Southern District ITE Newsletter 
The Connector - October 2015 Editon
In This Issue
From the Sections
Policy and Legislative Updates
Member Profile
How Road Diets Work
Quick Hits
Have You Seen This?
Save the Date!!!
 
April 9 - 13, 2016
 
SDITE Annual Meeting in Nashville, TN

2015 Executive Board

President
Bill Seymour
 
    
Vice-President
Hollis Loveday
          
Secretary / Treasurer
  Jennifer Bihl 
  
  
International Director
Bob Murphy

      
Past-President
Kirsten Tynch

  


    District Administrator
Craig Hanchey
    
  
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Don't forget to visit the Lands' End Store to get your SDITE Apparel. 

 

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Future Annual Meetings

  
2016 - Nashville, TN
 
2017 - Columbia, SC

Newsletter Staff

Editor
Scott Walker

 

Vice-Editor
Meredith Van Duyn
 
Content Entry
Leslie Tracey
  

Reviewers

Becky Malenke
Radha Swayampakala
Lindsay Walker
Anne Warnick
  

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Jeff Stephenson

  

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Hello Autumn!
       
The wonderful part about being a newsletter editor is that I can usually write about anything on my mind.  Sometimes the ideas come from overthinking weeks in advance.  Other times, an idea pops in my head as I sit down at the computer.  The latter happened this morning.
 
One of the topics that we learning in leadership training is Conflict Management.  It's a tough one to practice when we're in the moment, but being prepared is half the battle.  Thanks to a writer at Wright State, we have some concepts:
 
Here is a menu of strategies we can choose from when in conflict situations:
  • Forcing - using formal authority or other power that you possess to satisfy your concerns without regard to the concerns of the party that you are in conflict with.
  • Accommodating - allowing the other party to satisfy their concerns while neglecting your own.
  • Avoiding - not paying attention to the conflict and not taking any action to resolve it.
  • Compromising - attempting to resolve a conflict by identifying a solution that is partially satisfactory to both parties, but completely satisfactory to neither.
  • Collaborating - cooperating with the other party to understand their concerns and expressing your own concerns in an effort to find a mutually and completely satisfactory solution (win-win).
Think about confrontations you've had in the past.  How did you handle them?  Would you have done things differently?  Now is the time to prepare for the next unavoidable time that you may have a conflict on your hands. 
 
On a different note altogether, you may notice that this email is coming from new email address. If you need to get in touch with me for anything (SDITE questions, newsletter ideas, etc.), please send a message to:  scottukcat@outlook.com 
  
- Scott Walker, Editor  
Preview: SDITE Award Nominations   
    

It is almost time to start soliciting nominations for SDITE's annual awards.  We have five award categories for which we solicit nominations.  The categories are:

  1. Herman J. Hoose Distinguished Service Award (2014 Winner - Tim White)

  2. Marble J. Hensley Outstanding Individual Activity Award (2014 Winner - Jonathan Kiser)

  3. Joseph M. Thomas Outstanding Young Member Award (2014 Winner - Meredith Van Duyn) (Note:  the Thomas winner will be submitted as the SDITE nominee for ITE Rising Star)

  4. John F. Exnicios Government Employee Outstanding Service Award (2014 Winner - Tim Foster)

  5. Excellence in Transportation Engineering Education Award (2014 Winner - Robert Vecellio) (the Education winner will be the SDITE nominee for the Wilbur Smith ITE Award)

Criteria for these awards are provided on the SDITE website at http://sdite.org/about-us/sdite-awards.

 

Section Presidents and Section Representatives should be preparing the section to complete the application for the Outstanding Section Award (Group 1 (4 largest) or Group 2 (4 smaller)).

Please begin thinking about SDITE members who have made outstanding contributions to our District or profession.  In the December newsletter, we will provide instruction for submitting nominations.

Preview: ITE Award Nominations   
 

ITE International has awards for ITE members that SDITE members are eligible to nominate.   The categories are:

  1. Burton W Marsh Award (last SDITE winner - Hibbett Neel, 2011)

  2. Theodore Matson Award (last SDITE winner Herman Hoose, 1986)

  3. Wilbur Smith Distinguished Transportation Educator Award (last SDITE winner Mashrur Chowdhury, 2015)

  4. Section Activities Award (last SDITE winner was the Georgia Section, 2009)

  5. Rising Star Award (last SDITE winner Scott Walker, 2015, first year of award)

  6. District Section Newsletter Awards, by circulation size (last SDITE winner for less than 250, Georgia Section, 1998 and for between 250 & 500, SDITE, 2004)

  7. Honorary ITE Member (last SDITE member selected was John Exnicios, 2002) 

Criteria for these awards are provided on the ITE website at http://www.ite.org/awards/index.asp 

Please begin thinking about SDITE members who have made outstanding contributions to ITE.  In the December newsletter, we will provide instructions for submitting nominations. The deadline for nomination are from Feb 1st  to May 1st for most awards, see the ITE website for details on dates.

