Author: nacite

UPDATE: Deadline for nominations extended to November 21.

At the NACITE Year-end Social/AGM (scheduled to be held in late November / early December 2020), there will be a total of three annual awards presented during the awards ceremony:

Outstanding Professional｜The purpose of this award is to recognize a person who has shown initiative and dedication in their work through technical excellence, leadership, innovation and creativity in delivering lasting results. This person also exemplifies professional virtues that go beyond technical excellence, blending moral and intellectual qualities to achieve the public good. This award focuses on their professional contribution in the last two to three years. Judging criteria includes:

• Scope of work / project experience (20 points)
• Demonstrated impact from individual’s involvement (30 points)
• Leadership skills (30 points)
• Contribution to the industry and profession (20 points)

Self-nominations will not be accepted. 

NextGen Star (35 or under)｜NACITE’s NextGen Star has been created to highlight the next generation and new faces of the transportation profession. It is designed to recognize a person under the age of 35 who has demonstrated technical excellence, growing leadership skills, and has contributed to the growth of the ITE community and/or the transportation engineering and planning profession. 

A young professional is defined as being 35 years of age or younger on December 31, 2020 (please provide age on nomination form). Judging criteria includes:

• Scope of work / project experience (20 points)
• Demonstrated impact from individual’s involvement (30 points)
• Leadership skills (30 points)
• Contribution to the industry and profession (20 points)

Self-nominations will not be accepted. 

Transportation Project of the Year｜The purpose of this award is to recognize technical excellence in the field of transportation engineering, design, traffic operations, safety and planning and the project’s benefits to the community and in advancing the industry.  Nominated projects may include roadway design projects, traffic operation programs, transportation studies, planning / strategy documents and more. Nominated projects must be located within NACITE’s section boundaries (in Alberta, north of Red Deer). 

The selected projects must be substantially implemented or completed in the current calendar year. Judging criteria includes:

• Application of innovative ideas (30 points)
• Exhibits advancement of the industry* (30 points)
• Benefits to the community (30 points)
• Quality of Submission (10 points)

Nomination Procedures

• Complete the nomination by using the form below. 
• A separate nomination form must be used for each nominee or project. 
• Up to two pages of supporting documentation attached to the completed nomination forms will be accepted. 
• There is no limit to the number of nominations that can be submitted by a member. 
• All nominations should be submitted to the NACITE Past President (Dallas Karhut) by email: contact@nacite.org
• Completed nomination forms should be submitted in PDF format. Please consider large file sizes sent via email may not go through. 
• Nominations must be received no later than Saturday, November 14, 2020. Deadline Extended to November 21.
  

All nominations will be forwarded to the NACITE Award Committee for selection. The Awards Committee is composed of a group of Past Presidents, with the Immediate Past President serving as Committee Chair. If there are insufficient nominations or if no candidates are considered suitable in any particular award, the Awards Committee may decide to not award for that year.

The award recipients will be notified and are encouraged to attend the Year-end Social/AGM to accept their awards. Each award winner will receive a trophy or plaque, and be recognized in NACITE communications with the membership (ie. newsletter and year-end report). Please note that the Year-end Social/AGM will be held in a virtual format for 2020. If you have any questions, please contact Dallas Karhut, Immediate Past President, at contact@nacite.org.

Please click this link to download the application form.

* Projects will be judged based on how they advance ITE’s Policies for Planning and Design, Operations, Safety and Sustainability. The full list of policies can be found in the ITE Policies, Adopted April 9, 2020 on the ITE website.

Thanks to everyone who filled out the Membership Survey over the summer. Your feedback will help us plan events over the next year. All of our events will remain online for the foreseeable future. Here is a summary of the responses we received.

There was a wide variety of responses to our questions on webinar and training topics with no clear trend. We’ve summarized both questions in a word cloud.

Webinar Topics

We intend to continue hosting webinars as the Membership Survey indicated there continues to be interest in online events. As webinars are not being sponsored we are open to a variety of transportation related topics. Please let us know if there is something you’d like to share with the local transportation community.

We will reevaluate the possibility of hosting in-person events in 2021 depending on the health situation in Alberta.

