Ready to move more in May? Join the Go Gallatin Challenge, which kicks off on Monday, May 10! It’s a two-week competition among organizations across the Gallatin Valley and surrounding areas to replace drive-alone trips to and from work by biking, walking, riding the bus, teleworking, and carpooling.
Challenge participants
that log at least 3 trips a week will be eligible to win prizes from one of our
sponsors. Working from home? This year, getting outside on your wheels or
feet for exercise will also count towards points.
Join the GoGallatin MSU
Commuter Challenge this week
In October, WTI was awarded an Office of Outreach & Engagement Seed grant to begin a rebrand of the existing Bozeman Commuter Project. Four Montana State University students are working with WTI project lead Matt Madsen as a collaborative team to move the project forward (stay tuned to learn more about all the students!). The goal of the project was to create a more encompassing program, now rebranded as the Gallatin Commuter Project and GoGallatin. The existing BozemanCommute platform has become GoGallatin and provides all the same ride tracking, carpool options, transit schedules and other transportation demand management solutions.
To kick off the rebrand,
The Gallatin Commuter Project is sponsoring the GoGallatin MSU Campus
Commuter Challenge. This year’s challenge is open to all students and staff
at MSU and runs from April 5th – 11th. Join this
campus-wide event (and invite your friends), then start commuting this week via
biking, walking, taking the bus, carpooling, scootering, roller-blading, even
pogo-sticking!
How Does it Work? By tracking your commute trips, you can be in the running for gift cards to local businesses. Once registered, track your commute as an individual or part of a team by joining or creating a team of your MSU colleagues, peers, and/or community members. If you need help, send us an email at gallatincommute@montana.edu To see how your team is stacking up against other teams in a friendly competition, you can keep an eye of the leaderboard!
Rewards and incentives:
Every participant who logs 2 trips during the week will be entered into a
drawing for gift cards to various local restaurants and businesses! You can win
a gift card to one of these fine establishments:
Bangtail Bikes
Bridger Brewing
Columbo’s Pizza
Essy’s
International Coffee Traders
Registration Register on the Gallatin Commuter Project Platform at: https://bozemancommute.org/#/ to create an account, join a team, and log your commute trips! Faculty and Staff can register as part of the MSU Network; students can register as a part of the MSU Students Network. Want to join the WTI team? Follow this link to join: https://bozemancommute.org/s/western-transportation-wd. More information is also available on the MSU Events page.
Two WTI Road Ecology
Researchers will be the main presenters at a webinar on Tuesday, April 13,
at 11 am Mountain Time.
The National Center for Rural Road Safety (Rural Safety Center) is hosting a FREE, 1.5-hour online webinar on “Road Observation and Data System Project: Streamlining Animal-Vehicle Collision Data Collection.” This webinar will feature an overview of a wildlife-vehicle collision (WVC) data collection system called ROaDS (Roadkill Observation and Data System), a user-friendly tool to collect information on vehicular crashes with large-bodied wildlife for both motorist safety and conservation purposes.
WTI Road Ecologists Rob Ament and Matthew Bell will be the presenters for this webinar, which will be of interest to transportation practitioners, Federal land management agency (FLMA) transportation managers and planners, and wildlife conservation personnel. For more information, visit the event registration page.
The NAS Transportation Research Board continued its revamped Annual Meeting last week, holding virtual technical committee meetings on a wide range of research topics. In this “snapshot” of what the forums look like this year, can you spot some familiar WTI faces at a Transportation Needs of National Parks and Public Lands Committee event last week?
As a reminder, if you are attending the 2021 Annual Meeting, look for WTI researchers at the following events this week:
January 21 – Moving Research to Practice – Ahmed Al-Kaisy will
present on research to create a new method for screening low-volume roads.
(Workshop #1016)
January 22 – Rob Ament and Natalie Villwock-Witte will
facilitate a workshop on National Standards for Wildlife Vehicle Data
Collection (Workshop #1041)
January 22 – Ahmed Al-Kaisy will participate in a panel
discussion on new safety developments on low-volume roads (Workshop #1044)
Each January, the
National Academy of Sciences’ Transportation Research Board holds its Annual Meeting
in Washington, D.C., a week-long forum that brings together thousands of
transportation researchers and leaders from around the world. Due to COVID, this year’s committee meetings,
workshops, and other events will all be hosted virtually, but will be spread
over four weeks to facilitate broad participation.
WTI staff members continue their long tradition of leadership in TRB committees and other activities. During the first week of the Annual Meeting, which kicked off on January 6, highlights included:
On January 7, Jaime Sullivan was introduced as the Chair of the
newly formed Rural Transportation Issues Coordination Council at the Council’s
kick-off event
Also on January 7, Natalie Villwock-Witte presided over the Transportation
Needs of National Parks and Public Lands Committee, for which she serves as
Chair
Matt Ulberg participated in the Low Volume Roads Committee on January 7
Andrea Hamre serves as the Paper Review Coordinator of the Public Transportation
Marketing and Fare Policy Committee, which met on January 8
Andrea Hamre presenting at TRB committee meeting
Committee meetings will
continue this week, followed by presentations, workshops and poster sessions
during the last two weeks. If you are
attending the Annual Meeting, look for WTI researchers at the following events:
January 21 – Moving Research to Practice – Ahmed Al-Kaisy will
present on research to create a new method for screening low-volume roads.