Policy and Legislative Updates
     
This is an important week with respect to federal transportation funding.

The House is planning to mark up a long-term transportation funding bill on Oct. 22, just days before the scheduled expiration of the nation's infrastructure spending. 

The chamber's Transportation and Infrastructure Committee announced last Wednesday that the long-awaited hearing will take place one week before the scheduled Oct. 29 expiration of the current law that authorizes the federal government's transportation spending.

Congress is struggling to come up with a way to pay for an infrastructure funding extension before the Oct. 29 deadline that was set by lawmakers in a temporary extension that was passed in July.

For more information for The Hill, click here.

Member Profile  
 
1. Name - Alison Marie Catarella-Michel  
2. City / State - New Orleans, LA
3. Place of Work - Urban Systems, Inc. / 14 years as President / Transportation Engineer
4. Degrees / Year - BS Civil Engineering from Louisiana State University / 1997
5. Certification - PE, PTOE
6. Place of Birth / Family -
Charleston, SC, Married to husband Chris and we have one daughter, Taylor (10) and two sons Christian (9) and Chase (4)
7. What do you do day-to-day? Juggle work and chauffeur kids
8. Hobbies? LSU and Saints football, wake boarding
9. Favorite Color? Purple
10. Favorite Music? Everything dance worthy
11. In what capacity have you served SDITE in the past? DSITE Section Representative twice, Biloxi 2015 LAC Co-Chair and member of the Education and Student Chapter Committee since 2006
12. Desired Superpower?  Mind reading
13. Five Quick Questions
a. Coke or Pepsi?  Diet Coke
b. Dogs or Cats?  Dogs
c. Telephone or Email?  Both
d. Pen or Pencil?  Erasable pens
e. Apple or Android? Android
14. Three Interesting Facts About You:
a. New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival and Disney World are my happy places  
b. I was in Paris on 9/11
c. In high school, I danced in the Superbowl Halftime show and the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade

From the Sections...  
    
Pull out the calendars and write these down! 
 
Kentucky Section

The KYSITE Annual Meeting and Silent Auction is being held at the Buffalo Trace Distillery on Thursday, November 5, from 6:00 to 9:00 PM. Events include dinner, the silent auction, awards and new officer installation.  A new tour custom made for our group will begin at 5:00 PM.  The tour will highlight new, behind the scenes action of bourbon making at the distillery!
 
To register for the annual meeting and dinner, contact Lindsay Walker.
 
Alabama Section

The ALSITE 2015 Fall Meeting will be held at the Montgomery Marriott Prattville Hotel & Conference Center at Capitol Hill in Prattville, AL on Thursday, October 29, 2015

  
Virtual Bike Tour of New York City

The Wall Street Journal recently added a video tour of the five boroughs in New York City from a bicyclist's perspective. With tips from cycling advocates across the city, the newspaper explored both well-known routes and others less traveled to assemble visual postcards of what the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens and Staten Island have to offer when you travel by bike.
Explaining Traffic Signal Timing

Here's an example of a project to retime traffic signals in a corridor in Denver, Colo. A consultant with Stantec created a video to explain the before and after conditions, and it shows the benefits the public receives from coordinating signals.

The Secret Life of 17th Ave Traffic Lights
The Secret Life of 17th Ave Traffic Lights
How to Replace a Bridge in 21 Days

The Iowa DOT is using an accelerated bridge construction method to replace aging infrastructure. By constructing several modular pieces of the bridge off-site and moving those pieces into place over a shortened period of time, the state is getting new bridges in place with minimal disruption to the public. Read about the new method at the Iowa DOT website and see the process in the video below.

Quick Hits
                    
Top Prizes Awarded In the 2015 Faces of Transportation Photo/Video Contest

Snooping for trouble with a bridge inspector

NCDOT operations center monitors roads, keeps drivers safe

Research shows pedestrians lack visibility based on clothing color, not driver distraction

INDOT Tests Signs To Help Drivers Make The Next Green Light

New alert system stops 14 wrong-way vehicles in first year (registration required)


AASHTO Awards Recognize Outstanding Work of State DOTs, Individuals

Have You Seen This?

 

Ever try to read someone's lips?  Well, it's not easy.  If you're an NFL player, it might be even tougher to read.  Thanks again to YouTube, here's an interpretation of what one user thought these guys were saying. Enjoy.

 

 

 

 

 

We hope you enjoyed this edition.  Feel free to let us know what we are missing or if you want to help us out some time!

   
Sincerely,
 
   

Scott Walker, Editor
Southern District ITE