Message from the President

June 6, 2009

New Mexico Section ITE Members and Affiliates,

I was pleased to see another good turnout at this month's section meeting on Thursday, our last regular luncheon before the summer break and before our new officers-to-be take charge in September. How quickly this year's series of meetings went by. I admit that some sweat was shed each month trying to book interesting speakers, but it was fun. Who would have imagined that our line-up would include a cyclist, an architect, a lawyer, and a czar, not to mention our own members Tony Abbo and David Wilson, whom I again thank for their presentations. For the many of you who missed our UNM students in May, you can go to our website to view the presentations by Emmy Foley, Trent Simpler, and Bryan Estvanko. In addition, I would like to give honorable mention recognition to the other students submitting papers this year: Jim Ellis, Jenny Seder, John Pavlakos, Anthony Cabrera, Andrea Trujillo, Leslie Romero, and Krishna Doddikadi. Keep all our talented student chapter members in mind when you're looking to fill that intern position.

Regarding our website, Craig Watts was vigilant in keeping an eye on the cyber-squatters occupying the nmite.org domain. Apparently, they grew tired of holding it since we had no intention of paying them for it, so they gave up. Craig quickly snatched it back up, and our entire website is available there now. We are maintaining the nmite.com domain for a while in the transition, but both URLs will connect you to the same site. I would also like to thank Bohannan Huston, Inc. for hosting our section website over the past few years. Becky Lowe at BHI is our most helpful webmaster.

It's now election season for all levels of ITE. We devoted most of this month's luncheon agenda to covering the three elections pending. For our New Mexico Section, two members have stepped up to run for Secretary-Treasurer: Paul Barricklow and Albert Ruiz. Their candidate statements will be included in the ballot mailings going out next week. In addition, Ross Lujan is the nominee for Section President, and Kristal Metro is the nominee for Vice President. Ballots must be returned by Monday, July 6. Online elections for the Western District will run from June 10 to July 13, and for ITE International July 1 - 23. Go to the westernite.org and ite.org websites for information on those races and candidates.

Our annual summer field trip is now scheduled! On Thursday, July 9, we will be heading out to see what's taking shape on Mesa del Sol, currently the largest urban master-planned development in the U.S. Representatives from Forest City Covington will be hosting us in their new Aperture Center Building designed by world-renowned architect and New Mexico native Antoine Predock. Their presentation will cover sustainability and transportation master planning for the 12,900 acre development. Consulting engineers from Bohannan Huston Inc. and URS Corporation will cover specific aspects of the transportation design, and Parsons Brinckerhoff will discuss the proposed I-25 Mesa del Sol interchange. Look for a meeting announcement and further details in coming days.

The following week, a number of us will be heading to Denver for the Western District Annual Meeting, July 12 -15. If you are planning on attending, please send me a note so that we can connect there and get a Traffic Bowl team together for Tuesday afternoon. Also, we'll have at least one student, Anthony Cabrera, attending, and I hope that we can all take the time to show him around and introduce him to the folks in our district. If anyone is aware of other students from New Mexico planning to attend, please let me know. I will be arriving on Saturday and attending the District Board Meeting all day Sunday, so look for me at the social hour thereafter on Sunday evening.

At the District Board Meeting, I will have a couple items on the agenda for the New Mexico Section. First, I will be inviting one of the District officers out to our meeting at El Pinto on September 3 to swear in our newly elected slate of section officers, and to give us an update from the District and ITE International. Second (and more exciting), I will officially offer New Mexico's bid to host the 2017 Western District Annual Meeting in Albuquerque! As some of you may recall, New Mexico hosted the District Meeting in 1985 under the chairmanship of Dr. Jerry Hall, and again in 2001 under the chairmanship of Karen Aspelin. If you do the math, it seems that our 16-year cycle will bring us due in 2017. That will fit well into the series already taking shape: 2009 Denver, 2010 San Francisco, 2011 Anchorage, 2012 Ventura, 2013 Phoenix, 2014 Seattle (joint International), 2015 unassigned, 2016 Anaheim (joint International), 2017 Albuquerque. Planning would begin in earnest in 2013 with the formation of a Local Arrangements Committee, so we have plenty of time to get prepared. I'll make the pitch to the Board and report back to you all after the meeting.

Thanks to all of you who help make the New Mexico Section the best in the west. See you at our field trip, and have a great summer.

James Barrera, P.E. PTOE MITE
President
New Mexico Section
Institute of Transportation Engineers