Blogs

Lead the Future of Transportation: Why ITE Leadership Matters

By Mr. John Davis P.E., PTOE,TSOS,RSP1 posted 2 days ago
Have you ever considered stepping into a leadership role within ITE? Whether you're early in your career or a seasoned professional, ITE offers meaningful opportunities to grow, connect, and make a difference in the transportation world. Leadership That Makes an Impact ITE leadership isn’t just about holding a title - it’s about being part of something bigger. From organizing local events to representing professionals on a global stage, our leaders help shape the direction of our industry. They drive innovation, advocate for safer, smarter transportation systems, and support the next generation of professionals. What You Gain Taking on a leadership ...

June 2025 ITE Journal Director's Message: It’s All About Planning

By Mr. Stephen Kuciemba posted 15 days ago
Time for a small confession: I’m a habitual planner. I get enjoyment from laying out project schedules, I plan all my trips in detail, I relish the opportunity to map out strategic initiatives, I make a habit of thinking through meeting agendas—heck, I even plan my family activities (much to the annoyance of my free-spirited wife). I know that I get a lot of this from my father; he, too, was a habitual planner, and he ingrained in me the simple philosophy that proper planning prevents poor performance (yes, there are less tactful versions of that saying). It will probably come as no surprise then, that when it comes to planning in transportation, I consider ...

June 2025 ITE Journal President's Message: Placemaking

By Ms. Karen Aspelin P.E., PTOE posted 15 days ago
I’ve written in this column before that some ITE Journal topics are easier for me to write about than others. This month’s topic—Placemaking—seemed tough to write about while wearing only my engineer’s hat. But when I started thinking of myself as a “place-enjoyer” with an engineering background, it made it much easier. Placemaking, according to one definition, is the art and science of crafting spaces that resonate with the community, fostering a sense of belonging and joy. Where I live in Colorado, in the shadow of Pike’s Peak, one of my favorite places is Bancroft Park in Old Colorado City. On Saturday mornings during the warmer months, families, neighbors, ...

May 2025 ITE Journal Director's Message: Thank a Traffic Engineer

By Mr. Stephen Kuciemba posted 05-01-2025
This issue of ITE Journal is focused on Traffic Engineering, a topic area that brings large crowds into sessions at our Annual Meeting, generates a lot of interest on our e-Community, and is an incredibly diverse and complex discipline that is sometimes misunderstood by the public (and even by others in the transportation space). For a profession that has been around for more than 100 years, these past few decades have been truly exciting in the traffic engineering arena. Technology has blown open the doors to new possibilities, there has been an increasing acceptance by policymakers that roadway safety oftentimes must come before convenience, and the breadth ...

May 2025 ITE Journal President's Message: Transformative Changes

By Ms. Karen Aspelin P.E., PTOE posted 05-01-2025
When I became a “Traffic Analyst,” the title on my first business card coming out of graduate school, I thought I’d be spending the rest of my career developing trip generation tables, running level of service analyses, and making recommendations for green times, turn lane lengths, and yellow clearance intervals. We were using computers to do these calculations—so advanced! What needed to change in the field of traffic engineering? Somewhere in the last three decades, traffic engineering has grown to encompass so much more than these metrics, which almost entirely involved how quickly you could move a car in the peak 15 minutes of the weekday. Today, a level ...

Lead the Future of Transportation with ITE - Learn More on May 22, 2025

By Mr. John Davis P.E., PTOE,TSOS,RSP1 posted 04-28-2025
Lead the Future of Transportation with ITE Leadership in ITE offers a dynamic blend of professional growth, community engagement, and the chance to help shape the future of transportation. Whether you’re coordinating a local event or representing members on the global stage, your contributions make a meaningful impact. Beyond the Title ITE leaders influence priorities, mentor the next generation, and drive innovation across the profession. Your voice, experience, and ideas can help guide ITE’s direction and expand its reach. Grow Personally and Professionally · Strengthen leadership, communication, and ...