When: October 7, 2020 @ 12:00 PM (MDT)
Where: Online
Cost: Free

In virtually every Canadian municipality, it goes without question that new homes and businesses must provide off-street parking spaces for customers and residents. These minimum parking requirements have a significant impact on the form and function of our communities, and are of increasingly questionable value. On June 23, 2020, Edmonton City Council voted to remove minimum parking requirements from Edmonton’s Zoning Bylaw. Removing parking minimums doesn’t necessarily mean that no parking will be provided. Rather, the amount of parking provided is left to the developers, businesses and homeowners — those who best understand their parking needs.  

This presentation details Edmonton’s journey to eliminating parking minimums city-wide, including the public consultation and technical studies we undertook to understand why open option parking is essential to building a better city.

About the Speakers

Anne Stevenson (RPP) has worked in urban design and planning for the past 15 years, both in Canada and abroad. She is passionate about building more equitable cities that serve all residents. Following 7 years at the City of Edmonton, Anne now works in affordable housing with the Right at Home Housing Society.

James Veltkamp (RPP, MCIP) has over 10 years experience working as a Professional Planner in public service. James has a professional interest in improving the effectiveness of local government to meet its long term strategic goals. His current role with the City of Edmonton specializes in Zoning Bylaw text amendments, and he spent the last six years building support for what became the comprehensive parking review, and Charter Bylaw 19275.

Dallas Karhut (P. Eng.) is a Transportation Engineer with a keen interest in how the analysis and design of our transportation systems evolve to better adapt to the needs of people who walk, bike, ride transit and drive. His current role with the City of Edmonton focuses on developing city-wide transportation plans and policies, and he also has experience in site and neighbourhood-level traffic and parking planning.

 

When: June 25, 2020 @ 12:00 PM
Where: Online
Cost: Free

Please join us for our final webinar before the summer. The City of Edmonton has made many changes in response to Covid-19. We’ll have the opportunity to hear from City staff about the pandemic’s impact on travel patterns in the City, how the City has responded, and next steps. Pre-registration is required for the webinar. We will send a link to all registrants one day before the webinar.

Darryl Mullen is the General Supervisor of the Traffic Control unit responsible for temporary traffic control services, traffic engineering and traffic field operations. Darryl will provide an overview of the initiatives the City of Edmonton has supported related to traffic operations in addressing COVID-19 related impacts.

Carrie Hotton-MacDonald (Director, Business Integration & Workforce Development) and Anthony Ng (Senior Engineer, Service Planning) from ETS will discuss recent changes to transit service and ridership patterns since the start of COVID and what service recovery could look like over the next year.

Howaida Hassan is a General Supervisor of Urban Growth with the City of Edmonton. Most recently she was the General Supervisor of Transportation for the City Plan – a plan that identifies the choices that need to be made to be a healthy, urban and climate resilient city of two million. Howaida will speak to how the City Plan can be a tool for post-Covid recovery, considerations for equity, urban places and mobility, and the relevance of City Plan’s 15 minute district in resilience.

 

May 13, 2020 NACITE Luncheon Webinar: 12:00

We’ve taken our May luncheon online due to the current restrictions. Please join NACITE and our May sponsor, WSP, on May 13 for our first ever webinar.

Mobility has an ever-increasing importance in the Edmonton Metropolitan Region and is shaping its citizens access to education, employment, and leisure activities. With over 8 studies investigating integrated transit services within the region over the past 10 years, a unique opportunity arose from 13 municipalities in the Capital Region joining forces to move forward in the creation of a Regional Transit Services Commission (RTSC). In 2019, WSP was selected in partnership with EY and Anderson Consulting to examine the business case for a Regional Transit Commission. Accelerating Transit in the Edmonton Metropolitan Region: Building a Regional Transit Services Commission, outlines a plan for starting up integrated transit services. The participating municipalities will move forward with an application to the Government of Alberta seeking approval to legally form the commission. Diana, Carolyn and Anika from WSP will provide a high-level overview of the project, the draft Transit Services Guidelines document and conceptual Transit Service Delivery for testing in the business case.

Pre-registration is required for the webinar. Please click the below button for registration.

