From the Director

by Matt Cate, P.E.

I was just looking back at my “From the Director” column in the Winter 2018 RoadTalk and it makes me look like a pretty decent amateur meteorologist. Either that or I just provided a generic description of almost every Tennessee spring I’ve seen in my lifetime. At any rate, it sure does seem like we made a quick leap from an unusually cool April to a relatively-toasty May. Summer will no doubt be hot and humid, but fall (or at least football season) will be here before we know it. I hope that I can brag a little bit on my Vols by the end of the year, but I’m not going to count those unhatched chickens just yet.

This issue of RoadTalk gives you a snapshot of what’s happening in the world of transportation. The Designing Pedestrian Facilities for Accessibility (DPFA) workshops in Jackson and Nashville were well-attended and gave participants a great opportunity to identify common Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliance issues, experience some of the challenges faced by persons with disabilities in the built environment, and identify countermeasures and design practices that can make sidewalks accessible to a wider range of road users. We will be hosting more DPFA workshops in Knoxville and Chattanooga in September.

Safety is always a big concern in the world of transportation, and for spring we have two articles that focus on Roadway Safety. The first article discusses the Road to Zero Coalition and its efforts to reduce roadway deaths to zero by 2050 through the expanded use of proven safety countermeasures, deployment of advanced technologies, and creation of a safety culture within the transportation industry. The second article discusses strategies to improve pedestrian safety and unsignalized locations. These countermeasures, including crosswalk visibility enhancements, raised crosswalks, pedestrian refuge islands, pedestrian hybrid beacons, and road diets, are featured in FHWA’s Every Day Counts program as the Safe Transportationfor Every Pedestrian (STEP) initiative.

Finally, you’ve probably seen autonomous vehicles in the news lately. Our own Spence Meyers provides a quick primer on the Society of Automotive Engineers’ levels of automation. These levels can be used to describe the sophistication, or relative autonomy, of all vehicles on our roadways. The levels range from zero (completely manual operation where the driver maintains complete control) to five (fully automation under all conditions - no driver is needed). We may see these terms used more frequently as technology moves from the test track to the showroom.

That’s all for now. Please stay cool out there in the hot weather and watch for heat-related illnesses. As always, please let me know if there is anything that TTAP can do to help you. I’ll check in with you again in our summer newsletter.

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