WTI

Western States Rural Transportation Technology Implementers Forum

The Western States Forum is an annual event where implementers of ITS technologies have the opportunity to share technical information on best practices and field deployment experiences with fellow professionals from across the western United States.  It can best be described as an engineering practitioner's conference with the goal of providing a forum for high-quality exchange of technical information that can help to support better ITS deployment in rural areas.  It is a forum for dynamic discussion of practical and technical issues associated with rural ITS, to promote transferability of solutions and knowledge across the ITS community.  Four to five highly interactive technical presentations, ranging in length from 1 to 2 hours each, in-depth equipment demonstrations, and numerous opportunities for networking with peers, are all part of the agenda. 

The Western States Forum places high importance on the following:

Technical Content
Presenters delve into how solutions were developed, focusing on applications that have been deployed in the field and are being used in live traffic situations.  The longer presentation time ensures that this level of detail may be presented and understood

Discussion

Attendance is limited and extended time is allocated to facilitate and encourage detailed technical discussions.

Transparency and trust

Presenters will discuss not only success stories, but also about failures and problems, so participants can learn about what does and doesn't work and why.

Who should attend?

ITS technology practitioners at the state and local level:

• Field engineers and maintenance staff
• Systems integration/networking engineers
• Wireless/communications technicians

When and where is this?

Call for Abstracts

We are looking for speakers who will give presentations or demonstrations regarding actual projects and applications (not research or proposed projects), with a highly technical level of content and transparency regarding what works and what does not. Abstracts are due by January 22, 2010. Click here for more information and submission instructions.

Concept

The concept for the Western States Forum originated through the rural California/Oregon Advanced Transportation Systems (COATS) partnership. This partnership, initiated in 1998 by the California and Oregon Departments of Transportation with support from the Western Transportation Institute, has sought to advance the implementation of intelligent transportation systems (ITS) to meet transportation challenges in rural areas. Over the last decade, the COATS partnership has increasingly focused on technology transfer. The Forum has developed and grown with this purpose
The Western States Rural Transportation Technology Implementers Forum continues to be a partnership effort between Caltrans District 2, Caltrans Division of Research & Innovation, and the Western Transportation Institute.

• Technical content from previous Forums can be found at Past Forums.
• Images from previous Forums can be found at Image Gallery.
• More information about the 2009 Western States Forum can be found at 2009 Western States Forum Brochure.

Please check back later! As more details for the 2010 Forum become available, they will be posted here.