ITS Georgia President's Message from Georgia Engineer Magazine December 2013

ITS Georgia
President Scott Mohler

As retiring president of the Intelligent Transportation Society of Georgia, I want to thank the membership for allowing me to serve for the past two years. ITS Georgia is one of the leading chapters in the nation, and from my perspective it’s easy to see why.

Our member organizations represent the best in intelligent transportation systems design, deployment, operations and research. That strength is reflected in the diversity of disciplines represented by our officers, directors and committees.

In 2013, we continued to grow and excel as a chapter. Membership continues to expand, increasing by more than 10% in 2013. The chapter’s presence in social media grew to 1,050 opt-in emails, Facebook likes and twitter followers.

Our monthly meeting program was excellent with eight luncheons and a half-day seminar. 

Topics and attendance in 2013 were:

Month	Topic	Attendees
January	Transportation Management Center Display Technology	75
February	Digitized Intersections	86
March	Connected Vehicles	57
April	Municipal Video Sharing	55
May	Columbia County Workshop	46
June	Managed Lanes Implementation Plan	66
July	Using Cellular Networks	42
August	Transit Solutions Through Traveler Information	62
October	Intelligent Railways	61

In February 2013, an estimated 100 people, including Gov. Nathan Deal, GDOT Board Chairman Johnny Floyd, GDOT Board Members and Members of the General Assembly, gathered Wednesday night to talk transportation issues facing the state. Sponsored by ITS Georgia and Georgia Section ITE the event was the second annual event of its kind. Chairman Floyd introduced the Governor who spoke about transportation programs of his administration and the need to come together to support improvements in transportation infrastructure. These types of networking events help get the word to key decision makers on the benefits of intelligent transportation solutions.   

Our big event of the year was the annual meeting in September where we announced our new officers and directors for 2014 – 2015, bestowed Best of ITS awards and learned about the latest in ITS solutions, applications and hardware. In 2013, the meeting recorded 130 registrants, 16 sponsors and 24 exhibitors.

Once again thank you. I have truly enjoyed the past two years and look forward to supporting incoming president Tom Sever.

ITS Georgia Chapter Leadership

President

Scott Mohler, URS

Tom Sever, Gwinnett DOT, President-elect

Vice President

Tom Sever, Gwinnett DOT

Grand Waldrop, GDOT, Vice-president-elect

Secretary

Kristin Turner, Wolverton Associates

Jennifer Johnson, Kimley-Horn, Secretary-elect

Treasurer

Ashlyn Morgan, Atkins

Immediate Past President

Marion Waters, Gresham Smith & Partners

Directors

Mark Demidovich, GDOT

Susie Dunn, Atlanta Regional Commission

Eric Graves, City of Alpharetta

Carla Holmes, Gresham Smith & Partners

Winter Horbal, Temple, Inc.

Keary Lord, Douglas County DOT

David Smith, DeKalb County Transportation

Prasoon Sinha, ARCADIS

Grant Waldrop, GDOT

Mike Holt, Parsons Brinkerhoff, elect

Yancy Bachmann, World Fiber, elect

Kenn Fink, Kimley-Horn, elect

Kristin Turner, Wolverton Associates, elect

State Chapters Representative

Shahram Malek, Arcadis

Ex Officio

Greg Morris, Federal Highway Administration

Andres Ramirez, FTA

Our 2013/2014 Sponsors

Control Technologies

Utilicom

Temple

Arcadis

Atkins

World Fiber Technologies

Kimley-Horn and Associates

Southern Lighting and Traffic Systems

Delcan

Gresham Smith and Partners

Grice Consulting

Jacobs

Parsons Brinkerhoff

Quality Traffic Systems

URS

Transcore

ITS Georgia President's Message from Georgia Engineer Magazine October 2013

ITS Georgia
President Scott Mohler

Our 2013 Annual Meeting and Expositions was an incredible success. I want to express thanks to our sponsors, listed below, exhibitors, presenters and attendees. Thanks are also in order to Kenn Fink and Kimley-Horn our organizers.

