National Operations Regional Forum
October 3-5, 2001. Boise, Idaho    

Hosted by the Ada County Highway District, Federal Highway Administration, Idaho Transportation Department, the Institute of Transportation Engineers, and the Western Transportation Institute, the 2001 Annual Meeting and Conference was held in Boise, Idaho, October 3-5, 2001. A copy of the agenda can be downloaded by clicking here.

Proceedings. The ITS Rocky Mountain Chapter attempted to collect a copy of each speaker's presentation from the sessions.  To this end, we were greatly aided by the speakers' willingness to share their presentations.  It should be noted that these presentations are the sole property of the originator [speaker] and should not be utilized, modified, etc. without the originators express permission.  

Opening Session. Speakers provided an overview of operations and management issues surrounding the surface transportation transportation systems including highways, transit and commercial vehicles.

Welcoming Remarks.  Steve Albert, Western Transportation Institute
[transcript - none available] [presentation - none available]
ITS and Idaho.  Dwight Bower, Idaho Transportation Department 
[transcript] [presentation - not available] 
ITS: Technology Moving the Nation into the 21st Century.  David  Ekern, AASHTO
[transcript - not available] [presentation]

State Session A - Colorado & Wyoming.  This discussion panel addressed, in part, operation of WIM systems, commercial vehicle electronic credentialing, and the status of Pre-Pass in Colorado and Wyoming. Discussion also included early deployment of ITS projects and some of the problems encountered when ITS deployments are made in areas where little or no ITS experience exists.

Bruce Burrows, Wyoming Department of Transportation and James Golden, Kimley-Horn & Associates, Inc. 
[transcript] [presentation - not available]

State Session B - Montana & Idaho.  Montana is working on a number of projects directed at improving the gathering and dissemination of travel related information throughout the state. Collectively, these efforts will provide more accurate and timely tourist, road and weather information to both the traveling public and maintenance personnel. In this session, the current status of traveler information projects within Montana was presented. ITS applications enhance many different aspects of daily life and are much broader than traffic operation concerns. Attendees discovered what is happening with the medical implications of ITS and how the newly created ITS Public Safey Advisory Group (PSAG) is spearheading the effort.

MDT Traveler Information System.  Mike Bousliman, Montana Department of Transportation
[transcript] [presentation] 
Public Safety: A New National ITS Focus.  Dia Gainor, Idaho Emergency Medical Services Bureau (with
introduction by Carl Main, Idaho Transportation Department)
[transcript] [presentation]

State Session C - Utah & New Mexico.  How is Utah preparing for the 2002 Winter Olympic Games? This session highlighted what role ITS is playing in the planning, preparation and eventually - hosting - of this event. With the fifth largest landmass in the US and a total population of only 1.8 million, New Mexico is primarily considered rural. Approximately one-third of the inhabitants reside in the Albuqerque metropolitan area making transportation connectivity and efficiency a challenge. This session focused on primary, rural ITS initiatives which have helped to accelerate and transform the ITS Program in New Mexico from mostly planning to deployment and integration.

2002 Winter Olympic Games.  Martin Knopp, Utah Department of Transportaiton
[transcript] [presentation - not available] 
New Mexico ITS: Planning, Deployment & Integration.  Joe Maestas, Federal Highway Administration
[transcript] [presentation]

Building InterState Partnerships: Identiying the Challenges.  In developing multi-agency, regionally significant ITS deployments, the partnerships are critical to the project's success. What techniques can be used - or have proven useful - to identify partnership challenges early in the process? This session attempted to answer some of these questions and provide attendees with the tools necessary to identify partnership challenges before they became an impediment to success.

Interagency Coordination:  The GYRITS Perspective.  Lisa Ballard, Western Transportation Institute
[transcript] [presentation]
CANAMEX.  Carol Sanger, Arizona Department of Transportation 
[transcript] [presentation - none available] 
Balance, Budget and Betweens.  Lloyd Rue, Federal Highway Administration
[transcript] [presentation] 

Exploring the Technology: Latest Advances in Techno Transportation.  As each day passes, current technology and new development efforts are creating innovative approaches and applications designed to improve surface transportation. From control and management of traffic routing to data collection and information dissemination to the travelers, staying informred can become a full time job within itself. To this end Exploring the Technology sought to bring attendees some of the latest developments and new applications within the surface transportation management industry.

Infrared Based Roadbed Monitoring.  John McQuidy, System Innovations
[transcript] [presentation] 
Dynamic Message Signs and Roadbed Information Systems.  Steve Hornbuckle, McCain Traffic Supply 
[transcript] [presentation - not available] 
ATMS Deployment Using Non-Intrusive Detection and Wireless Technologies.  Martin Glaubitz, 
ITS Engineers & Constructors, Inc.
[transcript - not available] [presentation] 
Smart Workzones.  Dave Berman, ADDCO 
[transcript - not available] [presentation - not available] 
Latest Advances in Fiber Optic Technology and CCTV.  Ben Keith, Goldline Marketing
[transcript - not available] [presentation] 
Practical Issues when Considering Non-Embedded Technology for Traffic Detection.  Greg Pieper, 
SmarTek Systems
[transcript - not available] [presentation] 

Rural and InterCity Integration.  Agencies today are struggling to identify ways to deploy ITS devices and stay within budget. Speakers in this session provided insight on innovative/low cost ways to deploy ITS devices and construct/utilize Traffic Management Centers.

