ITE 2015 Technical Conference

ITE’s 2015 Technical Conference will be focused on seminars and workshops led by subject matter experts exploring key issues in transportation today.  The conference workshops are designed to encourage the active engagement of the participants so they can bring back to their own organizations and active discourse on the subjects. ITE intends to capture this information through audio/visual recording of select workshops to make them available on a 24/7 on-demand learning basis.

Value to FWHA

The conference provides a ready audience of transportation professionals interested in learning the most current techniques to improve transportation conditions related to FHWA program the following manner:

• Each conference session has a learning objective(s) that can be tied to FHWA programs.

• All conference sessions qualify for professional development credits

• Concurrent with the conference targeted professional development courses and value added training could be provided.

• Recorded workshops provide outreach and engagement to audience that may not have been able to attend in person.

• Collaborating with FHWA will assist ITE to invite important national/international speakers.

The attendees will leave the conference with state-of-the-practice tools that they can start to apply immediately and significant knowledge on how to move their transportation services to the next level.

Monday, October 26

• 9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. - Planning and Design Workshop: using NACTO, Complete Streets and Great Street and Review of the Draft NACTO Transit Guide

  Developed by the Complete Streets Council

  PART I – NACTO Urban Street Design Guide

The Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) in conjunction with National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO) will host a workshop based on the NACTO Urban Street Design Guide. Participants will learn about the Guide’s principles and its application to arterial corridors, evaluating their potential as a multimodal streets, and applying interim design strategies, intersection design strategies and street typologies, as well as other topics addressed in the Guide. The session format will incorporate classroom instruction as well as provide a forum for dialogue and engagement between engineers, planners and other professionals.

PART II - Sneak Peak: NACTO Transit Street Design Guide Training and Workshop

NACTO will be releasing a draft of the Transit Street Design Guide in October, 2015.  ITE has been a collaborator in the preparation of this Guide, and this workshop offers ITE conference attendees the opportunity to get a sneak peak of the guide before its official release.  In addition to a training on the guide’s components, attendees will participate in breakout groups to work on case study designs for local roadways.

Learning Objectives:

• Understand the application of core principles of the Urban Street Design Guide, including short-term and long-term strategies.

• Identify workable design solutions to enhance multi-modal safety and mobility, and create a vibrant public realm.

• Gain comprehensive knowledge on component principles outlined in the NACTO Transit Street Design Guide

• Apply core principles of the Transit Street Design Guide, including short-term and long-term strategies.

• 9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. - Management and Operations in an Integrated Corridor Environment Workshop

  Developed by Transportation Systems Management & Operations

This full day session is a unique opportunity to hear lessons learned, participate in discussions that highlight how other emerging issues could affect integrated corridor implementation, and enjoy a four-hour workshop on how to implement Integrated Corridor Management.  Transportation corridors often contain underutilized capacity in the form of parallel roadways, single-occupant vehicles, and transit services that could be better leveraged to improve person throughput and reduce congestion by moving away from the optimization of the performance of individual assets. The vision of integrated transportation networks is they will realize significant improvements in the efficient movement of people and goods through institutional collaboration and aggressive, proactive integration of existing infrastructure along major corridors.

AM – Part 1: Lessons Learned from Pioneer Implementation

Hear lessons learned from Integrated Corridor Management pioneer sites (Dallas, Texas; Houston, Texas; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Montgomery County, Maryland; Oakland, California; San Antonio, Texas; San Diego, California; and Seattle, Washington) as well as other locations undertaking integrated corridor work.

AM – Part 2: Relationship to Significant Trends in Management and Operations

Participate in breakout groups to discuss how Integrated Corridor Management interfaces with:

• Complete Streets

• Big Data

• Connected and Automated Vehicles

• Decision Support Systems

PM – Part 3: Integrated Corridor Management Analysis Modeling and Simulation

Intended to motivate and equip participants to take advantage of specialized analytical tools to assess or refine Integrated Corridor Management concepts, designs and plans. Analysis Modeling and Simulation (AMS) helps agencies identify the optimum combinations of strategies in their corridors. Conducting Integrated Corridor Management AMS helps agencies confirm that the operations strategies they are considering will have the intended effects when implemented before they invest in them.

Learning Objectives:

At the conclusion of this workshop, participants will be able to:

• Define Integrated Corridor Management

• Identify the successes and challenges to operations associated with the early implementation sites for Integrated Corridor Management

• Describe the relationship between Integrated Corridor Management and the needs and objectives of complete streets, big data, connected and automated vehicles, and decision support systems

• Understand the use of the AMS results to refine a Concept of Operations and leading to a Memorandum of Understanding between the partners

• Explain current modeling technologies and the applicability for Corridor Management

• Provide feedback on the current AMS tool sets that will be used as part of the overall AMS effort

Tuesday, October 27

Plenary Session:  Issues Facing the Transportation Profession and Opportunities for Collaborative Solutions

Join incoming ITE executive director and CEO, Jeff Paniati, current ITE executive director and CEO, Tom Brahms, and other transportation association executives for a lively, interactive discussion on the challenges facing our profession. Panelists will share their perspectives on demonstrating member value through existing partnerships and will share their ideas on additional collaborative efforts to address these challenges.

