FTA have issued joint guidance regarding the economic recovery funds and how to expedite projects. The guidance refers to projects such as traffic signal upgrades as eligible to be included as part of larger projects or as standalone projects.

Oh, Nine...

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ONE AND ALL!

MAY THE NEXT YEAR BRING A PROSPEROUS AND PROFITABLE RESURGENCE IN INFRASTRUCTURE INNITIATIVES!

Roundabouts: Efficient or Annoying?
December 30, 2008, 7:40 am — Updated: 12:42 pm -->
By Kate Galbraith Copyright 2008 The New York Times Company



More drivers in more states are encountering signs like this one. (Photo: Laura Pedrick for The New York Times)

From Minnesota to Florida, drivers grumble that roundabouts are confusing and dangerous.

But the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety says that modern roundabouts — which have proliferated in this country in recent years — are not only far safer than regular intersections, they are also more fuel efficient. Drivers use about 30 percent less gas when using a roundabout compared with a traffic signal, according to the Institute, because they don’t necessarily have to stop and idle.

Modern roundabouts differ from older traffic circles — like Dupont Circle in Washington or Grand Army Plaza in New York — in a few ways. The new ones are smaller, and also have sharper angles, so that drivers are forced to enter more slowly and are supposed to yield rather than merge. This, at least in theory, makes them safer, though drivers do not always know the rules.

Still, states are rushing to build them — not least because roundabouts, with no traffic signals to maintain, are comparatively cheap.

Three years ago Arizona had two roundabouts. Now it has around 17, with 23 more under construction, according to Tim Tait, a spokesman for Arizona’s transportation department. In New York, just 16 modern roundabouts were added between 2001 and 2005; since early 2006, 37 more have been built, according to the New York Department of Transportation.
Some businesses near busy intersections are clamoring for roundabouts. In the town of Rutherford, in the Napa Valley, some wineries off a busy highway are lobbying for a roundabout to give visitors easier access.

“While a traffic signal is likely to operate satisfactorily, a roundabout would be more in keeping with the rural nature of the area,” a proposal for the project reads, “and would be expected to operate substantially more efficiently than a signal for extended periods of the day.”

The link between private grief and public safety

Memorial to Robert Winkler outside Herrin, Illinois Photo: Stephen Chalmer , c/o HumanFlowerProject.com

The piles of notes and flowers left at the scenes of fatal car crashes can actually make drivers more cautious, a researcher finds
by IAN BAILEY, The Globe and Mail, November 8, 2008

VANCOUVER -- They are roadside references to accidental death that just might end up inspiring passing drivers to lifesaving caution behind the wheel. A road-safety expert at the University of Calgary has released a study on how roadside memorials - the clusters of flowers, crosses, and photos that mark sudden tragic death in accidents - affect traffic.

Richard Tay set up fake memorials at four intersections with red-light cameras in Calgary, then monitored how the memorials affected traffic. Prof. Tay, who holds the Alberta Motor Association Chair in Road Safety at the Schulich School of Engineering, found that about 17 per cent fewer drivers ran red lights at the target intersections over the six weeks of the test than in the previous six weeks.

"In terms of safety, these things have a positive benefit," he said in an interview yesterday. "They give us a safety message to drive more cautiously." More than 60 per cent of 810 respondents to an online survey supported municipal policies that allow the memorials, although about half said time limits should be imposed on how long they could remain in place.
"The important thing is we haven't found any negative side effects, but we did find some positive benefits in the short term, so I suggest municipalities allow them, but impose some sort of control on them."

Policies vary among provinces and in municipalities across Canada; some have specific rules, but others don't take any steps to regulate them. Calgary's traffic department, which helped Prof. Tay with his research, is developing a formal proposal for city council to consider next February. It would cover points such as where memorials are allowed. Troy McLeod, Calgary's traffic-safety manager, said his department is sensitive to memorials. It usually removes them from dangerous, inaccessible high-traffic areas such as highways because of fears for the safety of families maintaining them, but the department contacts families before taking them down.
"There may not be one way to do them, but we're trying to be respectful and sensitive. If you put yourself in anyone's shoes, it's a difficult time." He said that it seems the number of memorials has been growing in the 15 years he has been in the job, but added he has no statistics to back up that perception.

An official with the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the issue of roadside-memorial policy has never come up as something the organization would seriously research or take a position on. Prof. Tay, who said he wanted to come up with data to help municipalities form policies on memorials, said communities should let them proceed, but not let them get out of control.