About the Speaker

Carolyn Sherstone is WSP’s new Edmonton Transportation Planning lead. Carolyn is a professional engineer and professional planner with more than 10 years experience in Transportation Planning and Engineering in the Edmonton region. Her diverse experience ranges from developing traffic models to working with clients on multimodal infrastructure assessments, including walking, cycling and transit planning. A life long resident of the Edmonton region, Carolyn is proud to have worked on plans that consider the safety and network accessibility for people of all ages and abilities in various local municipalities and looks forward to bringing that experience to the WSP team in the future. 

Anika Muhammad recently joined WSP’s Edmonton office as a Transportation Planning Engineer. Prior to working at WSP, Anika worked for the City of Edmonton for 8 years on long-term strategic transportation planning initiatives. Anika has in-depth experience working with Complete Streets, Strategic Transportation Planning, Multimodal Network Planning, Development Planning, and Advisory Services. Anika uses her daily experiences as an active modes and transit user in her Transportation Planning practice and is passionate about creating functional and enjoyable mobility experiences for people of all ages and abilities.

Diana is an EIT with WSP’s Planning & Advisory group and primarily focuses on providing sustainable mobility solutions. Diana has worked on a variety transportation projects across Canada and is passionate about encouraging sustainable transportation through policy, planning, and implementation to improve quality of life and create truly livable cities. Diana lives car-free in Calgary and enjoys exploring international cities and their transportation systems.

The April 14 ITE/APPI joint luncheon has been cancelled due to the global coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

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April 14, 2020 NACITE Luncheon: Addressing Today’s Community Health and Wellbeing Priorities: Opportunities for Transportation

 

Non-communicable diseases such as heart disease and strokes, diabetes, cancers and mental health conditions are now the leading causes of mortality and morbidity, and healthcare costs, across provinces in Canada.  Our populations are also aging.  The scientific evidence is growing about the role that community and street designs play in impacting people’s ability to be regularly active through active transportation like walking, cycling and transit use, and in people’s ability to access healthy foods and beverages and active recreation opportunities which also support healthier dietary behaviours and physical activity.  Community and street designs supportive of active transportation modes have also been shown to be associated with decreased social isolation, sense of stress and crime, and with increased economic benefits such as retail sales and job creation.  This presentation will discuss these issues and case studies illustrating global best practices and the opportunities for collaboration between transportation and health professionals.

About the Speaker

Dr. Karen Lee, MD, MHSc, FRCPC is author of the new book Fit Cities.  She is an Associate Professor of Preventive Medicine in the Dept of Medicine at the University of Alberta. Dr. Lee recently returned to Canada from a decade and a half away in the U.S., undertaking work first for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the Epidemic Intelligence Service and the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention, followed by her position for nearly 9 years in the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene as Inaugural Director of Healthy Built Environments and Deputy to the Assistant Commissioner of Chronic Disease Prevention and Control during Mayor Bloomberg’s administration. She has acted as Special Advisor to multiple World Health Organization regional offices on intersectoral collaboration issues to address the social and environmental determinants of health, and to improve health equity.  Dr. Lee was awarded the Canadian Institute of Planners President’s Award in 2017.  More information on her work and available free resources can also be found at www.drkarenlee.com .

March 4, 2020 NACITE Luncheon

This month’s luncheon is sponsored by Bunt & Associates:

In January of 2020 Bunt & Associates, in partnership with Mobycon, prepared an Active Transportation Strategy for the Town of Stony Plain, Alberta.  The Active Transportation Strategy is intended to establish the vision and direction to facilitate the implementation of active transportation strategies for the community.

Through a review of Canadian and international active transportation infrastructure best practice and feedback from the Community using Thoughtexchange, an online engagement tool, 44 specific prioritized infrastructure projects were identified for consideration.  These specific initiatives were also supported through the identification of initiatives to promote and enable active transportation in the Community.  The presentation will highlight the key findings from the project, including existing barriers to active transportation within Stony Plain, how the use of Thoughtexchange contributed to the process, and the five catalyst projects that were identified to kick start the implementation of the strategy.

About the Speaker

Jason Potter is an Associate from Bunt’s Victoria office and was the Project Manager and Lead Transportation Planner on the project.  Over the past 15 years, Jason has expanded his knowledge of pedestrian, cyclist and vehicle interface and multi-modal intersection design. Jason is a cycling optimist. Admittedly, he sometimes forgets to wear his helmet but he always yields to pedestrians and believes that someday all transportation modes will flow in harmony.

