A virtual section meeting was held on Wednesday, April 21st, 2021. There were 25 ITE members and 1 non-ITE participant in attendance.
President Kelly Akasaki welcomed everyone to the meeting and announced that the Committee Chair reports would be provided in the section meeting minutes. Reference the Committee Updates section below. International Director Cathy Leong introduced the candidates for ITE Western District Secretary-Treasurer, Justin Link (City Traffic Engineer/Principal Engineer for the City of Simi Valley, CA) and Douglas Smith (Senior Program Manager – Traffic Engineering and ITS for HDR). The Hawaii Section invited the candidates to share a little about themselves and why they were running for the position. For more information about the 2021 candidates please visit the Western ITE candidates page here.
Vice President Jasmine Teramae-Kaehuaea introduced Jon Nouchi, Deputy Director, City & County of Honolulu Department of Transportation Services, who focused on how the C&C of Honoluluʻs DTS responded to Oahu residents’ needs during the pandemic, and a past, current, and future look at mobility on our island. Jon discussed some of the issues they’ve overcome during the pandemic, provided updates on the Holo card being released in July, and shared a video from his first ride on the HART train. His presentation is available through the ITE Hawaii section website.
Lastly, Cathy announced that the Hawaii Section will be hosting a virtual Technical Solutions Event on Wednesday, May 19th, in place of the next meeting. This event is provided in collaboration with transportation industry partners including Carmanah, Econolite, Iteris, PedSafety, and Q-Free. The goal of these sessions is to provide attendees with innovative solutions for transportation issues and shared lessons learned from these projects. For this inaugural year, registration is free for ITE members and public agency members with a nominal fee for all others. A link to register is available on the event webpage, provided below, and will be emailed in the coming days.
ITE Quarterly Meeting Updates (March ’21)
The Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices for Streets and Highways (MUTCD) released a notice of proposed amendments in December 2020. The proposed changes are intended to update the technical provisions to reflect advances in technologies and operational practices, incorporate recent trends and innovations, and set the stage for automated driving systems as those continue to take shape. These proposed changes are being designated as the 11th edition of the MUTCD.
FHWA and US DOT are requesting comments on the NPA. Comments must be received on or before March 15th, 2021.
Committee Updates
Oahu Metropolitan Planning Organization (OMPO) – Committee Chair Robert Nehmad
The Oahu Regional Transportation Plan (ORTP)-2045 update process is underway, looking at transportation through 2045. The ORTP 2045’s theme is Ke Ala Imua, which roughly translates to The Path Forward. The ORTP 2045 will lay out our path forward for our transportation system for the future. Our future transportation system is one that will be multi-modal, equally supporting people who are walking, biking, using transit, and driving to get to their destination.
The following meetings have been held:
- Citizen Advisory Committee Meeting – April 7, 2021
- Technical Advisory Committee Meeting – April 9, 2021
The final meeting, where the Policy Board votes on the ORTP-2045 Plan approval, will be held on April 27, 2021 at 1:00PM via MS Teams.
Upcoming Events
May 19: ITE Hawaii Section Virtual Technical Solutions Event
June 23: ITE Hawaii June Section Meeting – Mark Spencer, Senior Principal, W-Trans and ITE Western District International Director
July 20-22, July 27-29 (Two weeks): 2021 Virtual ITE Joint International, Western, & Mountain Districts Annual Meeting
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