Skip to main content

Local DOTs hold court

The heads of the Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia departments of transportation met with a group of technology and transportation professionals at the ITS America annual meeting in National Harbor to discuss local challenges and up-coming projects in the area.
May 21, 2012 Read time: 1 min
Putting heads together: Terry Bellamy, Director of DDOT, Beverley Swain-Staley, Secretary Maryland DOT and Sean Connaughton, Virginia DOT Secretary of Transportation who partcipated at the transportation leaders breakfast.
The heads of the Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia departments of transportation met with a group of technology and transportation professionals at the 560 ITS America annual meeting in National Harbor to discuss local challenges and up-coming projects in the area.

Citing a need to coordinate their state’s transportation priorities to meet the needs of D.C. motorists, the officials called on the industry to continue the integration push and create solutions that will help them manage traffic across state borders.

“We need to be ready for the next century, and we cannot build our way out. We have to look at technology to pave the way,” said Director of the 2134 District Department of Transportation Terry Bellamy.

Sean Connaughton, the Secretary of the 1747 Virginia Department of Transportation, went on to say that the industry is good at collecting traffic data and disseminating that information to drivers, but more work needs to be done to turn traffic information into suggested courses of action.

The discussion was moderated by Mort Downey, a senior advisor with 4983 Parsons Brinckerhoff, and sponsored by 81 Kapsch.

Related Content

  • Smart technology keeps infrastructure operating safely
    August 30, 2013
    US Departments of Transportation (DOTs) are using smart technology to warn civil engineers when something is wrong with the infrastructure, says the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Association (AASHTO). Sensors installed on bridges, in roadways, and on maintenance vehicles are communicating real-time performance and weather data, allowing engineers to solve problems before they occur. "Most people look at a road or a bridge and never realise the technology that today's modern tra
  • Cross-border enforcement close to becoming a reality
    February 2, 2012
    TISPOL Director Ad Hellemons offers the organisation's perspective on the issue of cross-border enforcement of traffic penalties, the progress that has been made and the potential hurdles yet to be overcome
  • Oregon tests new mileage-base charging scheme
    August 5, 2013
    Jack Opiola from D’Artagnan Consulting LLP explains Oregon’s latest moves which mandated a trial of mileage-based road use charging. In 1919, Oregon made the 20th century’s most significant contribution to transportation funding policy, becoming the first state in America to implement a gas tax to pay for roads. This summer Oregon’s Legislature passed, and Governor John Kitzhaber signed into law, Senate Bill 810 which requires a distance-based road usage charge for 5,000 volunteer vehicles by 1 July 2015. T
  • Transport can build legacy of hope
    November 30, 2020
    Racial and social injustice has come to the fore this year. Samuel Johnson, IBTTA president and Transportation Corridor Agencies CEO, explains what the industry can do to build ‘a legacy of hope and progress’