This issue of ITE Journal is dedicated to ITE’s global reach. This topic has been an area of interest of mine for a long time. When I was in university, I participated in an exchange program to Northern Ireland. I studied civil engineering at the University of Ulster for a year. Through the university, I secured a work term at a consulting firm in London, England. I worked not only with engineers from Britain but also with engineers from all over the world—Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, the Middle East, and elsewhere. In fact, one of my friends from those days, Graeme, is an ITE member in New Zealand.
I learned that although there were slight differences in approach, what we did as professionals and the challenges we faced were similar. I learned about signalizing large, over-capacity roundabouts, dedicated bus lanes, and queue jumps for transit. I also learned about a product called Shell Grip (which is now known as Safety Grip). Even if I didn’t appreciate it at the time, those lessons would serve me well in the future.
For most of my time in ITE, Global ITE meant Australia and New Zealand, and a few Student Chapters around the globe. The participation of members from the Australia-New Zealand Section has been continuous and of significant value to ITE. We were at the forefront of the development of roundabouts in North America thanks to ITE Global District members such as Andrew O’Brien, P.E. (H). Now, members in Australia, including past Global District Director Danny Przychodzki (F), are helping us better understand the possibilities for automated enforcement.
There are many other lessons from the rest of the world that could benefit ITE. For instance, a delegation from Canada, including several ITE members, recently went to Copenhagen to study transportation. Copenhagen has achieved a 50 percent mode split for travel by bicycle! There are countless opportunities for ITE to learn from the rest of the world. Many other Scandinavian countries have made excellent progress in Vision Zero. Japan has achieved a 28 percent share of intercity travel by train.
Because of geography or other advantages, many places in the world offer unique transportation examples that can be replicated elsewhere. A lyric in Rush’s song “New World Man” (a band I heard constantly on my favorite radio station growing up) says, “He’s noble enough to win the world but weak enough to lose it … he’s a new world man…” ITE fits that description at present: We have a good reputation globally, but we could undermine it if we try to do too much too fast. Although we have seen global growth recently, we need to define our strategy for sustaining it. A few years ago, we started a chapter for professionals in Pakistan. Earlier this year, we added a new Student Chapter in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. We have grown to 15 Student Chapters in the Global District of ITE. Our new Global District Director Farukh Ijaz, P.E. (M), has picked up where Danny left off, adding a Global District website and LinkedIn page.
We are actively developing our strategy for growing and enhancing our Global District through our next Strategic Plan. If we are to expand globally, we will need volunteers to help. If you have an interest in being part of these efforts, please reach out!