April 2025 ITE Journal President's Message: Active Transportation

By Ms. Karen Aspelin P.E., PTOE posted 04-08-2025
I’ve mentioned in past messages that the topic of the month’s ITE Journal has been a little foreign to me and required some research. This month’s topic, active transportation, required none! Active transportation has been a part of my life since I learned to ride a two-wheeler. I was four years old, and giving into my whines that I wanted to keep up with my older brother, my father took the training wheels off my hand-me-down Huffy. Straight into the middle of the street we went and after running me with for a few yards he let go ... and my lifelong journey of transporting myself with my own energy began. It wasn’t long until I started kindergarten and ...

April 2025 ITE Journal Director's Message: An Active Safety Culture

By Mr. Stephen Kuciemba posted 04-08-2025
This month we turn our focus to walking, biking, and rolling. Some refer to this as active transportation, others refer to it as being a vulnerable road user—regardless of what you call it, walking, biking, and rolling are essential components of our ability to get from point A to point B. Most people have SOME elements of walking, biking, or rolling as part of their daily commute, even if only a small portion (e.g., walking from the house to the garage or the parking lot to the office). My own personal commute varies from time to time. Occasionally, I drive all the way into work and park in the building’s garage. Other times, I’ll drive to a transit station ...

March 2025 ITE Journal Director's Message: Spring Cleaning

By Mr. Stephen Kuciemba posted 03-04-2025
In many parts of North America and Europe, the custom of “spring cleaning” is an annual ritual. March is the month most often associated with this because in many regions the climate is starting to get warmer, and as we emerge from winter there is a renewed sense of cleansing. I recently read an article suggesting that this cleansing could be physical, spiritual, and even metaphorical. For me, I see spring cleaning as an opportunity for us to shake off the winter doldrums, and finally take all those New Year’s resolutions that are still on paper from January seriously! One resolution you can all brush up on is to keep current on or even expand your knowledge ...

February 2025 ITE Journal President's Message: Safety and Resiliency

By Ms. Karen Aspelin P.E., PTOE posted 03-04-2025
When I learned “safety and resiliency” was the topic for this column, I initially thought the two subjects were completely different. I soon concluded, however, that they are actually quite similar. Let's start with safety. You probably know that the general idea of the Safe Systems Approach involves the "Swiss cheese model." It represents the idea that if one component of the transportation systems fails, other components will kick in and prevent a serious crash and severe or even fatal injuries. To illustrate, I'll use a fictional example involving a woman we'll call Erin. Erin is in a hurry to arrive at an event because she left her house too late. She ...

National Engineers Week 2025: Becoming a Transportation Engineer

By Marvin Ta P.E., PTOE, ENV SP posted 02-20-2025
As part of National Engineers Week 2025, I was asked to write about the reasons I became a transportation engineer. Here is a link to my short video that talks about my journey: https://youtu.be/m6KSu0FnWXI?si=llWN1OiZm4D2a3J-

February 2025 ITE President's Message: The Criticality of Freight

By Ms. Karen Aspelin P.E., PTOE posted 02-01-2025
When I learned the topic of this month’s ITE Journal was freight, I realized something. Even though heavy trucks make up nearly a third of the traffic on some of the freeways in the Mountain District where I live, I know almost nothing about freight trucks! As a transportation engineer, my experience with freight trucks has generally involved 1) making sure they can drive around the curb returns and roundabouts in my designs, 2) ensuring my pavement design can support their weight, and 3) taking their size and slow acceleration into account in capacity calculations. Big trucks have definitely been an afterthought in my work. I needed to do some research, ...

February 2025 ITE Journal Director's Message: Keep Freight in the Conversation

By Mr. Stephen Kuciemba posted 02-01-2025
This issue of ITE Journal has an emphasis on freight, and in particular, urban goods movement. If you look back over the past several years of articles, you’ll often see freight come up as a tangent issue alongside other topic areas—but we are long overdue for an entire issue dedicated to this important subject! Let’s start with demand. Many things changed as we emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic, including our work and travel patterns, how we view our personal health and interactions with others—and of course, our reliance upon online shopping. The U.S. Department of Commerce recently released their forecast showing a 20 percent increase in worldwide e-commerce ...