In addition to our excellent program, headlined by GDOT Commissioner Keith Golden and ITS America CEO Scott Belcher, we announced new Officers and Directors.

Elected president to a two-year term was Tom Sever of the Gwinnett County Department of Transportation, elected vice-president was Grant Waldrop of the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT), elected secretary was Jennifer Johnson of Kimley-Horn and elected treasurer was Ashlyn Morgan of Atkins.

Elected to the board of directors were: Yancy Bachmann, World Fiber, Mark Demidovich, GDOT, Kenn Fink, Kimley-Horn and Mike Holt of Parsons Brinkerhoff.

Newly elected officers and directors

Awards –

Another important part of our annual meeting is awards. This year’s recipients are especially deserving.

Project of Significance Award – City of Atlanta, Central Atlanta Progress and Atlanta Downtown Improvement District. A project, study, or program undertaken in the previous 12 months with an impact that is quantifiable and directly related to a specific activity/action that reduces congestion, improves safety and security, and enhances mobility in Georgia.

Larry R. Dreihaup Award – R.J. Surgi, URS Corporation.  The ITS Georgia Larry R. Dreihaup Award recognizes an individual or an organization who has provided leadership, professionalism, and dedication in promoting ITS in the State of Georgia during the previous 12 months.

Best of ITS Award Winners

Outstanding Public Member Agency Award – Gwinnett County.  Leadership in promoting ITS and/or ITS Georgia goals during the previous 12 months.

Outstanding Volunteer Award – Mike Holt, P.E., Parsons Brinkerhoff. Open to all membership, including Board members and Committee Chairs, who have gone above and beyond to support ITS Georgia during the previous 12 months. 

Innovation: Outside the Box Award – Douglas County.  Creative and unique approach or solution by an individual or group to an ITS challenge, or to an issue using ITS as a solution during the previous 12 months.

Special Recognition Award – Susie Dunn, Atlanta Regional Commission and Marion Waters, P.E., Gresham Smith & Partners.  In recognition of their dedication and outstanding service to ITS Georgia as a founding director, a board member and an officer.

Outgoing President’s Award – Scott Mohler, URS Corporation. In recognition of two-years of successful service to the chapter.

Wayne Shackelford Scholarship – Chieh (Ross) Wang, whose current research at Georgia Tech focuses on developing a risk-based decision making process for prioritizing pavement preservation projects in a more systematic and holistic fashion.

Gary Millsaps --

As most of you know, people in the transportation industry lost a friend and innovator when Gary Millsaps passed away earlier this year. Gary was a friend of the ITS Georgia and a leader in improving transportation safety in Georgia. He will be missed.

Join us October 31 for our final chapter meeting of the year.

ITS Georgia President's Message from Georgia Engineer Magazine August 2013

ITS Georgia
President Scott Mohler

We return to beautiful Callaway Gardens this year for the 2013 ITS Georgia Annual Meeting and Exposition, September 14 - 17.

The theme for this year’s meeting is “From Vision to Operations, Living in the Future.” We plan to present a roadmap on how to create, plan and implement your vision for improving the safety and efficiency of transportation systems large and small, urban and rural.

Last year’s meeting was very successful with 125 registered attendees, 24 exhibitors and 17 sponsors. We hope to better those numbers this year.

Kicking off this year’s meeting will be GDOT Commissioner Keith Golden. The

Commissioner will deliver our keynote address and present his ITS vision for the department and state. Commissioner Golden has been involved in every aspect of our theme from planning to operations.

