As the pace of our industry increases, advanced software tools can help us complete more complex projects. It’s therefore important to stay up to date on the latest theories, methodologies and software applications. When planning and designing mobility solutions—whether it’s a new traffic signal, highway, subdivision, bridge, work zone or other piece of infrastructure—having the right tool can make all the difference.
Over the past two decades, my colleagues and I have had the pleasure of providing hands-on training for over 1,000 local, state and federal transportation professionals. Topics have ranged from traffic data collection, operations analysis, and safety audits, to travel forecasting, Intelligent Transportation Systems, and traffic signal timing.
Sharing our knowledge on these new tools and applications is about much more than meeting a continuing education requirement. Working together through example calculations of real-world projects creates a healthy dialogue, allowing us to find the right analysis approach.
Many of our clients serve in a primarily review capacity and are not always in a hands-on design role. For public sector transportation engineers, staying up to date on the latest software and analysis tools can help them perform better project planning, design, and peer reviews, and therefore deliver better projects. Overall, this sharing of knowledge enhances day to day transportation system management in our communities.
Our team remains committed to providing capacity-building knowledge to the next generation of industry managers and decision makers. I look forward to seeing the next generation of the transportation team at Mead & Hunt step in to continue this process.
The future of transportation is moving more and more towards big data. The ability to share analytical and software skills is critical for the future of our industry. Through knowledge sharing, we are able to identify problems and develop tactical, real-world solutions that better our communities.