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ITS Georgia 2009 Annual Meeting Proceedings

(October 5, 2009) - Transportation professionals from around the Southeast gathered at the 2009 ITS Georgia annual meeting in Brasstown Valley, Georgia.

The theme for this year's conference was, how does ITS equate to Improving Transportation Sustainability? 

The three fundamental tenants of sustainability are: the economy, the environment and society.  When applied across the transportation infrastructure and into the hands of the traveling public, ITS technology generates efficiencies that affect all three segments in a positive way.

ITS Georgia President Anthony Bradford kicked off the annual event that featured more than 120 registered attendees, 26 corporate sponsors and 22 exhibitors. Click here for his presentation.

GDOT Deputy Commissioner and Chief Engineer Gerald Ross delivered the morning keynote address. His presentation is here.

GDOT Commissioner Vance Smith gave the key note address at noon.

Planning Director Todd Long presents Tuesday October 5.  His presentation is here.

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New Officers and Directors announced. 

Marion Waters, of Gresham Smith and Partners was elected to succeed Anthony Bradford as president of ITS Georgia. 

Mark Demidovich of GDOT was named vice-president. Christine Macaulay of Delcan was elected Treasurer and Kristin Turner of Arcadis was selected Secretary.  The full slate of Officers and Directors is listed below. Newly-elected take office January 1, 2010.

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Presentations

Awards

ITS Georgia recognizes excellence in the industry from around the state with annual awards.  This year also marked the inaugural presentation of the ITS Georgia Wayne Shackelford Scholarship. The annual award is designed to promote the study of ITS technology by our best and brightest university students and give them real world exposure to the ITS profession. Finalists are given all expense-paid trips to the ITS Georgia Annual Meeting and an opportunity to present their abstracts to a Chapter meeting. The winner is provided an all expenses-paid trip to the ITS American Annual Congress. 

2009 ITS Georgia Wayne Shackelford Scholarship winners Yi Lin (left), Carlos Campo and Ann Xu. Read their winning entries by clicking on their names.

President's Award

ITS Georgia founding member and longtime treasurer, Susie Dunn, was recognized for her year's of service to the organization and transportation community. Susie was elected to the Board of Directors after stepping down from the treasurer position.

Outstanding Volunteer Award – Open to all membership, including Board members and Committee Chairs, who have gone above and beyond to support ITSGA during the previous twelve (12) months. 

Kristin Turner worked closely with one of our board members, Ron Boodhoo, to develop an ITS Georgia Engineering Scholarship Program designed to award $1,500.00 to a student in the engineering discipline that could develop an innovative ITS Plan to address congestion related issues in Metro Atlanta. She developed the application process and evaluation criteria.  She communicated her thoughts and ideas to board members and university professors to receive the necessary buy-in and support. Her strong desire to initiate this effort is consistent with the ITS Georgia goals and objectives. In addition, she is a regular attendee and an active participant at all ITS Georgia Board meetings where she frequently volunteers her time to assist as needed. She has demonstrated a strong passion, desire and commitment to ensure that this organization continues to be successful.

Project of Significance Award – A project, study, or program undertaken in the previous twelve (12) months with an impact that is quantifiable and directly related to a specific activity/action that reduces congestion, improves safety and security, and enhances mobility in Georgia.

GDOT Metro Traffic Signal Timing

Under this program, signal timing has been completed for over 80 traffic signal systems, consisting of over 900 signalized intersections. To sustain the efficiency of operations at traffic signal systems that were retimed, signal timing maintenance is being performed every quarter.

The annual estimated savings in terms of reduced delay and fuel consumption is $55,994,068, resulting in a benefit-to-cost ratio of 16 to 1, considering a life cycle cost analysis of two years. Overall  improvements in terms of air quality include an estimated reduction of nitrogen oxides by 5.3 percent, carbon monoxide by 2.2 percent, and volatile organic compounds by 8.2 percent, which amounts to more than 508 tons of pollutants removed from the air each year  in the Atlanta area.  These benefits directly support our GREEN theme!

More predictable travel time and system performance, less congestions, as well as improved air quality also benefited everyone living in metro Atlanta

Staff from GDOT’s Office of Traffic Operations who are responsible for this program include Keith Golden, Yancy Bachmann, Jim Tolson, Ken Montgomery, Ernie Cochran.  They are supported by Arcadis who serves as Program Manager.

Outstanding Public Member Agency Award – Leadership in promoting ITS and/or ITSGA goals during the previous twelve (12) months.

Cobb County Department of Transportation

Cobb County has been a leader in the implementation of ITS in the metropolitan Atlanta area.  Since its development in 1997 following the 1996 Olympic Games, Cobb County DOT has continued to operate and update the Traffic Control Center.  Cobb County DOT continues to remain an industry leader in ITS through upgrades to the TCC and traffic signal system.

Cobb County is currently building a new Traffic Management Center to replace their out-dated Traffic Control Center that will provide a state-of-the-art facility for transportation systems monitoring and operation, traffic incident management, and information sharing with emergency response providers and other agencies and jurisdictions in Cobb County and metro Atlanta. 

Cobb County is a partner of the Smart Corridor project. The project will expand the existing adaptive signal system to 7 traffic signals in the City of Marietta and 11 traffic signals in Fulton County providing cross-jurisdictional traffic signal coordination.

Cobb County installed a new media system in their TCC to assist with providing real-time traffic information to Cobb County citizens.  The new system is used to display traffic cameras, information pages, including web sites, and crawls.  Cobb DOT streaming video of this production can be viewed online 24 hours a day at the Cobb County web site. Commuters also have the opportunity for additional traffic information, including traffic incidents and Cobb County Transit bus information, by subscribing to Cobb County’s Twitter page.

The general public benefits from the achievements reached by Cobb County DOT through reduced delay and congestion on Cobb County roadways, as well as increased awareness of and access to real-time information on traffic incidents and events within Cobb County.

Innovation: Outside the Box Award – Creative and unique approach or solution by an individual or group to an ITS challenge, or to an issue using ITS as a solution during the previous twelve (12) months.

GDOT District 3 Control Center

District 3 has developed an interactive database that is used to track all customer service requests, work unit work orders, schedules of work units, etc. and has implemented the control center as the quarterback for its operations and customer service requests.  In support of this effort, the district has also implemented the 1-877-957-4368(GDOT) phone number and the saferoadsD3@dot.ga.gov e-mail address whereby customers can interact with DOT representatives and get updates to requests. 

The control center has taken customer service to another level by making follow up calls to customers, which is a pleasant surprise to most.  This new system has allowed better resource management of the traffic signal program.  There is a realization that customer service and resource management are joined at the hip.  The more efficiently the requests are handled, the more efficiently we use our resources. 

Unnecessary field trips by technicians and engineers have been reduced by 30% and fuel savings of 20% realized.   So this is both an innovative and “green” use of the TCC.  This saves countless man hours, wear and tear on vehicles, and makes the organization more efficient.  With the control center at the helm, the work unit has escaped the constant fire fighting mode and now operates like a well oiled machine. 

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