Scheduled topics and speakers at press time are:

Rural ITS – Dee Taylor, City of Gainesville

·         I-75 FDOT, District 2, Rural Deployment – Paul Mannix, Atkins

·         TDOT Rural ITS Deployments – Speaker TBD

·         TDOT Rural ITS – Nathan Vatter, TDOT

Product Info – Moderator TBD

·         Camera Security – Matt Powell, MOOG Videolarm

·         QPL – Putting the Pieces Together – Delcan perspective – Speaker TBD

·         Columbus TIA – Director of engineering for Wireless – Ron Hamlet

Project Delivery – Cynthia Burney, GDOT

·         Systems Engineering – Eddie Curtis, FHWA

·         GDOT Design Build – John Hancock, GDOT

·         FDOT Design Build Lessons Learned – TBD, FDOT Central Office

Arterials – Eli Veith, City of Alpharetta 

·         Highway 9 Lessons Learned – France Campbell GS&P

·         Cobb County Highway 41 – Brook Martin, Cobb County and/or Marc Start, URS

·         ALDOT Highway 280 – Brett Sellers, ALDOT

Signals – Muhammad Rauf, City of Roswell

·         NTCIP – What does and Doesn’t Work – Speaker TBD

·         Signal Software – Alan Davis, GDOT

·         Flashing Yellow Arrow Lessons Learned – Steven Cummins, City of Lexington, Kentucky

Join us today. Visit itsga.org/contactjoin.html and become a member organization of ITS Georgia.

Please join us at our monthly meetings and bring a friend. We’ll keep you posted on times and locations on our web site and by email. If you are not on our email list, then visit www.itsga.org.

Our monthly meeting dates for the remainder of 2013 are:

·         August 22

·         September 14-17 Annual Meeting

·         October 31

ITS Georgia President's Message from Georgia Engineer Magazine June 2013

ITS Georgia
President Scott Mohler

Why should our organization be a member of ITS Georgia? That is a frequently asked question and one that I really enjoy answering, because I then get to talk about something hard to come by today – real value.

First, let’s discuss how membership is structured. ITS Georgia membership is based on company, agency or institution rather than the individual. So, for example, all of the approximately 5,100 employees of GDOT enjoy full rights afforded members for one fee. That works out to about 6 cents per employee, per year. No matter the size of your organization, everyone enjoys the benefits of membership. Those benefits include savings on fees for monthly luncheons, workshops and our annual meeting, plus first access to sponsorships and exhibit opportunities.

The membership structure also allows for each full-member organization to have an equal voice in governance. Each full member has one vote when it comes to electing officers and directors and when making changes to bylaws. We also offer a reduced rate for smaller local public sector agencies with no voting rights but access to all other benefits, so an agency can choose its level of participation.

What else is part of the ITS Georgia value proposition?

The board and officers of ITS Georgia listen to membership and respond. We poll members each year to make sure we are meeting member expectations and are fulfilling our mission,

At least 10 times a year we arrange for our members to gather for networking, learning about solving problems with ITS technology and professional development. We also provide opportunities to engage with state policy makers at the highest levels, including the governor, legislators, GDOT board members and top GDOT staff. We also hold a two-day annual meeting and exhibition that is a model for other state ITS chapters. This year we are also holding a half-day workshop in east Georgia. 

Our monthly meetings are fast-paced, informative and one of the best places to reach out to customers, colleagues and other agency staffers that can help you make something happen.

We guarantee that you will walk away from our meetings and workshops having learned something, come up with a new solution or worked on an important issue with a fellow transportation professional - and some Professional Development Hours credits, too.

For example, at a recent monthly meeting we learned about how the City of Sandy Springs transportation department is leveraging public safety camera assets to expand their reach of coverage and improve traffic operations without having to install a duplicate system. Bringing these types of solutions back to City Councils and Boards of Commissioners helps to save taxpayers money, improves efficiency and safety and demonstrates the value of your department.

There’s that word again, value. Join us today. Visit itsga.org/contactjoin.html and become a member organization of ITS Georgia.

Please join us at our monthly meetings and bring a friend. We’ll keep you posted on times and locations on our web site and by email. If you are not on our email list, then visit www.itsga.org.

Our monthly meeting dates for the remainder of 2013 are:

June 27

July 25

August 29

September 14-17 Annual Meeting

October 31

ITS Georgia President's Message from Georgia Engineer Magazine April 2013

ITS Georgia
President Scott Mohler

ITS Georgia has a broad mandate to advance the state of the art of intelligent transportation solutions in our state and region.  Over the years we have helped to start a new chapter in Tennessee, encouraged ITS deployment in the Carolinas and partnered with Florida on a biennial congress called TRANSPO.

