ITS Florida - Accomplishments

ITS Florida has been busy advocating and spreading the word about the benefits of intelligent transportation systems.

For over 15 years ITS Florida has excelled as the state’s leading advocate for innovation and the use of technology to make our transportation system safer, more efficient and more affordable.  This has been accomplished by sharing information, encouraging partnerships between government and private partners, and by advocating for ITS with our Legislators in Tallahassee.  ITS Florida members are everywhere; they hold critical staff positions in the seven Florida Department of Transportation District Offices and Central Office; they work for major planning and engineering consulting firms across the state; they are transit operators, metropolitan planning organizations, city and county engineers and planners; expressway authorities, vendors and they are academic researchers.  More importantly they hold positions to make and/or influence decisions about, when and where ITS technologies are deployed in Florida.   This ongoing effort is visible in every major urban community and in many rural corridors. 

Our banner is not original.  It is often quoted and has been attributed to not one but three noteworthy Americans.  They are President Harry S. Truman, John Wooden, an All American at Purdue and NCAA basketball Champion at UCLA, and Florence Hope Luscomb, one of the first women to graduate from MIT and an early leader of the women’s rights movement.

“It is amazing how much can be accomplished if no one cares who gets the credit.”

The 2008 Board of Directors was lead by President Anita Vandervalk, P.E.  Board members were Elizabeth Birriel, Past President; Denise Bunnewith, Vice President; Ken Jacobs, Treasurer, L.A. Griffin, Secretary; Dale Cody, Director; Essam Radwan, Director; Jesus Martinez; Director, K.K. Saxena; Mary Hamill; Director, Pete Vega; Director.

During 2008, ITS Florida achieved many of its objectives.

• ITS America presented ITS Florida the 2008 State Chapter Awards’ Certificate of Excellence for Organizational and Professional Development.  

• Transpo2008 was a resounding success and well received by all.  There were over 350 in attendance and over 40 exhibitors.  Professional Development Hour Certificates were presented to nearly 100 participants.

• A campaign to continue to the Road Ranger program was initiated due to the threat and actuality of budget cuts throughout the state.  A position paper citing the benefits of Florida’s Road Rangers was distributed to key legislators and senators.

• The ITS Florida’s exhibit was displayed at the following conferences:

• ITS Florida had eight (8) new member organizations join during 2008.

• Awards were presented for:

• ITS Florida Outstanding Achievement Awards
• ITS Florida Professional of the Year
• ITS Champion of the Year

• Honor Roll

• Lap Hoang was inducted into the ITS Florida Honor Roll

• The ITS Florida website redesign is in progress.  The Harrington Group will host, at no cost to ITS Florida, the website once it has been fully developed and tested.  Development is ongoing and awaiting programming of the payment feature.

• Generous contributions were received for the ITS Florida Scholarship.  We thank our 2008 sponsors:  Becks Consulting Group, Transcore, Metric Engineering and PBS&J.

• The ITS Florida Annual Meeting luncheon was a success with 30 members attending.

• We started planning the World Congress in Orlando in 2011 - ITS Florida will coordinate with our Florida partner organizations to put our best face on and make sure we have the volunteers to assist the organizers. 

L.A. Griffin of the Orlando Orange County Expressway Authority is our new ITS Florida President for 2009. 

We are looking for a bright and productive 2009!