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In This Issue
Inaugural KYSITE Leadership Class
An Economic Analysis of Transportation Infrastructure Investment
Member Profile
ITE Election Results are In!
Amazing Bridges
Weird Signs
Quick Hits
Have You Seen This?
Important KYSITE Dates 

Webinars

August-October

 

Sept. 15-16

Oct. 13-14

Leadership Training

 

November 2014 

 KYSITE Annual Meeting

TBA

Important ITE Dates 

ITE Annual Meeting 

August 2014
Seattle, WA
2014 Executive Board
President

Vice-President
  
Treasurer 
  
Secretary

Past President

Directors

Section Rep

Quick Links

 

 

 

  
Meeting
  

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Newsletter Staff
Editors

Regular Contributors
Guest Contributors
Jarrod Stanley

The Changing Face of Transportation

Greetings!   

 

Greetings!

       

August is a busy month with school starting back up.  There are several monthlong events, including: 

  • National Water Quality Month
  • National Goat Cheese Month (US Only)
  • Panini Month
  • Audio Appreciation Month

But the one event that caught our eye was "What Will Be Your Legacy Month?"  

  • What are you doing for your children / family to make things better for future generations?
    • Is it knowledge? 
    • It is money? 
  • How about your community?
    • Are you engaged?
    • Are you using your transportation talents to make the world a safer place?
  • How about your profession?
    • Are you active in mentoring the next generation? 
    • Do you take the time to share knowlege with others?

Perhaps it's too deep of a topic to be included in a bi-weekly transportation newsletter, but hey, we try to cover all topics.  So...what is going to be your legacy?  We'll leave you with the following quote: 

 

"Are we being good ancestors?"  - Jonas Salk

 

- KYSITE Officers

[email protected]

 

Inaugural KYSITE Leadership Class

 

As a reminder, the Kentucky Section of ITE will be hosting a Leadership Class this Fall.  The training is unique in that it is led by seasoned transportation professionals and involves considerable interaction between instructors/facilitators and participants.  The class has been successfully implemented in most other Southern District ITE (SDITE) Sections.  In many instances, the class has been offered multiple times.  Instructors will be SDITE members from Alabama, Kentucky, North Carolina and Tennessee.


 

The class is broken into two sessions.  General Butler State Park has been selected as the location for the training. 


 

Scheduling / tentative agenda for the two sessions are as follows:

  • Session 1:  Mon., Sept. 15 to Tues., Sept. 16, 2014  
  • Session 2:  Mon., Oct. 13 to Tues., Oct. 14, 2014

The class will be open to public, private, and academic professionals but the number of attendees is limited to 15 participants is limited.  Availability is based on a first-come, first-serve basis. Due to class size limitations, we ask that private firms (consultants) submit only one candidate representing that firm. 


 

The cost for the class will be $125 and includes registration, snacks during breaks on Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning of each session, and session materials. 

  

1)      To register for the class, please go to this link.

 

2)      For lodging, please contact General Butler directly by calling (502) 732-4384 and mention that you are with "KYSITE".   Rooms are available on Sunday night and Monday night of each session.  As noted, room rates are approximately $75 which includes ($64.95 / per night plus tax and resort fee).

 

We appreciate your interest in the class and look forward to hearing from you.

 

An Economic Analysis of Transportation Infrastructure Investment 

Submitted By: Jarrod Stanley


Below is an excerpt form the Executive Summary of the report prepared by the National Economic Council and the President's Council of Economic Advisers:


The economic benefits of smart infrastructure investment are long-term competitiveness, productivity, innovation, lower prices, and higher incomes, while infrastructure investment also creates many thousands of American jobs in the near-ter

  • Today there are more than 4 million miles of road, 600,000 bridges, and 3,000 transit providers in the U.S. And yet, over the past 20 years, total federal, state, and local investment in transportation has fallen as a share of GDP - while population, congestion, and maintenance backlogs have increased.
  • The U.S. lags behind many of its overseas competitors in transportation infrastructure investment. In the most recent World Economic Forum rankings, the U.S. had in less than a decade fallen from 7th to 18th overall in the quality of our roads.
  • 65 percent of America's major roads are rated in less than good condition, one in four bridges require significant repair or cannot handle today's traffic, and forty five percent of Americans lack access to transit.

The costs of inadequate infrastructure investment are exhibited all around us. Americans spend 5.5 billion hours in traffic each year, costing families more than $120 billion in extra fuel and lost time. American businesses pay $27 billion a year in extra freight transportation costs, increasing shipping delays and raising prices on everyday products. Underinvestment impacts safety too. There were more than 33,000 traffic fatalities last year alone and roadway conditions are a significant factor in approximately one-third of traffic fatalities. Such fatalities occur disproportionately in rural America, in part because of inadequate road conditions.  

Member Profile

Submitted by: Steve De Witte


 

Name: Karen Mohammadi

Place of Work: Neel-Schaffer

Title: Engineer-Manager

Degree: BSCE, MENG

Place of Birth: Bardstown, KY

Family: Husband Mahmood and daughters Yasmeen (16) and Lili (12)

What are your technical interests?: Traffic Safety, Transportation Planning, ITS

What are your hobbies?: Reading and gardening

Favorites:

Color: Yellow

TV Show: Grimm

Song: Lead Me by Sanctus Real

Five Quick Questions:

A. Coke or Pepsi: Neither.  I don't drink sodas and prefer ice tea

B. Dogs or Cats: Both although we have fish, birds, lizards and soon to be bunnies at home.

C. Facebook or Twitter: Facebook

D. iPhone or Android: Android

E. Cats or Cards: Cards


 

If you're interested in being featured in an upcoming edition, please let me know at [email protected]! Thanks!

 

ITE Election Results are In!


I hope that you all exercised your right to vote and participated in the 2015 ITE elections. Below is the new listing of officers.  Congratulations to the newly elected International Vice President, Paula Flores Benway, FITE.

 

 

John J. Kennedy, P.E., PTOE, FITE
2015 International President


 

Paula Flores Benway, FITE
2015 International Vice President


 

W. Hibbett Neel Jr., P.E., FITE
2015 International Immediate Past President 

 

The World's Most Amazing Bridges

By:Anne Warnick
 
The final bridge in this series is a...(drumroll)...water bridge in Germany. 
  
#1: Magdeburg Water Bridge, Magdeburg, Germany 
  
 
A journey that once required ships to travel nearly eight miles was reduced to just over the length of a football field when the Magdeburg Water Bridge opened in 2003 over the Elbe River in Germany, making it possible to bypass the delays ships had endured for years at the nearby Rothensee and Niegripp locks.
 
 
Thanks to its 24,000 tons of steel and more than 74,000 yards of reinforced concrete, even large ships can pass through. The bridge's construction cost more than $640 million, but the return on investment has no doubt been recouped in the time and energy saved here along the longest navigable aqueduct in the world.
  
All content and photos are from www.weather.com.
Weird Signs
Submitted by: Billy Garrison 




 Credit: Scott Walker
Quick Hits  
 




Have You Seen This? 
 
This week's video is intended for:
  1. Folks that love a good parody; and
  2. Folks that can't stand bad grammar.
Thankfully, the world has "Weird Al" Yankovic, the king of musical parodies.  And with his new album, he tackles "Word Crimes".  Enjoy.
  
"Weird Al" Yankovic - Word Crimes
 
   
   
Thanks for your continued support of KYSITE!  


2014 KYSITE Board; and
 

Vanessa Fritsch, Editor
Scott Walker, Editor