He went to unusual lengths for his research, which had its genesis at a 2006 meeting of traffic experts in Ottawa when questions were raised about municipal policies on roadside memorials and participants realized that policies were inconsistent.

There wasn't much research on the memorials' impact on traffic, he said, only studies that focused on sociology and grieving. In designing the study, it was necessary to build fake memorials. Researchers studied memorials around Calgary and elsewhere in Alberta, trying to understand the basic elements. "We designed our memorial to look like what we normally see on the road. Real memorials normally have a name. For our research, we put, 'This is a research experiment by the University of Calgary,' and the contact information for them to find out more information," he said.

Holly Everett, an assistant folklore professor at Memorial University in St. John's, has written on the subject of memorials, and said yesterday that she had heard about Prof. Tay's study.
"It's interesting because [the study] parallels what many people have told me about roadside memorials during my own research. A number of people that I interviewed told me that they automatically slow down or are more cautious whenever they see a roadside memorial, whether or not they have any connection to the memorial or knowledge about what caused the accident," Prof. Everett said in an e-mailed response to questions from The Globe and Mail.

"Similarly, every individual I interviewed who was directly involved in creating or maintaining a memorial told me that, if the memorial was responsible for even one person being more cautious when driving through that particular area, then it was worth all the effort and care that went into it."

***
ORIGINS
In North America, the memorials originated in the U.S. Southwest with roots in Hispanic culture, Catholicism and funerary rites dating back more than 200 years. "The purpose of these small, white crosses at the roadside was to mark the rest areas for funeral procession pallbearers travelling by foot from the church to the graveyard. These sanctified, holy rest areas which are called Descansos (Spanish for "resting place") have since evolved into markers of the location of traffic fatalities by the side of the road," Richard Tay's study says. "The vast majority of memorials consist of a cross, often white, with flowers, photos, notes, cards, dolls or various other memorabilia."

The authors of one study quoted by Prof. Tay did a survey of bereaved families, who said most memorials were placed for teenagers, whose deaths were considered "unexpected, traumatic and unprecedented." Most of the people who put up the memorials wanted them in place as a focus for their grief with the idea of warning other motorists of the risks in the area of an accident as "an after-thought, or in some cases, a secondary rationale for justifying the placement of the memorial."
-- Ian Bailey

I-35W Bridge Could Open Next Week...
by Paul Walsh and Jim Foti, Minneapolis Star Tribune staff writers
September 10, 2008


(photo taken from Minneapolis Star Tribune website StribCam http://www.startribune.com/local/18346174.html?elr=KArks:DCiUHc3E7_V_nDaycUiacyKUU)

The new Interstate 35W bridge is expected to open to traffic as early as next Tuesday, less than 14 months after its predecessor collapsed into the Mississippi River, state transportation officials said Tuesday.

A news conference with Gov. Tim Pawlenty and other officials will be held at 11 a.m. Monday at the 10-lane bridge to announce the exact opening time, the Minnesota Department of Transportation announced. The agency said motorists will be able to use the bridge sometime next week.

It won't be known until next week whether the construction team, led by Flatiron Constructors, will be eligible for its full $27 million in bonuses for finishing early, said MnDOT spokesman Kevin Gutknecht. Monday is the deadline for the firms to receive the full bonus.

Gutknecht said there will be no public open house on the bridge. "It would be great to be able to do it," he said, but such an event would delay the opening, and there were concerns because the bridge's low, freeway-style railings are not designed to keep pedestrians safe.

Construction on the $234 million project began on Nov. 1, three months to the day after the old bridge collapse collapsed into the Mississippi River on the edge of downtown Minneapolis. The contractually committed date of completion is Dec. 24, 2008.

The replacement span "will be high-quality, safe and last for at least 100 years," MnDOT said.
During the final week of construction, work crews will continue to:

• Install and test anti-icing and smart-bridge systems, which monitor the bridge's movements.
• Apply finishing and striping on the bridge deck.
• Install road signs.
• Landscape areas along the corridor.
• Install traffic signals and lights.

Late last month, the National Transportation Safety Board said it is close to identifying the cause of last summer's collapse and plans to discuss its findings at a public hearing in Washington on Nov. 13.

Thirteen people died and 145 were injured in the collapse.

In January, NTSB Chairman Mark Rosenker said a design error was "the critical factor" in the collapse, pointing to too-thin gusset plates -- which helped connect the bridge's steel beams. The NTSB also has focused on the weight of construction materials placed on the bridge for a resurfacing project.

