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2008 |
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National Rural ITS Conference 2008 Recap
The 2008 National Rural ITS Conference attracted almost 300 attendees - the highest turnout for this conference since it started nearly 10 years ago. The conference was held at the Hotel Captain Cook, September 3-5th. The big highlight being "Climate Change Impacts on Rural Transportation" started off with a opening presentation by Burr Stewart from the Port of Seattle. Mr. Stewart although delivering a bleak outlook on climate change impacts, gave an intriguing presentation with a little humor thrown in. Also intriguing were the Transit and Commercial Vehicle &Freight Mobility tracts. Many reverberated the need to provide these tracts every year. With gas prices rising and other economical impacts, transit technologies will be looked at as way to handle the increased use. And, you don't need to look far to see how ITS is cutting time and costs for motor carriers and Commercial Vehicle Enforcement officers. If you took the electronic screening tour to the Glenn Highway weigh scales, you know what I'm talking about. To find out about these and many other topics during NRITS, the conference presentations are posted at www.nritsconference.org Annual Membership Meeting
During NRITS 2008, ITS Alaska held its first Annual Membership Meeting with over 30 attendees. ITS America President Scott Belcher thanked the Chapter for holding its meeting and felt that the NRITS conference went very well. The ITS Alaska President, Jeff Ottesen ,gave the group an overview of the Highway Trust Fund crisis. ITS Alaska Vice President, Michael Lilly, discussed ways to improve Chapter marketing, such as having a presence at the water resources conference in May. ITS Alaska Secretary, Jill Sullivan, gave an overview of the Department's 511 Travel in the Know and the Department's desire to completely revamp the system. Members are encouraged to Take the Survey at the Departments 511 web page, 511.alaska.gov, to help them determine needs for the next generation 511. You want to learn more about these topics? See Meeting Minutes at the ITS Alaska website. Next Membership Meeting: Thursday, November 20th, 10:30 AM – 12:00 PM Membership
Benefits
Special Thanks!
ITS Training Opportunity Who wouldn't want to learn about ITS topics without paying a fee and without having to leave your workstation? Not me, I often participate in the T3 Webinars as a quick and easy way to keep me up-to-date on ITS projects, issues and ideas. The U.S. DOT Research & Innovative Technology Administration (RITA) offers the Talking Technology and Tranportation webinars (T3 Webinars). T3 Webinars are interactive net conferences in which an ITS subject matter expert presents material supported by an accompanying PowerPoint slide presentation or webtour. Typically, the webinars last one hour and are followed by 30 minutes of question and anwers. Want to learn more? T3 Webinars Contact Us Questions or Comments: email jill.sullivan@alaska.gov or call (907) 465-8592 ITS Alaska |
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