A Meeting of the Minds

Like many other major cities around the globe, Nashville, Tenn., is currently implementing plans to accommodate their transportation needs of the future. Time, money, research, design and development are among the focal points at the epicenter of the city’s transportation investments.

Ironically, over 2,000 of the world’s leading transportation engineers will be in town August 6-9. Unfortunately for Nashville transportation planners, the group’s primary function is not to address the city’s transportation plans.

Rather, the engineers will be attending the Institute of Transportation Engineer’s 70th Annual Meeting at the Opryland Hotel for a "meeting of the transportation minds."

The four-day meeting offers a full slate of transportation-based sessions, professional development seminars as well as the Transportation Products and Services Exhibit.

Nashville will get the opportunity to show off their transportation system to the ITE group, however.

As part of the ITE Meeting, attendees have an opportunity to go on technical tours that look at the city’s current transportation backbone while also catching a glimpse of the city’s future transportation plan.

As with many of the transportation-based shows these days, attendees have numerous choices to make in regards to which presentations and sessions to attend, and this show is no exception.

The ITE meeting offers 66 technical sessions divided among eight tracks: Harmonization and Smart Growth; Traffic Engineering; Safety; Major Transportation Issues; Transit/ TDM; Systems Management & Operations; and Planning.

Attendees can either follow a specific subject track throughout the entire time or they can switch tracks, it is up to their discretion.

With one session held prior to the meeting, two concurrently and one the day after, the professional development seminars offer both ITE members and non-members the opportunity to enhance their professional skills.

Below are the seminars and a brief look at each of them.

The HCM 2000: A Highway Capacity Manual for the New Millennium is scheduled for Saturday, Aug. 5, between 8:30 a.m. - 5 p.m. Instructors for the course will focus on the significant technical differences between the 1997 and 2000 editions of the Highway Capacity Manual as well as lead discussions on the new format and content of the manual.

Scheduled for Sunday, Aug. 6, between 8:30 a.m. - 5 p.m. is the Professional Traffic Operations Engineer Refresher Course. This seminar will provide an overview of six topics: traffic operations analysis; operations effects of geometrics; traffic safety; traffic control devices; traffic engineering studies; and social, environmental and institutional issues.

In addition to the overview, discussions on the topics will include the key references for additional information and a brief independent study guide organized by topic.

The course is designed for those with at least four years of professional traffic operation engineering experience, according to the Annual Meeting brochure.

The third seminar, Practical Project Management for the Transportation Professional also is scheduled for Sunday, Aug. 6, between 8:30 a.m. - 5 p.m.

This session covers the basic principals of effective analytical management, as well as a variety of other topics including project planning, task definition, critical path analysis, budgeting and risk management.

It highlights 10 critical areas to the successful completion of a project and includes a series of case studies, supplemented by group exercises and recommended readings.

The instructor for the seminar is Richard Worrall, a University Visiting Professor in the Center for Public Administration and Policy at Virginia Tech.

Finally, Making Safety a Priority in Urban Planning, is scheduled for Thursday, Aug. 10, between 8:30 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Co-sponsored by the Transportation Planning and Transportation Safety Councils, this session will focus on international safety planning and the latest related developments in the U.S.

Sample applications of projects in which safety has been addressed will be demonstrated. Additional topics include the fundamentals of safety conscious planning and available tools and techniques.

This is where the city of Nashville gets to show off their transportation expertise.

As one of the more popular aspects of the ITE Annual Meeting, the technical tours allow attendees to get a first-hand look at the local technology and applications that make up the majority of the discussions, sessions and exhibits throughout their time at the ITE Annual Meeting.

Listed below are the technical tours, the date and time they are held and a brief summary of each.

• Bicycle Facilities Tour - Sunday, Aug. 6, 7:45 - 11:45 a.m.

This particular tour takes 25 participants on an 11-mile (17.6-km) bicycle ride on moderate to hilly terrain in order to focus on the retrofitting of bicycle lanes and routes on streets in suburban communities.

• Automated Collision Database System and Freeway Service Patrol - Monday, Aug. 7, 1:30 - 4:30 p.m.

Participants in this tour will get an overview of the Metro Nashville Police Department’s automated collision database as well as TennDOT’s freeway service patrol. It includes visits to the Nashville Police Headquarters and the new Freeway Service Patrol Dispatch center.

• Tour of Nashville’s Transit Facilities - Tuesday, Aug. 8, 8 - 10:30 a.m.

Nashville’s Metro Transit Operation Facility, two landport facilities and the Tennessee Titan’s Adelphia Coliseum are the scheduled visits on this tour, in order to exemplify the role transit plays in the operation of these facilities.

• Parking and Traffic Guidance System - Tuesday, Aug. 8, 8 - 11 a.m.

A brief lecture at the Metro Nashville Department of Public Works Traffic Operation and Parking Control Center will focus on the necessity for an ITS-based parking system. The tour will continue on to various other sites discussing event parking in relation to these sites.

• Freight Movement - Tuesday, Aug. 8, 2 - 5 p.m.

Two major freight companies will provide a close-up look at the operation, logistics and manpower necessary to be competitive in the industry.

• Saturn Assembly Plant Tour - Wednesday, Aug. 9, 8 a.m. - 12 p.m.

Limited to 30 people, this tour will cover the assembly of Saturn vehicles from parts distribution to finished automobiles being loaded for delivery.

• Nashville International Airport Tour - Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2 - 5 p.m.

Tours of the control tower, radar room, parking and pedestrian facilities as well as a discussion of the improvements to the airport loading and waiting areas highlight this 25-person tour.

Please note, a fee of $25 (US) is required for each of the tours and those interested are encouraged to sign up early because some tours are available only to a certain amount of people.

During the Opening Session, Monday, Aug. 7, 8 - 10 a.m., motivational speaker Richard Flint will offer his thoughts and philosophies during the keynote presentation. An author of five books including Who Stole the Professionals and Life Is a Maze, and published in over 100 magazine and trade journal articles, Flint has worked as a private psychological coach to many of North America’s leading business and sales people.

According to the Annual Meeting brochure, Flint’s no-nonsense approach to human struggles has left audiences feeling as if he has known them all their lives.

It is Flint’s belief that, "The major struggles that go with us to work each day are not there because of a lack of technical knowledge, but because of the human struggles we carry with us."

Designed to help attendees meet their traffic and transportation needs, the Transportation Products and Services Exhibit portion of the ITE Annual Meeting features over 60 companies and associations displaying their latest technologies and services.

And as many of you already know, the exhibit area is very valuable in terms of creating, establishing and continuing networking opportunities.

Located in the Ryman Exhibit Hall at the Opryland Hotel, an Exhibit Kick-Off held Monday, Aug. 7, from 10-11 a.m. introduces attendees to the array of organizations attending the show.

Exhibit hall hours run from 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 7, and from 9 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. the following day.

For more information about the ITE 2000 Annual Meeting contact Donna Ford, Institute of Transportation Engineers, 525 School St., SW, Suite 410, Washington, DC 20024-2797; phone 202/554-8050 ext.140; fax 202/863-5486; www.ite.org.