2019 Austin, TX

The program for the 2019 National Rural ITS and ITS Arizona Annual Conference was integrated into the Joint ITE International and Texas District Annual Meeting and Exhibit held July 21-24, 2018 in Austin, Texas.  This year’s theme – Transportation Transformed – recognized the profound change that our industry is currently facing and will be moving forward.

The conference provided participants resources focusing on Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) implementation in local communities and the opportunity to hear new and thoughtful perspectives from a wide variety of ITS topics. The conference on-site program provides an overall view of the conference speakers and topics.  Individual presentations from the conference are available through the links below:

Technical Sessions

Monday, July 22nd

11:15 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.
Rural ITS Town Hall Meeting
Room 404

What are the current “hot topics” and emerging issues in rural intelligent transportation systems (ITS)?  Hear technical, policy, and funding updates from national leaders; ask questions about trends and recent advancements; and join the conversation by helping to identify and prioritize additional issues.  This discussion kicks off the Rural ITS Pathway that will take place July 22-23 during the meeting.

2:30 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Enhancing Public Safety through Advances in Responder Technology
Room 404

This session focuses on the current work of the Transportation Safety
Advancement Group (TSAG) in the areas of connected responder, advanced automatic crash notification (AACN), infrastructure to responder (I2R) technologies, and incident critical communications to promote life-saving technology advancements in public safety.

Facilitator:  Elina Zlotchenko, Program Manager, U.S. DOT ITS Joint Program Office, Washington, DC

Speakers:

Tuesday, July 23rd

    8:30 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.
    Rural Traffic and Safety Management
    Room 404

    Roadways in rural areas and small communities present a different set of safety management issues than their urban and suburban counterparts. This session presents a cross section of traffic and safety management techniques for rural areas such as the use of drones, dilemma zone protections, and signal timing.

    Facilitator:  Daniel Beaty, Chief Transportation Planner,
    HNTB Corporation, Tallahassee, FL

    Speakers:

    Bringing V2X to the Lone Star State: Landmark Development and Initiatives in Texas
    Room 410

    This session showcases ongoing and planned V2X deployments in Texas, including both urban and rural applications.

    Facilitator:  Marcus Welz, President, Intelligent Traffic Systems, Siemens Mobility Inc., Austin, TX

    Speakers:

    • Jorge Riveros, Smart Mobility Program
      Manager, Austin Transportation Department,
      Austin, TX
    • Kristie Chin, Director of Civic Innovation,
      Texas Innovation Alliance, UT Austin Center for
      Transportation Research, Austin, TX
    • Jianming Ma, Engineer, Texas DOT, Austin, TX
    • Nader Ayoub, Regional Vice President, Iteris,
      West Lake Hills, TX
    1:30 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.
    Rural Incident Management and Performance Data
    Room 404

    This session presents information on data driven approaches and benefit-cost information to demonstrate the value of rural incident management as well as the use of performance data to support agencies’ TSMO programs.

    Facilitator:  Valerie Briggs, Director, Office of Transportation
    Management, Federal Highway Administration,
    Washington, DC

    Speakers:

    3:45 p.m. – 5:15 p.m.
    Creative Management of Data Driven Work Zones
    Room 404

    Work zones create challenging driving environments from a safety and operational perspective. Data integration into work zone management supports active TSMO of the network of roadways impacted by  construction. Presentations in this session highlight data applications for alternate route and detours, freeway lane closures, and incidents in work zones.

    Facilitator:  Egan Smith, Managing Director, ITS Joint Program Office, U.S. Department of Transportation, Washington, DC

    Speakers:

    Wednesday, July 24th

      10:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
      Supporting Tourism and Special Events: Traveler Information, Parking and More…
      (Pathways: Implementation, Operations)
      Rooms 102-103

      Learn more about the examples of events managed by rural states and supporting ITS technologies that enable safe and efficient operations for the public.

      Learning Objectives:

      • Understand the use of information systems in supporting the management of special events and tourism.
      • Identify examples of transportation management techniques that address operational goals.

      Facilitator:  Dean Deeter, Principal, Athey Creek Consultants, West Linn, OR

      Speakers:

      • TransView Traveler Information System
        Paul Casertano, Transportation Program Administrator, Pima Association of Governments, Tucson, AZ
        Josh Pope, GIS Manager, Pima Association of Governments, Tucson, AZ
      • How ITS Helps Music bring $Millions to a Rural Florida Community
        Susan O’Rourke, O’Rourke Engineering & Planning, Inc., Stuart, FL
      • Major Event Management in the North/West Passage States
        Dean Deeter, Principal, Athey Creek Consultants, West Linn, OR
        Eric Pederson, Captain, North Dakota Highway Patrol, Bismarck, ND
      • Workshops

      For information on earning PDHs (Professional Development Hours) and CMs (Certification Maintenance) credits please select this link.