Spokane Regional TMC. Glen Miles, Washington State Department of Transportation
[transcript - not available] [presentation - not available]
City of Colorado Springs ITS Activities.  John Merritt, City of Colorado Springs
[transcript - not available] [presentation - not available]
ITS and the Big "I" Construction. Terry Doyle, New Mexico State Highway and Transportation Dept.
[transcript - not available] [presentation - not available]
City of Lakewood ATMS.  Jim Richey, City of Lakewood
[transcript - not available] [presentation]
Treasure Valley ITS Implementation.  Jim Larsen, Ada County Highway District
[transcript - not available] [presentation - not available] 
Alemeda County Integrated Traffic Data & Video Exchange System.  Jim Tucker, Bentley 
Transportation
[transcript - not available] [presentation - not available] 

Building InterState Partnerships: Techniques for Solutions.  In developing multi-agency, regionally significant ITS deployments, the partnerships are critical to the project's success. What solutions have been used - or have been attempted to be used - in the Rocky Mountain region to help multi-agency, regionally significant ITS deployments succeed? This session attempted to answer some of these questions and provided attendees with the tools necessary to implement solutions within their own state and/or agency.

InterState Partnerships:  Lessons Learned.  Coco Briseno, California Department of Transportation
[transcript] [presentation] 
Successful ITS Partnerships.  Ben Frevert, Meyer, Mohaddes Associates, Inc.
[transcript] [presentation]
Virginia: Multi-State ITS Proejcts.  Gregory Cross, Rural ITS Planning
[transcript] [presentation]

Setting a Regional, and National, Operations Research Agenda.   A "round-table" of transportation, public safety, tourism, trucking and transit leaders will discuss operational issues and agency coordination. These leaders provided brief presentations on the issues and then facilitated disucssion among session attendees.

Panelists - Steve Albert, Western Transportation Institute Martin Knopp, Utah Department of Transportation Mike Bousilman, Montana Department of Transprotation Cindy Johnson, Mobilitat Jim Larsen, Ada County Highway district Michael Kyte, University of Idaho [transcript - not available] [presentation - not available]

Developing and Utilizing Performance Measurers and Benchmarks.  We have been challenged with providing more quantitiative information on the effectiveness of ITS measures. The Institute of Transportation Engineers, in cooperation with FHWA have initiatied a dialogue on the subject of performance measures and benchmarks. This session provided an overview of the work done on these topics to date and the current directions from various perspectives.

ITS Project Evaluation and Scoring Criteria. jack Stickel, Alaska Department of Transportaiton and 
Public Facilities
[transcript - not available] [presentation]
Evaluation Methodologies Workshop.  Pat McGowen, Western Transportation Institute 
[transcript - not available] [presentation]

Building Partnerships to Share Information.  This session presented lessons learned while developing new technology. Specifically, the session used a case-study example (controller interface device technology) to highlight the ins and outs of public-private partnerships.

Traffic Signal Operations: Developing a New ITS Technology through a Private-Public Parnership. 
Michael Kyte, University of Idaho
[transcript - not available] [presentation - not available]
Building Partnerships. Peter Kohl, McCain Traffic Supply
[transcript - not available] [presentation - not available] (717 KB)
The Need for Controller Interface Devices.  Thomas Bauer, Innovative Transportation Concepts, Inc.
[transcript - not available] [presentation] 

Building Partnerships to Share Infrastructure.  Infrastructure is most useful when it is shared among agencies. To be able to do that, partnerships need to be developed. Such partnerships can be public-private or public-public. Speakers in this session shared with the audience their experience in building partnerships to share infrastructure in the context of - among other things - building a virtual transportation management center and the introduction of new detection technology.

Building Partnerships. B. Mitchell Latta, Idaho Transportation Department
[transcript - not available] [presentation - not available]
Partnerships to Share Infrastructure. Ed Adams, Montana State University - Bozeman 
[transcript - not available] [presentation] 
Building Partnerships to Share Infrastructure. Mandar Khanal, Boise State University
[transcript - not available] [presentation - not available]

Delivering Convenient and Coordinated State and Regional Public Transportation Services.  Whether on a local, regional, or national level, pooling resources is one of the most effective ways to enhance your transportation services. Bottom line...more rides for your customers. Transportation experts from across the country shared cooperative service delivery techniques that work.

Rural and Community Transportation Options and Issues. Karl Johanson, Council on Aging & Human 
Services
[transcript - not available] [presentation - not available]
Public Transportation. Cindy Johnson, Mobilitat 
[transcript - not available] [presentation] 
Coordinated Public Transportaiton. Stuart Thompson, Utah Technology Transfer Center
[transcript - not available] [presentation - not available]

Statewide Planning: Developing and Implementing an Effective Architecture.  Statewide ITS planning must address integration issues in developing the project implementation plan portion of any architecture plan. This session focused on the importance and significance of a clearly understood ITS Architecture to ensure effective systems deployment/integration, as well as consistency with the national ITS architecture.

California/Oregon Advanced Transportation Systems (COATS) Regional ITS Archtecture. 
Steve Albert, Western Transportation Institute
[transcript - not available] [presentation]
Idaho Statewide ITS Planning:  Developing and Implementing an Effective Architecture. 
Ben Frevert, Meyer, Mohaddes Associates, Inc. 
[transcript - not available] [presentation] 
2002 Winter Olympic Games and the Utah Statewide Architecture. Martin Knopp, Utah Department
of Transportation
[transcript - not available] [presentation - not available]

Closing Session. Speakers provided an overview of operations and management issues surrounding the surface transportation system including highways, transit and commercial vehicles.  

Closing Remarks. Stephen Albert, Western Transportation Institute
[transcript - not available] [presentation - not available]