For me, the year started a bit ominously with a case of COVID-19 right before I was supposed to attend the first Board of Direction meeting of the year in January. Fortunately, it was a very mild case and technology allowed me to participate virtually. From there, things improved, and we are finishing the year with a strong record of accomplishment and continued enhancement in member value. The
end-of-year review article on page 26 provides you with a rundown of some of the most significant accomplishments in 2022,
and I thought I would highlight a few that really stood out to me.
We continue to grow as an organization fueled by strong public agency participation. In 2022 we added a significant number of public agency members, including three of the largest state Departments of Transportation—California, Texas, and New York. We have exceeded 16,500 members and are on track to reach our highest membership ever in 2023. Our strengthened financial position has allowed us to bring more value to membership. We began offering webinars free to members and have provided significant new tools and support for District and Section leaders to reduce the administrative burden on them. In October, we rolled out our much-improved professional development recordkeeping system. In 2023, we will be bringing online our new Traffic Wiki to provide free electronic access to updated content from the Traffic Engineering Handbook.
We completed a total renovation of the ITE headquarters space this year. This is one of ITE’s biggest expenses—consolidating our footprint into about two-thirds of our existing
space significantly reduced our costs. At the same time, were able to secure a stipend from the building owner that allowed us to create brand new office space designed to fit our new hybrid work arrangements. Our Annual Meeting and Exhibition in New Orleans brought members back together in person for the first time in 3 years. We are looking forward to meeting jointly with the Western District in Portland, OR, USA, August 13-16, 2023.
The volume and breadth of products coming from our Councils and Committees in 2022 was tremendous, including two new Recommended Practices. Attendance at our more than 30 webinars grew by more than 30 percent. In early 2023, we will bring forward a new certificate course on Implementing the Safe System Approach. Most recently, we announced our new transportation planner membership recruitment campaign. ITE is uniquely positioned to bring transportation planning professionals and engineers together, and we look forward to adding more planners to our ranks. Look for more on this throughout 2023, including our Spring Virtual Conference – Great Communities: At the Intersection of Planning and Engineering, March 14-15, 2023.
While 2022 might have started a bit slow and uncertain, it quickly picked up momentum under the outstanding leadership of our International President Beverly Kuhn Ph.D., P.E.,
PMP (F) and Board of Direction, and the hard work of our many District, Section, Chapter, Student Chapter, Council, and Committees leaders. And with the support of our dedicated and talented ITE staff, including seven new staff members—Adam Martin, Frances Bettis, Luana Broshears, Matt Jasnosz, Ahnaf Morshed, Ashraf Ahmed, and Steve Kuciemba—who joined us during 2022. Thanks to all who contributed to ITE’s success in 2022. As always, you can reach me on the ITE e-Community or on Twitter: @JeffPaniatiITE.