The 81st Annual AAAE Conference and Exposition is scheduled for June 14-17, 2009, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  This historic city will be our host for the best airport industry conference around.

The AAAE annual conference always attracts more than 2,500 airport and aviation professionals, including airport executives; airport and aviation suppliers and vendors; airline personnel, and representatives from FAA, TSA and DHS. Four days of discussions revolving around the current state of affairs of the airport industry will be supplemented by an exhibit hall with over 250 vendors ready to assist the industry in meeting its challenges with their products and services.  Don’t miss this once-a-year opportunity to meet with airport colleagues from around the country!

PRE-REGISTRATION DEADLINE

(Source: Transportation Research Board)

TRB will conduct a web briefing or “Webinar” on Tuesday, June 30, from 2:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. EDT that will explore the fundamentals of climate change with Dr. Steven Davis-Mendelow. 

Dr. Steven Davis-Mendelow, a spokesperson for The Climate Project, will provide an engaging presentation about the fundamentals of climate change to help the transportation community better plan policy and projects.  Mr. William Malley, partner at the law firm of Perkins Coie LLP, will provide comments after Dr. Davis-Mendelow’s presentation.  This webinar is based off of a 2009 Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting session. 

The Climate Project is an international non-profit founded by former Vice President Al Gore.  The mission of The Climate Project is to increase public awareness of the climate crisis at a grassroots level.  For more than a year, Dr. Davis-Mendelow has led discussions worldwide addressing the challenges of, and solutions to the climate crisis from individual, community and corporate perspectives.  Professionally, Dr. Davis-Mendelow is an aerospace expert whose career focuses on long-term market and environmental trend analysis and strategy. 

Mr. Malley represents public- and private-sector clients on a wide range of environmental issues, with a focus on environmental impact assessment for infrastructure projects.   He also serves as an advisor to AASHTO on legislation and policies related to climate change and transportation.  Dr. Julia Gamas, an Environmental Protection Specialist at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, will moderate the session. 

For more information on the Climate Project, visit:  http://www.theclimateproject.org/. 

This webinar is co-sponsored by the Transportation Research Board and the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. 

Registration:  There is no fee for TRB Sponsors, listed here: http://www.trb.org/directory/sponsors.asp. Others must pay $99 per site.   

For questions about using this software, including webinar audio or visual complications, please contact Reggie Gillum at rgillum@nas.edu or 202-334-2382.

On Friday, June 19, America 2050 will be co-hosting the next “Rebuilding and Renewing America” forum, focused on infrastructure strategies for the Southwest Megaregion, encompassing Southern California, the Las Vegas metropolitan area and Baja California.    The forum will aim to build support for a national infrastructure plan needed for America to respond to the big challenges of rapid population growth, our dependence on foreign oil, climate change, global competitiveness, and deteriorating infrastructure, and identify the major transportation, energy and water infrastructure priorities in the Southwest Megaregion that are issues of national significance. 

Likewise, we hope to find common ground among metropolitan areas in the Southwest Megaregion on programs and policies that would help regions and subregions meet their core infrastructure challenges.  The forum marks the first major convening of the west coast office of America 2050, housed at the USC Bedrosian Center. The forum aims to establish a network of business, civic, government and academic organizations through the America 2050 west coast office who will continue to work on building the Southwest Megaregion and pushing its collective agenda.    

The forum will take place at the Davidson Conference Center on the campus of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles on Friday, June 19 from 8:00am to 3:30pm. There is a fee of $25.00 to attend.  Register online here.

Minneapolis I-35 Bridge Collapse — A Major Emergency Incident: TSAG Case Studies Workshop & Webinar

Note: This workshop and webinar is a unique learning opportunity offered by the Transportation Safety Advancement Group (TSAG) and the U.S. DOT ITS Joint Program Office’s Talking Technology & Transportation (T3) webinars. The T3 Program is offered by the Joint Program Office’s ITS Professional Capacity Building Program. The workshop will be presented to both a live audience at the workshop location and to remote T3 webinar participants. T3 participants are invited to submit written questions before the webinar as well as during workshop question and answer periods.

Webinar participants may attend remotely for any portion of the 3.5 hour workshop/webinar. An audio of the event’s proceedings, synchronized with its presentations, will be available in the T3 Webinar archives approximately 4 weeks after the workshop.

Background

The Transportation Safety Advancement Group (TSAG) is facilitated and administered by the Intelligent Transportation Society of America (ITS America) to provide input to the US Department of Transportation (US DOT), ITS Joint Program Office’ Public Safety mission. TSAG advises the US DOT on the development and deployment ITS technologies that optimize travel mobility, safety / security, economy and environmental quality. Through its broad membership comprised of transportation and public safety professionals, TSAG initiates programs that promote inter-disciplinary, inter-agency and inter-jurisdictional coordination and cooperation, and that promote partnerships for advancing surface transportation services technologies. TSAG operates through resources provided by the US Department of Transportation and serves its program mission in compliance with US DOT regulations, policies and specified contract provisions.