The new bridge has one more lane in each direction than the one that collapsed and could be restriped to accommodate seven lanes in each direction if shoulders were omitted. The bridge also is light-rail ready, "which may help accommodate future transportation needs," MnDOT has said.

Happy Death Jingle, Mr. Speed, Valley Girls, and Work Zone Pixie?!?!?

This summer, Minnesotans may have heard a few Mn/DOT public service announcements on the radio directing drivers to pay attention while driving and to slow down in work zones.

Four new radio messages were written and produced by students in a radio writing class instructed by David Schutton at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design (my daughter's alma mater). Professional voice actors were used to create the final production. The messages will be distributed to some radio stations statewide.

Listen to the work zone safety messages:

• Happy Death Jingle (WAV, 5.4mb)


• Mr. Speed (WAV, 5.7mb)


• Valley Girls (WAV, 5.1mb)


• Work Zone Pixie (WAV, 5.5mb)

(If these links don't work, go here http://www.dot.state.mn.us/workzone/)

Headlines from Anaheim...

I wanted to update you on the general headlines that came out of the International Board of Direction Meeting in Anaheim this past weekend, as well as some other items that occurred during the Annual Meeting itself:

1. Strategic Plan -- The International Board of Direction (IBOD) continued its review of ITE's Strategic Plan. Final review and possible acceptance of the plan will occur at the fall IBOD meeting.


2. Annual Meeting -- A "perfect storm" occurred this year -- bad economy, continued agency travel restrictions, and a neighboring hotel that decided to drastically reduce their hotel rates during remodeling. Therefore ITE was not able to meet its commitment of sleeping rooms at the Anaheim Marriott. The price competition resulted in ITE meeting less than 50% of its sleeping rooms, while it was contracted for 85%. The attrition resulted in ITE facing a sizable penalty. To offset this penalty, Tom Brahms negotiated a settlement that allows ITE to pay nothing now, but requires ITE to host another conference at the Anaheim Marriott and Convention Center within 8 years (and at a reduced commitment of sleeping rooms). This settlement will require the shuffling of host cities (probably Toronto) for 2016. Ironically, the final attendance at the Anaheim will be one of the highest -- over 2100 delegates.


3. Annual ITE Dues -- Annual Membership Dues will increase in 2009 by $5 for the grades of Member, Fellow, and Institute Affiliate. The dues for Retired Members will increase by $2.50. Dues will not increase for students.


4. New Mega Issue -- The IBOD has adopted a new Mega Issue -- Energy, Environment and Land Use Issues (i.e., Sustainability) -- to go along with our existing Mega Issues -- Safety; Management and Operations; Designing for all Users; Workforce Development; Public Information/Public Relations; and, International Aspects of ITE.


5. Membership -- ITE Headquarters has a new Membership Director - Bill Baldwin. He is an eager young man who is excited about the idea of working with all of us, across every district, section and chapter, to retain current members and to add new ones. He is eager to work with local sections and chapters to capture students as they enter the job market and shortly thereafter -- when young engineers have finished "test driving" ITE and face their first real dues notices.


6. Young Engineers -- ITE will be hosting a Student/Young Engineers Conference. Each District will nominate a student and/or young member to represent them at the meeting. ITE will bring them all together in conjunction with Strategic Advance (an annual meeting each April for the Executive Committee of ITE), then spend a day discussing issues vital to youth. More information will be forthcoming on this.


7. Traffic Bowl Competition -- Starting next year, the ITE Annual Meeting will host a Traffic Bowl Competition (see attached), pitting teams from every district against one another in various "heats" culminating in a championship round. There will be awards for the competition. (MWITE will need to decide very soon whether we wish to host a qualifying traffic bowl competition at our Annual Meeting in Wisconsin Dells. If so, we will need to work with ITE HQ and other districts to acquire or develop the equipment needed to hold the competition.)


8. Elected Leadership Forum -- This annual forum is an opportunity for elected leaders from districts, sections and chapters to interact face-to-face with Tom Brahms, the International President, V.P., and Past President. I was proud that MWITE was the best represented district at this year's forum. In attendance were John Davis, Wayne Sandberg, Armapal Matharu, Matt Selinger, Tom Campbell and myself. In the past, dozens of people from across the country wound sit in on this forum, and share ideas. This year, unfortunately, only a handful of people outside of MWITE members bothered (or remembered) to attend. I realize that this meeting gets buried with all the other sessions and meetings people attend, but it can be one of the most informative and memorable opportunities our elected leadership can have. I will work with ITE staff to see that this forum is more heavily promoted in the future.