We pride ourselves in our annual meetings, which routinely draw well over 100 participants. In 2013 the annual meeting and exposition is scheduled for September 14-17 at Callaway Gardens. Participants hear and see the latest in ITS solutions and technology.

An important part of our mission is to reach out to policy makers and let them know about the benefits of ITS. For the second year in a row, we co-hosted a legislative reception for state leaders. An estimated 100 people, including Gov. Nathan Deal, GDOT Board Chairman Johnny Floyd, GDOT Board Members and Members of the General Assembly gathered in February to talk transportation issues facing the state. Sponsored by ITS Georgia and Georgia Section ITE, the event was the second annual supported by World Fiber Technologies. Chairman Floyd introduced the Governor who spoke about transportation programs of his administration and the need to come together to support improvements in transportation infrastructure. After remarks, ITS and ITE members networked with state and local 

Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal addresses the
ITS Georgia/ITE transportation reception.

transportation officials and policy makers.

This year we continue to hold monthly meetings that allow members to network and hear about the latest in ITS solutions. Our topics this year have included, video analytics software in Buckhead that more accurately account for vehicle activity at intersections, the latest in big screen display technology and what type of infrastructure will state and local governments need in place to support the rapidly approaching connected vehicle highway.

Please join us at our monthly meetings and bring a friend. We’ll keep you posted on times and locations on our web site and by email. If you are not on our email list, then visit www.itsga.org, or scan the QR code and enter your information via smartphone.

Our monthly meeting dates for the remainder of 2013 are:

April 25

May 23

June 27

July 25

August 29

September 14-17 Annual Meeting

October 31

Suggest that your organization join ITS Georgia so that all of your fellow associates may enjoy the benefits of membership.

ITS Georgia President's Message from Georgia Engineer Magazine February 2013

ITS Georgia
President Scott Mohler

Your ITS Board of Directors recently held a meeting to review our progress in 2012 and plan for what we believe will be an exciting 2013 for our members. It will be hard to top 2012, our 15^th year of operation and the year we received our second ITS America Outstanding State Chapter of the Year Award.

We held eight chapter meetings in 2012 with an average registered attendance of almost 55 per meeting. We also held our first legislative reception, and we had an informal after work social event. Our annual meeting was a great success with a 97 percent rating of meeting or exceeding expectations.

  

Other highlights from 2012 annual meeting include:

·         125 registered attendees

·         24 exhibitors and 17 sponsors

·         5 technical sessions and 22 speakers

·         7.5 professional development hours for Professional Engineers

Following closely with our Mission Statement, we plan to build on 2012 with more opportunities to network, learn about new solutions, educate decision makers about the benefits of ITS and further our members’ professional growth.

In 2013, we plan on having more monthly meetings, a half-day technical training session, a meet and greet with state lawmakers (co-branded with Georgia ITE) and a return to Callaway Gardens for our 2013 annual meeting September 14-17.

Our monthly meeting dates for the remainder of 2013 are:

February 28

March 28

April 25

May 23

June 27

July 25

August 29

September 14-17 Annual Meeting

October 31

Please join us at these meetings and bring a friend. We’ll keep you posted on times and locations on our web site and by email. If you are not on our email list, then visit www.itsga.org, or scan the QR code and enter your information via smartphone.

I also want to welcome new members to our board whose two-year term begins in 2013. Winter Horbal, Temple, Inc.; Michael Roberson, Georgia Department of Transportation; David Smith, DeKalb County Department of Transportation; and Prasoon Sinha, ACRADIS, join the board and officers. 

ITS Georgia President's Message from Georgia Engineer Magazine December 2012/January 2013

ITS Georgia
President Scott Mohler

An innovation in safety and efficiency is coming to Interstate 285 in 2014 and ITS Georgia member organizations are at the heart of the new driving experience that, proven successful, may become the norm for metropolitan Georgia freeways in the future.

