Skip to main content

US joint university team wins ITE’s transportation challenge

A joint team from the Universities of Texas, Wyoming and Kansas has won the first Transportation Technology Tournament organised by the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE). The winning project set out to address what it called “non-recurrent congestion challenges” in Washington, DC, such as increased traffic on days when the Washington Nationals baseball team played at home. The team worked with the District Department of Transportation (DoT) to develop real-time traveller information systems to
August 28, 2018 Read time: 2 mins
A joint team from the Universities of Texas, Wyoming and Kansas has won the first Transportation Technology Tournament. The event was hosted at the 5667 Institute of Transportation Engineers’ (ITE) annual meeting and exhibit in downtown Minneapolis.

The winning project set out to address what it called “non-recurrent congestion challenges” in Washington, DC, such as increased traffic on days when the Washington Nationals baseball team played at home. The team worked with the 2134 District Department of Transportation (DoT) to develop real-time traveller information systems to give drivers more accurate travel times and alternative routes.

In second place, the judges chose Cal Poly – San Luis Obispo, California Polytechnic State University, for its work on pedestrian safety with the City of Detroit and the 1687 Michigan DoT.

North Dakota State University was also a finalist for working with the City of Moorhead, Minnesota, in providing train information near highway rail grade crossings.

Florida International University was also shortlisted for working on pedestrian safety in collaboration with the City of Gainesville, Florida.

The winner was announced at ITE’s Annual Meeting and Exhibit in Minneapolis. The tournament was organised by the National Operations Center of Excellence (NOCoE) and the US DoT. The four finalists were chosen from nine participating teams working with a local or state DoT to implement ITS technologies and transportation systems management and operations (TSMO) strategies.

The teams pitched their solutions to five judges which included Egan Smith, managing director, ITS joint program officer, US DoT and Arlene Kocher, division administrator, 831 Federal Highway Administration, US DoT.

After the presentations, the judges put forward questions to each team, which prompted them to elaborate on their innovations, consider alternative strategies and provide answers around procurement and the cost of their products.

All participants will now take part in local and regional meetings and discuss their proposals. In addition, the NOCoE intends to facilitate an additional discussion around the solutions with state and local agencies, industry leaders and potential deployers of ITS and TSMO solutions.

UTC

Related Content

  • February 25, 2015
    USDOT expands real-time travel information with US$2.6 million in grants
    The US Department of Transportation's Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has announced $2.571 million in grants to expand the use of real-time travel information in 13 highly congested urban areas across ten states. Known as integrated corridor management, or ICM, the grants will help selected cities or regions combine numerous information technologies and real-time travel information from highway, rail and transit operations. Such tools can help engineers make better decisions about congestion managemen
  • October 27, 2017
    Shailen Bhatt appointed ITS America President & CEO
    The Board of directors of the Intelligent Transportation Society of America has chosen Shailen Bhatt as president & chief executive officer. Bhatt joins ITS America with an extensive background in promoting and advocating for intelligent transportation and was most recently executive director of Colorado Department of Transportation. Bhatt also focused on deploying transportation technology, creating the RoadX program and making Colorado a national innovation leader.
  • April 16, 2013
    Don’t miss the Special Session on Wi-Fi Expansion and the Future of Connected Vehicles!
    As part of an effort by policymakers to make better use of the nation’s airwaves, Congress last year directed the National Telecommunications & Information Administration (NTIA) to examine the potential for spectrum sharing in the 5.4 GHz and 5.9 GHz bands, the latter of which was set aside by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in 1999 for the development of connected vehicle technology. On January 25, the NTIA issued an initial report expressing concern about the potential interference risks asso
  • January 19, 2012
    New technology and economics at ITS World Congress 2011
    ITS America prepares for the 18th World Congress on ITS and 2011 Annual Meeting, 16-20 October 2011, Orange County Convention Center, Orlando, Florida. In the final moments of the 2008 ITS World Congress in New York City, organisers and planning committee members quietly celebrated the conclusion of another extremely successful event for the ITS industry. In spite of the economic climate at the time, the 2008 World Congress was well attended by delegates from 66 countries and yielded impressive results than