I-35 Bridge Collapse Case Studies Workshop & Webinar Overview

Within a workshop setting, TSAG members and other public safety professionals review actual public safety related events or incidents for the purpose of identifying management strategies and technology-based applications and corresponding successes, failures, and lessons-learned. The June 3, 2009 Workshop will review the 2007 I-35 (MN) Bridge Collapse.

On August 1, 2007, the Interstate 35W Bridge collapsed into the Mississippi River during rush hour in the City of Minneapolis. The 1,907-foot bridge fell into the Mississippi River and onto roadways below. The span was packed with rush hour traffic, and dozens of vehicles fell with the bridge leaving scores of dazed commuters scrambling for their lives.

Case Studies Workshop presenters walk the audience through the tragic events of the day, focusing on 9-1-1 operations, Police, Fire, and EMS response, as well as the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) activation and management. Presenters will share lessons learned and highlight the performance of the Minneapolis 911 Center, of local emergency responders and of operations strategies and technologies at the time of and responding to the incident.

Target Audience

Workshop participants include TSAG members and guests. Webinar target audience includes other state and local public safety interests, including public safety managers and transportation operations, emergency communications, and emergency public safety practitioners.

TSAG Case Study Workshop Concept and Objectives

The TSAG Case Studies Workshop concept targets case-studies of actual incidents or events associated with each of the eight (8) TSAG interest-community teams. Communities of Interest include: Transportation Operations, Law Enforcement, Fire and Safety, Academic & Research, Technology and Telematics, Emergency Communications, Emergency Medical Services, and Emergency Management. Workshop objectives revolve around the “technologies for public safety” TSAG mission.

Through reviews of actual recent events, incidents, and first-responder experiences, Case Studies Workshops facilitate after-event discussions by multi-discipline and multi-agency professionals for the purpose of:

• Clarifying actual circumstances of the event / incident
• Discussing established response protocols and procedures
• Reviewing public safety technology applications
• Identifying unique management and response circumstances and challenges
• Reviewing successes, failures, and lessons-leaned

Learning Objectives

The broad learning objectives of the TSAG Case Studies Workshop series include:

• Identify transportation-safety technologies and their real-time applications to actual incident identification, response and management
• Identify inter-agency and inter-discipline coordination successes and failures
• Identify technology successes, failures, and lessons-learned

Workshop/Webinar Agenda

2:00 PM ET — Opening / Webinar Ground Rules (US DOT, Volpe Center)

2:10 PM — Welcome / Introduction of Moderator (Linda Dodge)

2:15 PM — Workshop / Overview / Objectives (Moderator, Ray Fisher)

2:30 PM

• A. I-35 Bridge — The Setting
• B. Key Players / Key Interagency Coordination Protocols
• C. Key Public Safety Technology Applications

Q & A Session #1
3:30 PM

• D. The Event — Circumstances and Public Safety Actions

Q & A Session #2
4:30 PM

• E. Successes, Failures & Lessons Learned

5:00 PM

Q & A Session #3

• F. Open Discussion

5:30 PM

• G. End / Closing Remarks

Please join us for the upcoming Talking Technology and Transportation (T3) Webinar:  

Next Generation 9-1-1 (NG 9-1-1) Summit for Large Cities

Description

Advances in telecommunications mobility and convergence have put the nation’s 9-1-1 emergency call system at a crossroads. The growing market penetration of both cellular and Voice-over-Internet-Protocol (VoIP) telephony, and the increasingly mobile world they reflect, has underscored the limitations of the current 9-1-1 infrastructure. Today’s 9-1-1 system, based on decades-old technology, cannot handle the text, data, images, and video that are increasingly common in personal communications and critical to future transportation safety and mobility advances.

There is consensus within the 9-1-1 community on the need for a new, more capable system surrounding emergency call delivery and response (ultimately a system of systems). There is general agreement on the need to capitalize on advances in information and communications technologies, and develop systems that will enable:

• Quicker and more accurate information delivery to responders;
• Better and more useful forms of information (real-time text, images, video, and other data);
• More flexible, secure and robust Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) operations; and
• Lower public capital and operating costs for emergency communication services.

The US DOT’s Next Generation 9-1-1 (NG 9-1-1) Initiative has helped define and document a vision for the future of 9-1-1. The NG 9-1-1 Initiative is a research and development project to define the system architecture and develop a transition plan that considers responsibilities, costs, schedule and benefits for deploying IP-based emergency services across the nation.