The concept is simple – utilize technology to vary the real-time speed limit to improve traffic flow and create safer driving conditions. Reducing speeds and harmonizing the flow of traffic upstream of an incident makes for safer driving conditions and ideally prevents secondary accidents that arise from stop-and-go conditions.

 Changes coming to I-285

As part of the program, the overall speed limit will be raised to 65 MPH for the 260,000 or so daily vehicles on I-285, with the variable speed limit zone encompassing the northern section from I-20 in the east to I-20 in the west. Depending on traffic conditions, the speed limit will be adjusted up or down in 5 MPH increments.

“You’re able to move more traffic through” with the variable sign system, GDOT Commissioner Keith Golden told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “If you’ll slow down you’ll actually get there faster,” Commissioner Golden said, quoting traffic reporter Herb Emory of News Talk WSB radio.

The technology behind the system is developed by ITS Georgia member Atkins and is called Advanced Traffic Demand Management (ATDM). The ATDM system, managed at GDOT’s Transportation Management Center senses conditions on I-285 and then calculates the optimum speed per segment to move the most vehicles, the most efficiently.

"Atkins is honored to work with GDOT and bring our worldwide ATDM resources to bear on this important project,” said John Hibbard, Atkins ITS Practice Manager and longtime ITS Georgia Board member.

ITS Georgia member Brooks-Berry-Haynie was selected to handle the hardware and installation of the system. BBH project manager Bill Gunter knows it is high-profile and important for the state and region.

“Variable Speed Limit Systems are a first for Georgia and therefore need a team that is up for the challenge. Brooks-Berry-Haynie looks forward to bringing our expertise in ITS and working with our design team, Atkins, to deliver this project to GDOT on time and on budget,” Bill said.

We look forward to keeping you updated on progress and results once the system is in place. To find out more about ITS Georgia members who are on the forefront of safety, innovation and efficiency in Georgia scan the QR, or visit http://itsga.org/our-members.html.

  

2012 Annual Meeting Follow Up –

I mentioned last time that I felt our 2012 annual meeting at Callaway Gardens was a success. Well we verified that with an attendee survey. Of those taking the survey, 45% said the meeting exceeded expectations with 52% indicating the meeting met expectations. Eighty-three (83%) percent rated the vendor exhibits as excellent, with 69% indicating the meeting contained the right balance of networking, sessions and vendor time allocation. Ninety percent (90%) of attendees indicated they wanted to hold the conference at Callaway in 2013, so we’ll see you in Pine Mountain next year.

To keep up with the latest ITS Georgia news, please visit our web site (www.itsga.org), join us on facebook or follow us on twitter @ITSGA.

ITS Georgia Chapter Leadership

President

Scott Mohler, URS

Vice President

Tom Sever, Gwinnett DOT

Secretary

Kristin Turner, Wolverton Associates

Treasurer

Christine Simonton, Delcan

Immediate Past President

Marion Waters, Gresham Smith & Partners

Directors

Mark Demidovich, GDOT

Susie Dunn, Atlanta Regional Commission

Eric Graves, City of Alpharetta

Carla Holmes, Gresham Smith & Partners

Winter Horbal, Temple, Inc.

Keary Lord, Douglas County DOT

Michael Roberson, GDOT

David Smith, DeKalb County Transportation

Prasoon Sinha, ARCADIS

Grant Waldrop, GDOT

State Chapters Representative

Kenny Voorhies, Cambridge Systematics, Inc.

Ex Officio

Greg Morris, Federal Highway Administration

Andres Ramirez, FTA

Our 2012 Sponsors

Control Technologies

Metrotech

Temple

Arcadis

Gresham Smith and Partners

HNTB

World Fiber Technologies

Atkins

Delcan

Kimley-Horn and Associates

Sensys

Southern Lighting and Traffic Systems

URS

Telvent

Cambridge Systematics

Grice Consulting

Wolverton & Associates