Latest Blogs

5 Tips to Keep Your House Cool without Cranking the A/C

By Frederick Tartt posted 3 days ago
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The summer heat does not just bring discomfort but also poses a dilemma to homeowners. To crank the air conditioning and enjoy the cool home environment or not to and save some dollars.  Yes, air conditioning consumes large amounts of energy, contributing to high utility bills that drain your resources. So, what are some of the tricks you could use to keep your home cool without the costly air conditioning?  Treat your windows Windows not only allow in light, the external heat, too, especially in summer when most areas experience longer daylight hours. Once the windows let in the sunlight, its latent heat remains trapped in the house and can ...
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#ITE2020 Leadership Series: Alison Catarella-Michel, PE, PTOE, PTP, RSP1 (F) and Diane Hammonds, PE, PTOE (M)

By Mr. Ransford McCourt P.E., PTOE posted 3 days ago
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  We close out the profiles of ITE Southern District leaders with two individuals who were the lead coordinators of the “ITE Annual Meeting that never was” in New Orleans. Alison Catarella-Michel, PE, PTOE, PTP, RSP1 (F) is the President of Urban Systems in New Orleans, Louisiana, and Diane Hammonds, PE, PTOE (M) a Senior Engineer with Fenstermaker in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. I was able to get to know them at a Southern District Board meeting in New Orleans prior to the pandemic where we were brainstorming what the ITE Annual Meeting in their hometown would be like. Things change fast. That meeting will happen this week virtually, ...
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#ITE2020 President's Speech: Shape Your Community

By Mr. Ransford McCourt P.E., PTOE posted 3 days ago
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Good morning and welcome to ITE’s Annual Meeting in it’s 90 th year.  After 90 years you would think we all know ITE. But here we are in our first Virtual Annual Meeting. Today, I want to share with you a journey of what I believe ITE is – the ITE I know now and what we can be in the future. ITE has been, and will be, a partner with you to shape your community.  Many people ask me why ITE?  When you surround yourself with people that are passionate, knowledgeable, thoughtful, supportive, encouraging, sharing and dedicated to making a difference, I have found you can be in NO better place. It is a belief that we can make lives better one project at ...
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#ITE2020 Technical Program Preview: Brooke Struve, P.E. (M) and The Story Behind Considerations for Making Informed Trade-Off Decisions Related to the Selection of Bikeway Types

By Mr. Ransford McCourt P.E., PTOE posted 3 days ago
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Brooke Struve, P.E. (M) is a design program manager as part of the Safety and Design Team Resource Center of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) near Denver, CO, USA. She is a graduate of Brigham Young University and has been with FHWA since 2002 after a brief stint with Utah DOT. At BYU, she became interested in mountain biking as a recreational activity. Her early work in safety, geometric design, and road safety audits intersected with a personal passion with bicycling. Through a bicycle trail project, her career work in this area accelerated. When the Resource Center assessed the national core crash types—roadway departure, intersection, and pedestrian/bicycle, ...
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Virtual Meetings to Virtual Streets

By Mr. Ransford McCourt P.E., PTOE posted 5 days ago
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Over the last five months, we all have become more familiar with the virtual world. ITE is hosting its first virtual Annual Meeting this month, and a few of our Districts (Midwestern, Western, and Mountain) have jumped in to create virtual events that expanded the sharing of information for our members in new and valuable ways. Members facing travel challenges to attend in-person meetings are now able to attend virtually, saving time and money. In this new virtual world we live in, events have become easier to navigate, creating a new experience—not one that replaces faceto-face, but complements and enhances it. The virtual world has opened our eyes to new ...
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2020 ITE Annual Meeting and Exhibition, Reimagined

By Mr. Jeffrey Paniati P.E posted 5 days ago
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As the COVID-19 pandemic started to unfold, it quickly became clear that we would not have the ability to safely gather together for the 2020 ITE Annual Meeting and Exhibition in New Orleans, LA, USA. As you can imagine, this was very disappointing for both the ITE staff and the wonderful group of volunteers on the Local Arrangements Committee (LAC) supporting us. Planning for the Annual Meeting starts almost as soon as the prior year’s meeting concludes. By February, we had already assembled an outstanding technical program. Once we knew we could not meet in person, we monitored what other associations were doing and thought through a number of alternatives. ...
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ITE Releases What a Transportation Professional Needs to Know about Counts and Studies during a Pandemic