USDOT views the NG 9-1-1 project as a transition enabler, to assist the public in making a 9-1-1 call from any wired, wireless, or IP-based device, and allow the emergency responders to take advantage of enhanced call delivery, multimedia data and advanced call transfer capabilities. To accomplish these goals, the ideas and needs of both public and private 9-1-1 stakeholders have been incorporated.

This webinar will provide a briefing on the status of the NG 9-1-1 Initiative and other development efforts and describe the transition to the National E-911 Implementation Coordination Office that is currently underway.

Audience

This summit targets 9-1-1 stakeholders, public safety communications professionals and other interested parties in the future planning of the nation’s emergency call centers.

Learning Outcomes

• What is NG 9-1-1?
• What is the current status of NG 9-1-1 implementation?
• What steps is USDOT taking toward developing the future of 9-1-1?
• What information about NG 9-1-1 is available?

Federal Hosts:

Linda Dodge and Laurie Flaherty, NG 9-1-1 Co-Program Managers, US DOT

Linda Dodge

Linda Dodge has overall 30 years in public safety (firefighter, paramedic, heavy rescue) in the field and administration. Linda’s experience includes instructing at the Maryland Fire Rescue Institute (MFRI), University of MD; a director of a police and correctional officer academy, for the Maryland Dept. of Public Safety – Police and Corrections; 12 years as executive director Colorado Trauma Institute, Denver, CO and the last 10 years at the DOT ~6 of the10 years as regional program manager NHTSA Region 8, in Lakewood and 4 years ITS JPO, FHWA, in DC public safety program manager (NG 9-1-1, WE 9-1-1, Emergency Transportation Operations, etc.)

Laurie Flaherty

Laurie Flaherty is an emergency nurse, who has more than 20 years of clinical experience. She received her bachelor’s degree in nursing at Marquette University, and has a master’s degree in emergency and trauma nursing from the University of California, San Francisco.

Laurie is a Program Analyst in the Office of EMS at NHTSA and focuses on issues related to the application of technology in Emergency Medical Services and 9-1-1 services. She currently co-manages the Next Generation 9-1-1 Initiative for the Office of EMS, and is also directly involved in establishing and staffing the National 9-1-1 Office.

Presenters:

John Chiaramonte, Booz Allen Hamilton

John Chiaramonte, an Associate at Booz Allen Hamilton, is the deputy program manager leading the NG 9-1-1 Initiative for the US DOT. In 2008, he successfully managed a team of software developers and technical and functional experts that implemented a proof of concept demonstration.

Prior to joining Booz Allen, John was a Senior Project Manager delivering public safety applications to 9-1-1 centers. He has been involved with public safety IT projects both as the end-user and a vendor and throughout the entire implementation process. He is a subject matter expert on Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) and 9-1-1 systems and operations and is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP).

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Reference in this webinar to any specific commercial products, processes, or services, or the use of any trade, firm or corporation name is for the information and convenience of the public, and does not constitute endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by U.S. Department of Transportation.Please forward this announcement to colleagues who may be interested in attending this webinar.

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• T3 Webinars are brought to you by the ITS Professional Capacity Building, a program of the U.S. DOT’s ITS Program.  Visit the ITS PCB website for more information about T3 webinars and other ITS learning opportunities:  http://www.pcb.its.dot.gov/default.asp
• Visit the T3 archives to view presentations and to listen to audio transcripts from previous T3 webinars:  http://www.pcb.its.dot.gov/res_t3_archive.asp
• Cut and paste links into your web browser if they fail to open the webpage.

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 Important Information for Federal T3 Webinar Participants

Federal Desktop Core Configuration (FDCC) requirements are currently being implemented in federal agencies.  Please contact your IT staff to determine if these requirements affect your ability to connect to T3 webinars via Microsoft Live Meeting from your federal PC or laptop.  This link contains information about Live Meeting and can be provided to your IT staff for further reference:  http://www.pcb.its.dot.gov/t3/info_requirements.asp

Surface Transportation and Merchant Marine Infrastructure, Safety, and Security

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

02:30 PM

SR – 253

The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation announces the following Surface Transportation and Merchant Marine Infrastructure, Safety, and Security Subcommittee hearing on The Future of National Surface Transportation Policy.

 

Add To My Calendar (vCal)

 

 

 Witnesses

Opening Remarks

Panel 1

The Honorable Ray LaHood 

Secretary 

Department of Transportation

Panel 2

Anne P. Canby 

President 

Surface Transportation Policy Partnership

James Corless 

Campaign Director 

Transportation for America

Steve Heminger 

Executive Director 

Metropolitan Transportation Commission

Ned S. Holmes 

Texas Transportation Commissioner and Chairman 

Transportation Transformation Group

Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) Program Strategic Planning Workshop

 May 6, 2009

Location:  Queen Anne Room @ Sheraton 1400 Sixth Avenue Seattle, WA 98101

Time:  8:30 am – 12:00 pm

 The Federal Transit Administration’s Office of Mobility Innovation is holding a workshop at the APTA Annual Bus and Paratransit Conference in Seattle, Washington, to engage stakeholders in their strategic planning effort.