9. MWITE Welcome Reception -- Our district hosted another successful reception this past Monday night. While the number of attendees was down from the Pittsburgh meeting (+ 60 vs. + 75), the event was well received by those who attended. I even heard from two new vendors (Siemens and Trafficware) who say they would be willing to help sponsor the event next year. Regarding next year's Welcome Reception in San Antonio, we may need to move our welcome reception to a different night because the Texas District may be hosting a Texas BBQ or Roadhouse Dinner that Monday night. Stay tuned.

Something to Think About...

Hello from Anaheim, site of the 2008 ITE Annual Meeting. As the International Board of Direction begins its meetings, I wanted to share something that is quite powerful and enlightening.

Mark Norman, ITE Coordinating Council Chair, shared a YouTube link as a means to generate discussion regarding potential outreach to younger people. The link, called "Did You Know 2.0" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMcfrLYDm2U) , was developed by educators in Colorado to stimulate discussion about what we should be teaching our young children to better prepare them for tomorrow. It is fascinating!

For instance, the video states, "We live in exponential times... THe first commercial text message was sent in December 1992... The number of text messages sent and received today exceeds the population of the planet". Also, it states, "...If MySpace were a country, it would be the 8th largest in the world."

Please watch the video and share it with others. It will certainly make you think about our role in the future!

A New Book For Your Library...


A Washington Post Book Review by Jonathan Yardley

Sunday, August 10, 2008; Page BW15
(Reprinted from the Washington Post website , 08/08/08)

"TRAFFIC", By Tom Vanderbilt
Knopf. 402 pp. $24.95

Tom Vanderbilt's Traffic -- engagingly written, meticulously researched, endlessly interesting and informative -- is one of those rare books that comes out of the depths of nowhere. Its subjects are the road and the people who drive it, which is to say Traffic gets about as close to the heart of modern existence as any book could get, yet what's truly astonishing is that no one else has done it, at least not on the scale that Vanderbilt has achieved. We've had road novels (On the Road) and road movies ("Two for the Road") and road songs ("On the Road Again"), but nonfiction studies of "why we drive the way we do and what it says about us" -- to borrow Vanderbilt's subtitle -- have been almost entirely limited to dry, impenetrable engineering and psychological treatises. Yet think about it, which Vanderbilt obviously has done at great length and to immensely rewarding effect. "Many of us," he writes at the outset, "myself included, seem to take driving a car fairly lightly, perhaps holding on to some simple myths of independence and power, but it is actually an incredibly complex and demanding task."

Then, a bit farther down the road, at the beginning of a chapter entitled "Why You're Not as Good a Driver as You Think You Are," he continues: "For those of us who are not brain surgeons, driving is probably the most complex everyday thing we do. It is a skill that consists of at least fifteen hundred 'subskills.' At any moment, we are navigating through terrain, scanning our environment for hazards and information, maintaining our position on the road, judging speed, making decisions (about twenty per mile, one study found), evaluating risk, adjusting instruments, anticipating the future actions of others -- even as we may be sipping a latte, thinking about last night's episode of American Idol, quieting a toddler, or checking voice mail. A survey of one stretch of road in Maryland found that a piece of information was presented every two feet, which at 30 miles per hour, the study reasoned, meant the driver was exposed to 1,320 'items of information,' or roughly 440 words, per minute. This is akin to reading three paragraphs like this one while also looking at lots of pretty pictures, not to mention doing all the other things mentioned above -- and then repeating the cycle, every minute you drive."

Get only a few pages into Traffic and you'll begin to understand something that probably has never crossed your mind, unless you're a traffic engineer, a behavioral psychologist or a law-enforcement officer: The road is an incredibly complicated place, and driving -- which, after the initial rush of passing the driver's test, most of us take for granted for the rest of our lives -- is fraught with danger and uncertainty at every turn of the wheels. Vanderbilt, a freelance writer who specializes in complex and sometimes arcane subjects, posits "a simple mantra you can carry about with you in traffic": "When a situation feels dangerous to you, it's probably more safe than you know; when a situation feels safe, that is precisely when you should feel on guard. Most crashes, after all, happen on dry roads, on clear, sunny days, to sober drivers."