By Ms. Pamela Goodell posted 6 days ago
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Over the past four months, typical transportation activities have changed significantly with the COVID-19 pandemic. Events that impact transportation are not that uncommon; from solar eclipses to Super Bowls. However, this event is unprecedented in its global reach, its unknown duration, and the fact that “normal” is unlikely to return after the event. We have already witnessed altered home and work environments, travel patterns, and unprecedented reductions in congestion. As the pandemic transitions from outbreak to management, some of these changes are returning to normal while others are establishing a “new” normal. The roadmap into the future involves ...
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#ITE2020 Technical Program Preview: Ramond Robinson and The Story Behind: Designing for Traffic and Transit in Low Density Urban Areas

By Mr. Ransford McCourt P.E., PTOE posted 7 days ago
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Ramond Robinson is the Transportation Officer at Anne Arundel County in Annapolis, Maryland where he leads mobility management strategies. He is one of the most exuberant transportation leaders you will find. Working in Annapolis his transportation experience blends suburban, ex-urban and rural users to determine priorities for transportation improvements that will build a better quality of life for the community. It is a unique community ecosystem of a family of hamlets that are connected together. Ramond sees transportation as a way to reinvest in the community, build value and economic development allowing for growth and work force development.  Ramond’s ...
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#ITE2020 Leadership Series: Richard Caudle, P.E. (M)

By Mr. Ransford McCourt P.E., PTOE posted 8 days ago
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Richard Caudle, P.E . (M) is a traffic engineer for Skipper Consulting in Birmingham, AL, USA. Richard is one of the most humble servant leaders you will find. Our ITE journeys cross paths in many ways. He has served as Alabama Section ITE (ALSITE) president and was awarded Alabama Section Transportation Engineer of the Year in 2008. Richard is a long-time supporter of ITE’s Student Traffic Bowl for the Southern District. He helped set-up equipment and organize the event from its inception, and has chaired the SDITE traffic bowl committee from 2010 through 2020, recently turning over the reigns to Greg Judy of the Tennessee Section. I was able to share ...
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Call Center Customer Journey Mapping

By Frederick Tartt posted 9 days ago
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Call centers are often at a loss when it comes to the journey mapping of their customers. Most call centers treat the first call as the initial contact or the start of the journey, but in reality, this is probably the second or third step that they took.  The customer phoned in the first place because something was wrong and they could not solve the problem on their own. This means that the call center should always assume that the initial contact is in the negative as that they should work from there. Here are six steps to ensure that your call center’s journey map is done right. Be sure to map the whole experience  It is not just the person at ...
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Hello from Wellington NEW ZEALAND

By Mr. David Wanty posted 21 days ago
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Greetings all, I've just registered for online forum in Aug 2020, will be a challenge to attend sessions during our winter nights. If you want to raise any traffic & safety issues with me for a kiwi cum Aussie point of view, just contact me! If envious of our covid-19 endeavours it was a lot of good luck and not just good mgt - our ITE chapter HQ in Melbourne currently experiencing a true second wave spike (same population as whole of NZ ie 5 million). I attended ITE 2003 held there - lived through SARS in Singapore in 2003 too. KIA KAHA!
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#ITE2020 Technical Program Preview: LisaRene Schilperoort, P.E. (M) and The Story Behind There’s a Signal Approaching My Roundabout! Roundabout Metering

By Mr. Ransford McCourt P.E., PTOE posted 22 days ago
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LisaRene Schilperoort, P.E. (M) is the assistant traffic engineer for the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) South Central Region in Yakima, WA, USA. She joined WSDOT nearly 15 years ago after earning degrees in Civil Engineering from both Washington State University and the University of Washington. LisaRene has been an ITE member through WSDOT’s public agency membership. After participation with other organizations, her interaction with ITE proved invaluable and helped to further her knowledge and advance her career path. She frequently visits the ITE e-Community for ideas and current transportation topics.   This presentation journey ...
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#ITE2020 Leadership Series: Brad Johnson, P.E., PTOE (M)

By Mr. Ransford McCourt P.E., PTOE posted 22 days ago
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Brad Johnson, P.E., PTOE (M) is the director of Traffic and Planning with HMB Professional Engineers in Frankfort, KY, USA. Brad has been involved with ITE for most of his career and has served as the Section President and a Section Representative to the Southern District for ITE Kentucky. I first met Brad a few years ago at Southern District Board meetings. The Southern District had advanced some unique programs to help train ITE members in leadership where Brad was a participant. Through these programs, he was able to benefit in improving communication skills, building relationships with peers, and mentoring employees. The practical applications ...
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The Value of Followers and Their Engagement for Your Social Media Plan