The goal of the workshop is to elicit discussion on the vision and direction for transit ITS research for the next five years and beyond.  Specifically, FTA seeks input and insights into a proposed set of goals and objectives.  FTA is also interested in exploring new opportunities for research and development, technology transfer, and evaluation of next generation transit ITS technologies.  

The workshop is designed to present the results-to-date of the strategic planning effort and to invite discussion from the public.  Participants will be engaged in question/answer sessions with break-out session discussions.  All feedback will be captured and incorporated into FTA’s ITS strategic planning effort.  Using this input, the FTA’s Office of Mobility Innovation expects to program a robust agenda for research and deployment assistance that reflects the current and future needs of the transit industry. 

If attending, please RSVP to: Suzanne.Sloan@dot.gov.  A similar workshop will take place at the APTA Rail Conference in Chicago, Illinois (June 14-17, 2009).  Location:  Chicago Hilton / TBD

EMBASSY OF  SWITZERLAND INVITES YOU TO A BIKE-TO-WORK WEEK FORUM & RECEPTION

Building a Bicycle-Friendly World

As a completely emission-free form of transportation, bicycling is one of the simplest ways to reduce our carbon footprint and make our communities more livable. Yet, to make bicycling feasible requires specific infrastructure, financing, and a commitment of political and public will. Please join Swiss and American experts from government and the private sector to discuss strategies for making our cities and nations more bicycle friendly. Panel presentation will  be followed by audience Q & A and discussion:

When:        

Wednesday, May 13, 2009, 

4:30 p.m. (Doors Open/Bicycling Exhibit)

5:00- 6:30 p.m.(Expert Panel & Discussion)

Reception to follow at Ambassador’s residence

Who:          

Elmar Ledergerber-Mayor of Zurich, Switzerland

Consistently voted “Word’s Most Liveable City,” Zurich has a proactive bicycle plan overseen by Ledergerber, its “Bicycling Mayor.”

Tommy Wells-Councilmember, Washington, D.C.

A long-time advocate of green transportation, Mr. Wells sits on D.C.’s committees on Public Works & Transportation and Government Operations & The Environment

Michelle Kranz-Manager, Media Relations, Switzerland Tourism

Switzerland Tourism is a partner in Switzerland’s national network of bicycle trails, created by a unique public-private cooperation.

Thomas Gotshi, Ph.D.-Director of Research, Rails-To-Trails Conservancy

Dr. Gotschi authored the report “Active Transportation for America,” which quantifies the nationwide benefits from walking and bicycling.

Michael Jackson, (Moderator)-Director, Bicycle/ Pedestrian Access Committee

Office of Planning and Capital Programming, MDOT

Congressman Earl Blumenauer-(D, OR)

Congressman Blumenauer was instrumental in forming the Congressional Task Force on Livable Communities and the bipartisan Bicycle Caucus.

Where:      

Embassy of Switzerland

2900 Cathedral Avenue, N.W.

Washington, D.C. 20008

The forum is free and open to the public; reservations required at was.events@eda.admin.ch.

Ride Your Bike and Receive a Special Gift!

For more information, please visit the Embassy of Switzerland’s website. 

Also join us for Bike-To-Work Day, Friday, May 15, 2009   Join Switzerland at the Bike-to-Work Day celebration on Freedom Plaza at 9 a.m. when we will dedicate our gift of 10 artistic bicycle racks to the city of Washington, D.C.                           Bicycle Racks by Swiss-American Artist Annina Luck

 These events are produced by the Embassy of Switzerland in Washington, D.C. as part of the U.S.-wide program ThinkSwiss-Brainstorm the Future. As a leading country in science, research and technology, Switzerland is working with its American counterparts to address key global topics like public transportation, to better understand trends and arrive at solutions.

The ThinkSwiss program is produced under the auspices of the Swiss Confederation.

For further information, visit the website www.thinkswiss.org or contact: 

Suzanne Zweizig 

Communications Manager

Embassy of Switzerland

2900 Cathedral Ave. NW, Washington, D.C. 20008

Tel +1 (202) 745-7920

Suzanne.Zweizig@eda.admin.ch

 
Co-Sponsors:
      

The IEEE Intelligent Transportation Systems Society (ITSS) is sponsoring its 12th international conference on basic research and applications of leading advances in communications, computer, control, and electronics technologies related to Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS).  The list of program topics is given below.  See the Call for Papers for further details.