January 2025 ITE Journal Director's Message: Innovative Pathways to Safer Transportation

By Mr. Stephen Kuciemba posted 01-01-2025
Happy New Year! We’re hitting the halfway point of the 2020s already, and it’s amazing how quickly the decade is flying by! First, a huge welcome to Karen Aspelin, P.E., PTOE (F), as our new International President, and to Gordon Meth, P.E., PTOE, PTP, RSP2I, T.E. (F), International Vice President. I’m excited about the many great activities and meetings they will have the opportunity to preside over as ITE continues riding the wave of successful member engagement since we emerged from the COVID pandemic. It’s also the beginning of my second full year as Executive Director and CEO—and my personal goal of seeing safety elevated in the conversation is already ...

January 2025 ITE Journal President's Message: Happy New Year!

By Ms. Karen Aspelin P.E., PTOE posted 01-01-2025
It’s here, and I can’t believe it. Nearly 30 years ago at an International ITE conference, I attended an event for potential International President candidates. I look back now and envy the audacity I had as a 20-something: that I could have thought that this was an event for someone like me! I wasn’t wrong, of course, and now I’ve had decades to think of what I could accomplish in my position as International President. What could I say in my position of influence that could make our profession, our world a little bit better place? The answer to that question turned out to be easy. At every opportunity, I will make a plea to our members to tell others, ...

December 2024 ITE Journal Director's Message: Year In Review

By Mr. Stephen Kuciemba posted 12-02-2024
I have no hesitation in stating that ITE has had a banner year! Our Districts and Sections have held more than 300 meetings and events over the past 12 months, our Councils and Committees have produced more than 50 webinars and two dozen technical publications, and leaders at all levels of the organization have worked hard to ensure a successful handoff so that the organization is on solid footing as we flip the calendar into 2025. We achieved our goal of maintaining excellence across so many key areas—professional development programs, networking opportunities, technical prowess, leadership development—it’s hard to believe that we could be successful across ...

December 2024 ITE Journal President's Message: Closing the Chapter on Another Year

By Mr. John Davis P.E., PTOE,TSOS,RSP1 posted 12-02-2024
Greetings, everyone! As we approach the close of 2024, it feels only natural to pause and reflect on the journey we’ve shared this past year. First and foremost, I want to extend my heartfelt gratitude to my family, friends, and esteemed colleagues for their support during my time as ITE’s President. It has been a true honor and privilege, and I am immensely grateful for each of you who helped make this year meaningful. This year marked an exciting new chapter for ITE, and at its heart was our resolve to prioritize safety. With our new Executive Director, Chief Technical Officer, and the implementation of a new Strategic Plan to guide us over the next 3 years, ...

November 2024 ITE Journal President's Message: Happy November Everyone!

By Mr. John Davis P.E., PTOE,TSOS,RSP1 posted 11-01-2024
This issue of ITE Journal emphasizes the importance of community engagement in transportation projects. While my formal education was strong, it didn’t focus on the skills necessary for effective community engagement. One of my professors at Purdue remarked that civil engineering—unlike most other engineering disciplines—directly involves people. Transportation engineering and planning perfectly embody this, as people are central to our work—whether they’re driving, riding, or walking. Thus, developing the ability to engage communities and people is crucial, especially for those working in or with public agencies. But how can you build these skills after leaving ...

November 2024 ITE Journal Director's Message: Action Speaks Louder Than Words

By Mr. Stephen Kuciemba posted 11-01-2024
As we focus on community engagement in this issue of ITE Journal , I want to start out with the famous Mark Twain quote, “action speaks louder than words but not nearly as often.” How many of you read that and didn’t realize the full quote includes “but not nearly as often?” I’ll admit that I am most familiar with just the front end of that quote and had to dig a little online to expand my understanding. The first part is straight forward—it means that action can accomplish more than words. The second part, which Twain added, points out that although action is more forceful, speech occurs far more often. So, what the heck does this historical English lesson ...

October 2024 ITE Journal Director's Message: Resilience Readiness

By Mr. Stephen Kuciemba posted 10-01-2024
n my column this month, I want to step back and reassure myself—and hopefully you along the way—that it’s okay to be slightly overwhelmed by the vastness of transportation resilience. What exactly does it mean to be resilient? Webster defines resilient (or resilience) as “an ability to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune or change.” In the context of transportation, resilience is typically viewed as the ability of a transportation system to move people or goods in the face of one or more unexpected obstacles, failures, or extreme events. We often hear about “the resilience of a network” after a major weather disaster, or in conjunction with concerns ...