DUE TO A CONFLICT WE HAVE RESCHEDULED THE TOUR TO MARCH 12.

Join NACITE for a Winter Bike “At Lunch” Day on March 12, 2020! Don’t have a winter ready bike? NACITE has rented 15 Fat Tire Bikes for us to use so you have the option to rent or bring your own. This winter cycling tour will depart from Edmonton Tower, take you on a 6.0 km journey through Downtown, and bring you right back to Edmonton Tower. Not sure or nervous about winter cycling? This tour is the perfect opportunity to try it out with fellow NACITE friends, no one will be left behind. Ian Hosler and Julie Cournoyer from the City of Edmonton will lead us through navigating Edmonton’s bicycle infrastructure in the winter! So let’s learn together and try out winter cycling!Event details:

• Register before Tuesday March 10 at 5 pm.
• Choose if you would like to rent a fat tire bike or bring your own when you register.
• Cost: $20 if you are renting a bike, free if you bring your own bike.
• Event Date: March 12, 2020 from 11:30 am to about 1:00 pm.
• What to wear: Good question! Layers, layers, layers! Depending on the weather that day, you may want to consider snow pants and something warm to cover your face and neck (neck tube/balaclava). Some of us like wear ski goggles too! Warm mittens or gloves and warm socks. A helmet is mandatory for this tour.
• Where to meet: We will meet Edmonton Tower lobby at 11:30 am and depart from the parkade together at 11:50 am.
• The tour will take approximately 1 hour, getting us back to Edmonton Tower around 1:00 pm.

Please email contact@nacite.org or alefebvre@bunteng.com if you have any questions about the event!

 

Feb 5, 2020 NACITE Luncheon

This month’s luncheon is sponsored by DIALOG / Al-Terra Joint Venture:

Japer Avenue is Edmonton’s signature main street. The Jasper Avenue New Vision is a major catalyst project identified in the capital city Downtown Plan and calls for the avenue to feature a high quality pedestrian experience including, a narrowed roadway, wider sidewalks, tree planting, and refined streetscape elements.

Reconstructing Jasper Avenue and redefining its look and feel, while also rehabilitating and working around existing underground structures such as pedways, convention centres, and LRT stations, doesn’t come without challenges. The project team had to get creative, be collaborative, and flexible to handle all the “curve balls” that come with working in the downtown core of Alberta’s capital city.

About the Speaker

Dwayne Andrews is an engineering technologist at Al-Terra Engineering Ltd., with over 10 years experience in roadway design, from concept to construction and everything in between. Working with both public and private sector clients, Dwayne has developed expertise in dealing with retrofit conditions on arterial roadways and neighbourhood rehabilitation. Outside of work, he enjoys travelling with his wife and two children, participating in sports, and volunteers in the community with the Boys and Girls Club of Strathcona County.

Dec 4, 2019 NACITE Luncheon

This month’s luncheon is sponsored by McElhanney:

Calgary’s Plus 15 structure became operational in the early 1970’s and has expanded to include eighty-three structures covering over 18 km and is one of North America’s most extensive pedestrian skywalk systems. However, there was never a system-wide Plus 15 network plan to identify specific bridge locations or where tie-ins needed to occur. The existing Plus 15 network is meant to serve multiple objectives, including decreasing pedestrian/vehicle conflicts, providing a climate controlled pedestrian space, improving access to downtown amenities, and encouraging further development in the downtown.

The objective of the network study was to create a network plan that improves the current Plus 15 network and develop ways to expand and enhance the network. The plan included extensive stakeholder engagement and developed recommendations on missing links, hours of operation, boundary expansion, accessibility, placemaking opportunities and wayfinding.

About the Speaker

Irini Akhnoukh is a Senior Transportation Engineer at McElhanney with fourteen years of experience in the public and private sectors managing and leading large complex transportation planning projects, scoping and reviewing transportation impact assessments, implementing Complete Streets, organizing and facilitating collaborative community and public engagement events.

She’s been heavily involved in ITE for 15 years in a multiple array of roles and is currently the chair of the CITE Technical Liaison Committee. In her free time, she loves travelling and has made it to 33 countries in 5 continents.