By way of illustrating the point, Vanderbilt describes "a driving trip in rural Spain" during which a promising shortcut turned out to be "a climbing, twisting, broken-asphalt nightmare of blind hairpin turns" with "few guardrails, just vertigo-inducing drops into distant gulleys." Because "there was little to keep me from tumbling off the edge of the road," Vanderbilt "drove as if my life depended on it," which of course it did. Another time in Spain, he drove "a smooth, flat road with gentle curves and plenty of visibility," and "I just about fell asleep and ran off the road."
By any standard measurement, the first road was "incredibly dangerous" and the second "of course the more objectively safe," yet Vanderbilt argues -- and many traffic specialists agree -- that the first road made him a better driver because it put him on high alert while the second nearly lulled him to sleep. He writes: "The things that work best in the traffic world of the highway -- consistency, uniformity, wide lanes, knowing what to expect ahead of time, the reduction of conflicts, the restriction of access, and the removal of obstacles -- have little or no place in the social world."

That's just one of the many useful tidbits that await you in Traffic. For instance: "Anonymity in traffic acts as a powerful drug, with several curious side effects. On the one hand, because we feel that no one is watching, or that no one we know will see us, the inside of the car itself becomes a useful place for self-expression. . . . The flip side of anonymity . . . is that it encourages aggression." The risks of anonymity are among the almost literally uncountable distractions of the road: "As the inner life of the driver begins to come into focus, it is becoming clear not only that distraction is the single biggest problem on the road but that we have little concept of just how distracted we are." People "drive as if the world is a television show viewed on TiVo that can be paused in real time -- one can duck out for a moment, grab a beer from the fridge, and come back to right where they left off without missing a beat."

Keeping traffic moving safely and freely is the responsibility of traffic engineers, yet most of us are clueless about their daily impact on our lives. They are involved in everything from synchronizing (or not synchronizing) stoplights to building gentle curves into straight interstates in order to reduce boredom and sleepiness. But they aren't perfect: "As a profession, traffic engineering has historically tended to treat pedestrians like little bits of irritating sand gumming up the works of their smoothly humming traffic machines. With a touch of condescending pity, pedestrians are referred to as 'vulnerable road users.' . . . As a testament to the inherent bias of the profession, no engineer has ever written a paper about how 'vehicular interference' disrupts the saturation flow rates of people trying to cross the street."

One of Vanderbilt's best chapters is "How Traffic Explains the World: On Driving with a Local Accent," in which he shows how everything from road signs to motorists' behavior varies from city to city, country to country. It's not all that hard for the traveler to adapt to the basics, as I discovered a couple of years ago while driving on the "wrong" side of the road in Scotland, but the subtleties are something else: "Traffic is a sort of secret window onto the inner heart of a place, a form of cultural expression as vital as language, dress, or music. It's the reason a horn in Rome does not mean the same thing as a horn in Stockholm, why flashing your headlights at another driver is understood one way on the German autobahn and quite another way on the 405 in Los Angeles, why people jaywalk constantly in New York and hardly at all in Copenhagen. These are the impressions that stick with us. 'Greek drivers are crazy,' the visitor to Athens will observe, safely back in Kabul."

As for accidents, Vanderbilt declines to call them that as they are almost always the result of behavior that is not accidental. He calls them crashes, and reports that "more people were killed in the United States on Saturday and Sunday from midnight to three a.m. than all those who were killed from midnight to three a.m. the rest of the week." Stay home on the Fourth of July, "statistically, the most dangerous day to be on the road," and Super Bowl Sunday: "Nearly twenty times more beer is drunk in total on Super Bowl Sunday than on an average day." The drivers most likely to be involved in crashes on those days are males, frequently young ones, especially those driving pickup trucks, "the most dangerous vehicle on the road." Indeed, pickups are more dangerous than big trucks, because "car drivers have less to fear from [big] trucks than from what they themselves do around [big] trucks," which tends to be to drive dangerously. Pickups "are high, heavy, and have very stiff front ends -- meaning other vehicles have to absorb more energy in a crash."

All the above is just a sample of what's to be learned from Traffic, which touches just about every imaginable base, always authoritatively. As a Washingtonian who is both a motorist and (more often) a pedestrian, I wish he'd looked into the tendency of suburbanites to bring bad suburban driving habits into more demanding urban streets -- yes, Maryland and Virginia license plates, I'm talking about you-- but that can be inferred from other discussions in the book. Read it and you're likely to come away a better driver, more cautious and more alert. Certainly I like to think it's made me a better driver, but then as Vanderbilt says, we all think we're better drivers than we really are.

Washington Post excerpt of Chapter 1 of "Traffic": http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/books/chap1/traffic.htm?sid=ST2008080801427&pos=list

(I'm sure I can speak for several fellow traffic engineers who say, "Why didn't I think to write this! -- SJM)