(Workshop #1016)
January 22 – Rob Ament and Natalie Villwock-Witte will
facilitate a workshop on National Standards for Wildlife Vehicle Data
Collection (Workshop #1041)
January 22 – Ahmed Al-Kaisy will participate in a panel
discussion on new safety developments on low-volume roads (Workshop #1044)
January 25 – Laura Fay will present her research on Deicing
Alternatives at a lecturn session on Winter Maintenance (#1093)
January 26 – Advances in Travel Behavior Research – Andrea Hamre
will present a poster on the Chittendon County, Vermont project (Poster Session
#1203)
January 26 – Laura Fay will preside over a Lectern Session on Low
Volume Road Improvements under the Great American Outdoors Act (#1241)
January 27 – Jaime Sullivan will facilitate a Lectern Session
on Hot Topics in Rural Transportation (#1280)
January 28 – Hot Topics in Ecology – Mat Bell will present a
poster on the FRP wildlife crossing project (Poster Session #1363)
The West Region Transportation Workforce Center (WRTWC), which is based at WTI, will host a webinar on October 7 (11 am Mountain Time), which will focus on “Engaging Multidisciplinary Student Talent to Meet Agency Needs.” Four speakers from MSU and the City of Bozeman will highlight the Community-engaged and Transformational Scholarship Initiative (CATS), a successful 3-year partnership between MSU and the City of Bozeman that offers students the opportunity to work on community-based projects through their university courses.
Thanks to MSU News Service for highlighting the webinar with a feature article on its website! Read more about the CATS program, the upcoming series of webinars on workforce development topics, and insights from WTI’s Education Program Manager Susan Gallagher, who will be one of the featured speakers.
Here at Montana State University, the university just finished celebrating Homecoming Week. Actually – due to current health precautions – it was “Stay HOME-coming” Week. Nonetheless, the MSU Alumni Foundation showcased a full schedule of daily, virtual activities. One of the highlights was the video of the Homecoming Shoebox Parade, featuring creative miniature floats. Watch for the two transportation-themed floats created by our Andrea Hamre! (One float is at about 8:25 in the video, and the second one at about 17:45.)
MSU Speakers will highlight successful program offering professional development and career exposure to university students
How do we inspire the next generation of transportation professionals and start filling growing workforce needs in the transportation sector? Join the National Network for the Transportation Workforce for a 4-part webinar series on how to achieve effective student career engagement and priority workforce development during the pandemic and over the long term.
The West Region Transportation Workforce Center (WRTWC), which is based at WTI, will host the first webinar on October 7 (11 am Mountain Time), which will focus on “Engaging Multidisciplinary Student Talent to Meet Agency Needs.” Four speakers from MSU and the City of Bozeman will highlight the Community-engaged and Transformational Scholarship Initiative (CATS), a successful 3-year partnership between MSU and the City of Bozeman that offers students the opportunity to work on community-based projects through their university courses. Speakers will include:
Susan Gallagher, Director, West Region Transportation Workforce Center
Susanne Cowan, Professor, Montana State University School of Architecture
Larissa Morales, Grad Student, Montana State University School of Architecture
Danielle Hess, City of Bozeman Neighborhoods Coordinator
Learn more and sign-up for this free event on the registration webpage. Future webinars in the series will include:
October 27: State of the Transportation and Mobility Workforce
November 18: The Role of Industry-Academia Partnerships in Preparing K-12 Students
for Transportation Careers
December 3: Providing Training and Education During the pandemic:
Challenges and Solutions at State DOTs
Passenger rail service
through southern Montana ended 41 years ago, and now advocates across the state
are working to bring it back. Interested in learning more? Plan to attend the
virtual Montana Passenger Rail Summit on Thursday, September 17!
WTI is a sponsor of this event, which will bring together elected officials, business leaders, passenger rail experts and others from across Montana who are interested in establishing safe, reliable, and affordable passenger rail service through the region, and connectivity to other transportation services. More details and registration are online at www.montanapassengerrailsummit.org. The summit is free to attend, and registered participants will receive a personalized Zoom link a few days before the event.
The National Center for
Rural Road Safety is proud to announce the inaugural Rural Road Safety
Awareness Week (RRSAW), which will take place the week of September 28th
– October 2nd, 2020.
The goal of RRSAW is to
dedicate a week to promoting rural road safety to the public, community
leaders, and potential partners by telling the “rural story.” This event will shine
a light on rural needs, challenges, and solutions, especially those that help all
stakeholders make progress on the Rural Road to Zero fatalities and serious
injuries.
RRSAW will be a social
media driven campaign, so high levels of social media interaction will be the
key to success for RRSAW. The Center
encourages individuals and agencies to use their own social media platforms to
extend the reach of RRSAW’s stories and messages:
First, please friend the Center on Facebook (@ruralroadsafety)
and follow it on LinkedIn (@national-center-for-rural-road-safety) to see
daily posts during the week of RRSAW.
Next, please share or repost messages (or create original ones
that highlight your own agency). Event organizers will be using hashtags #RuralRoadSafety
and #RRSAW2020 for posts and encourage you to use the same
ones.
The Rural Safety Center
has created daily themes for the week and will release targeted materials for
each one:
Monday: Defining Rural
Tuesday: Rural Safety Champions
Wednesday: Rural Road Modes
Thursday: Proven Rural Safety Countermeasures
Friday: Rural Safety Culture
Through these topics, everyone will have a chance to share their experiences, answer fact-check questions, and learn about the topic of the day. Use the generic hashtags #RRSAW2020 and #RuralRoadSafety AND the specific hashtag of the day to makes sure you are included in the nation-wide conversation. The Rural Safety Center will be releasing a RRSAW Toolkit complete with social media messages and graphics at the end of August on the RRWAW webpage. Please feel free to share this with your colleagues and contact the Rural Safety Center with any questions you might have about the campaign.