Workshops – Canyon III Room

• 11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. - Application of the Unsignalized Intersection Guide

  Developed by the Traffic Engineering Council

Thousands of fatalities per year occur at unsignalized intersection which represent approximately 90% of all intersections in the United States.  To better address safety performance, operations, multimodal needs, and other impacts, National Cooperative Highway Research Program recently released the Unsignalized Intersection Guide. This seminar will focus on application of the guidelines in the Guide to address safety and operational issues for all users at unsignalized intersections. Through presentation and case studies the session will discuss practical and multimodal methods and techniques that will aid practitioners in selecting design, operational, maintenance, enforcement, and other types of treatments to improve safety, mobility, and accessibility.

Learning Objectives:

At the conclusion of this workshop, participants will be able to:

• Identify key components from the Unsignalized Intersection Guide to enhance the safe operation for all users of unsignalized intersections.

• Explain through the use of the Guide, practical and multimodal methods and techniques that will aid practitioners in selecting design, operational, maintenance, enforcement, and other types of treatments to improve safety, mobility, and accessibility.

• Understand of the application of the Guide through case studies of safety issues at unsignalized intersections.

  2:30 – 6:00 p.m. - Innovation Intersection Application, Design and Operations

• Developed by the ITE Traffic Engineering Council

As traffic volumes continue to grow, highway junctions are increasingly becoming a source of heightened delay and risk for roadway users.  Increased congestion and travel demands often lead to safety problems that are too complex for conventional intersection designs to properly handle. Consequently, various innovative treatments are being explored as solutions to these complex problems. 

This seminar examines multiple innovative intersection and interchange design treatments that offer substantial advantages over conventional at-grade intersections and grade-separated diamond interchanges. This seminar provides detailed information on several treatments including salient geometric design features, operational and safety issues, access management considerations, construction sequencing, environmental benefits, costs and more.

Learning Objectives:

At the conclusion of this seminar, participants will be able to:

• Understandthe operation, benefits and costs of several innovative intersection and interchange treatments

• Identify practical guidance to support implementation, maintenance and operation of these innovative treatments

• Apply an understanding of the design implications and operational applications through participation in table top case studies

  Workshops – Canyon I Room

  11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. - Highway Safety Manual (HSM) and Quantitative Safety, Concepts, and Tools Workshop

Developed by the ITE Transportation Safety Council

This workshop will address concepts of quantitative highway safety evaluation and analysis. It will provide a basic introduction to the Highway Safety Manual (HSM) including examples of the Roadway Safety Management Process, Predictive Methods and the use of Crash Modification Factors (CMFs).

Participants will have the opportunity to engage in a “hands-on” demonstration including a controlled review and use of software tools to assist in applying the HSM. Instructors will lead participants in a real life project evaluation using the Federal Highway Administration’s (FHWA’s) Interactive Highway Safety Design Model (IHSDM) software.

Learning Objectives:

At the conclusion of this workshop, participants will be able to:

• Understand the concept of quantitative highway safety and become familiar with numerous quantitative safety measures

• Recognize how to use the Highway Safety Manual (HSM) and understand how the different Parts of the manual relate to quantitative safety evaluation

• Identify the strengths and weaknesses of highways safety evaluation tools including the

  FHWA’s IHSDM software

• 2:30 – 6:00 p.m. - Consultants Symposium:
   

  Designed for upper level management and consultancies, this highly interactive, peer-led workshop provides participants with the opportunity to discuss critical, top tier topics relating to managing and operation small, medium, and large firms and marketing and business development. Participants will leave this workshop with a concrete set of innovative tools for immediate application.

Wednesday, October 28

8:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.    Concurrent Workshops

• Application of Access Management Guidelines and Barriers to Implementation

Developed by ITE Traffic Engineering and Transportation Planning Councils

The safety, mobility, and economic benefits of applying access management are well documented, known, and compelling; yet, state and local agencies often encounter many challenges in achieving desirable access management outcomes.  The recently released National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Report 548, A Guidebook for Including Access Management in the Transportation Planning Process, demonstrates that there is great opportunity to realize the benefits from access management when the transportation planning process is used to drive the implementation of access management.

This seminar will focus on applying the guidelines in the NCHRP report to address barriers in the application of access management policies. It will be of interest to planning practitioners and access management proponents involved with transportation planning and operations at the state, regional, and local levels.

Learning Objectives:

At the conclusion of this seminar, participants will be able to:

• Understand how NCHRP Report 548 can be used as a guide for transportation policymakers and practitioners to incorporate access management into transportation plans

• Identify the benefits realized from access management when the transportation planning process is used to drive the implementation of access management

• Recognize and apply practical guidance to support implementation of access management

• Understand and apply the operational principles presented through access management case studies

  Innovative Bicycle Design Treatments in Australia and New Zealand

• Developed by the Complete Streets Council

  This session will showcase bicycle design treatments observed during the ITE 2015 Study Tour of Sydney and Melbourne Australia, and Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch New Zealand. Information will presented on each community’s approach to cycleway planning and design, from the incorporation of customer preferences to design principals for evidence-based, cost effective, collaborative, culture solutions leading to specific design treatments like separated bike lanes, bike boxes and bike signals. Additionally, there will information shared on designs for accommodating cyclists at roundabouts, the New Zealand Cycle Trail, and the SkyPath project in Auckland.

Learning Objectives:

At the conclusion of this workshop, participants will be able to:

• Describe innovative bicycle treatment from Australia and New Zealand and their applicability to the North American planning and design environment.

• Identify planning principals used by the public agencies that led to the design treatments.