By Frederick Tartt posted 30 days ago
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Once you’ve created a successful social media marketing strategy, the hard work begins. You need to set up profiles on different platforms and start posting relevant, meaningful content to raise your online presence. This is not where it stops, however. It’s actually only where it starts. Your social media plan needs to be attracting new followers, likes, shares, and comments to improve your organization’s visibility on each platform. While it might start slowly, each day should be bringing more activity from potential customers. Why your following is so important  There’s no point in having a lot to say on social media if there’s no one to ...
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Tips to Design A New Guest Bedroom Using A Small Budget

By Frederick Tartt posted 30 days ago
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Guest bedrooms are largely ignored because people are scared it will cost too much to make them attractive. A little creativity can go a long way toward making a small budget stretch to make a guest bedroom a centerpiece.  With a good vision, some physical effort and a little inspiration, your guest bedroom will be the best in your home. Once you’re done using these tips to design a welcoming guest space, you’ll want to get started on the other rooms. Accent walls, paint jobs and blinds Browse the internet to get some good ideas on how to create accent walls with the space you have. Accent walls are a cheap way to add interest. Paint the room a ...
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Sell Your Business on Your Own, No Broker Needed

By Frederick Tartt posted 30 days ago
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If you’re looking to sell your business, people will tell you that you need a business broker to get the job done for you. This is not necessarily the case. More and more company owners are selling their businesses by themselves and cutting the middleman out of the transaction. However, if this is the route you choose to go, you must be prepared to put in a lot more effort as you will effectively be acting as your own broker. Here’s some important information you need to know: Why cut the broker out of the transaction? Selling your business is a lot easier today than it was even twenty years ago. With the internet dominating how people shop, ...
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Looking Ahead

By Mr. Jeffrey Paniati P.E posted 07-01-2020
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As states and cities begin to “reopen,” there is a lot of discussion about what the post-COVID-19 world might look like. I think of it as happening in two stages—pre-vaccine and post-vaccine. It is clear that for the near-term, we will need to keep managing the risk of COVID-19, and the pandemic will continue to affect our lifestyles—and, in turn, transportation. Travel modes that have passengers in close proximity for extended periods of time have been the most impacted, and will have the hardest recovery. Work-from- home (WFH), single occupant vehicle travel, and biking/walking will remain favored. Are these short-term shifts, or will we see lasting changes? ...
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Active Transportation, For Who?

By Mr. Ransford McCourt P.E., PTOE posted 07-01-2020
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Our world has drastically changed since COVID-19 hit in March. Half of the department stores anchoring retail districts have closed permanently. Hotels are projecting occupancies below 20 percent. Student housing, multi-family, and senior housing demand have experienced uncharacteristic, disproportional demand reductions. Increased work from home (WFH) has reduced the need for office space. Major event venues are closed. Active transportation depends upon people’s need to travel. What happens when near-term events etch indelible change in how and what people find a need to travel for? What should ITE members be ready for, and how can active transportation ...
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#ITE2020 Technical Program Preview: Eric Bollich, P.E., PTOE (M) and Lewis Leff, MPA, CNU-A's Presentation on Speed Management in Austin

By Mr. Ransford McCourt P.E., PTOE posted 07-01-2020
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"...ITE meetings expanded his learning professionally as well as personally..." This is how Eric Bollich, P.E., PTOE (M), acting assistant director of the Austin Transportation Department in TX, USA, describes his experience. More often than not, when attendees listen to a presentation during a meeting, they do not necessarily know the full background on the speakers or how the topic was developed. As part of the ongoing series showcasing the upcoming ITE 2020 Annual Meeting and Exhibition , we turn to learning more about the individuals presenting in the conference. This series is meant to help you identify shared connections, gain an understanding of ...
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#ITE2020 Leadership Series: Stephen Bolt, P.E. (M)

By Mr. Ransford McCourt P.E., PTOE posted 07-01-2020
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Stephen Bolt, P.E. (M) is the street superintendent for the City of Charlotte, NC, USA the 15th largest city in the United States. I first met Stephen a few years ago at Southern District and LeadershipITE events. He is thoughtful, organized, passionate, and curious about our profession—skills that make for a great young leader. His interests and continuous learning in safety and how we can share information have helped him build a foundation for an advancing career trajectory. One of the ways he has used his passion and creativity to help people understand transportation engineering was by helping create a 20’x20’ graphic rollout floor mat (with signs!) ...
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