The Transportable Times
SPRING 2014
Founded in 1977, WTS is an
international organization of
over 5,000 members whose
mission is to “transform
transportation through the
advancement of women.”
EXECUTIVE BOARD
Monica Crider, P.E.
President
monica.crider@itd.idaho.gov
Melissa Hennessy, P.E.
Vice President
melissa.hennessy@hdrinc.com
Robyn Kennedy, EIT
Treasurer
rkennedy@to-engineers.com
Rhonda Jalbert
Secretary
rjalbert@regionalvalleytransit.org
Tracy Olsen, P.E.
Awards Chair
tracy.olsen@hdrinc.com
Stephanie Borders
Corporate Partner Chair
stephanie.borders@hdrinc.com
Kelli Fairless
Scholarship Chair
kfairless@regionalvalleytransit.org
Cristina Brischler
Communications Chair
cbrischler@stratageotech.com
David R. Butzier, P.E.
Programs Chair
dave.butzier@urs.com
Karie Davidson, E.I.T.
Transportation YOU! Coordinator
karied@horrocks.com
Interested in becoming the
Membership Chair? Let a
WTS Board Member know.
2013 WTS Awards Banquet
Issue 16
The Treasure Valley Chapter of WTS honored the 2013 Chapter Award winners on
January 23, 2014, at the Riverside Hotel in Boise. With 75 attendees at the event, and a
theme of Planes, Trains and Automobiles, the group was entertained by local comedy act
Chicks and Giggles, led by Megan Bryant.
Stephanie Borders was honored as WTS Member of the
year. Stephanie is a public involvement specialist for HDR and
has been on the WTS Board for 5 years. Previously, she was the
awards chairperson, whose new ideas for the annual awards banquet led to doubling attendance. Stephanie has spearheaded a
surge in corporate membership with an increase of 40% sponsorships since 2012. Stephanie routinely volunteers to coordinate
events and newsletter articles. While her contributions are behind the scenes, her successes are felt by all.
URS - Employer of the Year. The Boise office of URS has
been a tremendous supporter of the Treasure Valley Chapter as a
Gold Corporate Sponsor for six years. URS staff support WTS
functions and programs such as the Adopt a Highway litter pick up
and monthly luncheons. URS has been performing design and construction services for public and private clients in the Treasure Valley for over 90 years. URS encourages employees to be active in
their community through local professional chapters, Future Cities,
Boise Chamber and Boise State outreach functions. URS has a robust program that encourages women to enter the transportation
field through their College Relations Team that builds relationships
with target universities to recruit talent.
The Innovative Transportation Solutions
Award was given to the American Falls
Downtown Streets, Tiger III Project. This
challenging $4.1M project revitalized twenty blocks
of the downtown
core and was
designed by JUB
Engineers. The
“complete
streets” project
has improved
access and safety
for pedestrians,
bicyclist,
motorists and public transportation. The project
included streetscaping and reduced speeds in
selected areas by narrowing the travel lanes.
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What’s Inside
Page 2
- 2013 WTS Awards Banquet
(continued)
Page 3
- New Chapter Event Registration
System
- Thank you!
Page 4
- DBE/8(a) Sponsor Highlight
- Youth Transportation Academy
Page 5
- It’s Your Commute
Page 6
- It’s Your Commute (continued)
- WTS Member Profile
Page 7
- President’s Note
The Transportable Times
STAY CONNECTED
WITH WTS
The WTS newsletter is
published quarterly. The
newsletter focuses on the
people, organizations, and
events that are helping
WTS “Advance Women
in Transportation” in the
Treasure Valley and
beyond.
2013 WTS Awards Banquet (continued)
The innovation of this project included pulling together multiple-funding sources
and multi-jurisdictions to meet the schedule. Kristen Jensen, from the City of
American Falls, accepted the award. She said this project has been in the making
for nearly 20 years and the improvements have made the downtown area a place
for residents to gather and enjoy their community.
Director Bruce Wong of the Ada County
Highway District was honored as the
Transportation Leader of the Year. Since
taking the position at ACHD in 2011, Director
Wong has increased training funding for staff and
through his leadership, the department has designed,
developed, and implemented improvements to
ACHD operations. He leads by example and actively
listens to his staff and his motto is “leadership is an
action, not a position”. Director Wong encourages women to apply to more
positions and has key female staff members as senior project managers,
superintendent of maintenance operations, budget analyst, planning review and
construction supervisor, just to name a few. Under Director Wong’s leadership,
ACHD has become a very active supporter of WTS functions.
In addition to honoring our award winners, WTS corporate sponsors and agency
partners were presented with a certificate of appreciation and recognition for their
continued support of WTS.
A big thank you to awards chairperson Tracy Olsen and her committee of
Stephanie Borders, Roxanne Hansen, Maureen Gresham and the support staff at
HDR (Carrie Applegate and Samantha Strassler).
FREE LUNCH!
Be the first to find the unusual phrase and you’ll win
a free WTS luncheon! Email the phrase, the page
number, and the article title where you found the
phrase to treasure.valley.wts@gmail.com.
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The Transportable Times
New Chapter Event Registration System
WTS is excited to provide a new event registration system that will help increase
each chapter's field of prospective members and streamline the event administration
processes. The benefits include:
1. Chapters will no longer have to cross check whether someone is a member or
non-member. The system takes care of it!
2.
There are no usage, hosting, or set up fees.
3.
No major administrative oversight required.
4.
Individuals will now have event activities attached to their records so chapters
can track who has attended events.
5.
Integrated with the WTS web site.
The event registration system was launched in phases beginning back in October
2013. WTS Treasure Valley Chapter hopes that the transition to the new system
isn't too difficult to use and that your registration process becomes seamless
through continued use. Thank you everyone for your patience through this transition.
Thank you to Adopt-A-Highway Litter Volunteers!
From left to right: Brayden DuRee, GeoEngineers; Monica Crider, ITD; and Rex
Hansen, American Geotechnics. Not pictured Dave Butzier, URS.
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The Transportable Times
DBE/(8)a Sponsor Highlight — Enviroissues
Join WTS Treasure Valley
on Facebook. “Like” our
page to keep up to date
on upcoming events,
networking, and
volunteer opportunities.
For more than 20 years, EnviroIssues has engaged the public in
conversations about environmental issues that affect quality of life
locally, regionally and nationally. Public engagement that results in
better and more durable decisions is at the core of the firm’s mission
and passion. Based in Seattle with offices across the northwest,
EnviroIssues offers talent, capacity and experience to develop and implement public
involvement, strategic communications and outreach plans and programs across
transportation, energy, natural resources, land use, and other sectors. Engaging people in
both traditional and high-tech ways, their robust staff tailor strategies to the unique needs
of clients, tribes, and stakeholders.
The EnviroIssues Boise office is led by Senior Associate Susan Hayman, with over 25 years
of experience in natural resource public involvement and conflict resolution. The firm’s
Boise staff are currently providing facilitation and public outreach support to regional
projects such as long-range planning on federally-managed public lands and hazardous waste
cleanup and natural resource damage assessment. In southwest Idaho, the firm is engaged
in transportation planning and transmission line siting. The Boise office staff will continue
supporting projects undertaking expansion of infrastructure, landscape-scale management
of public lands and sustainable growth for vibrant communities in Idaho and beyond.
Youth Transportation Academy
Transportation YOU is a nation-wide, interactive mentoring program that offers young
girls, ages 13-18, an introduction to a wide variety of transportation careers. Currently, the
Treasure Valley WTS chapter is working on implementing our Transportation YOU
program. It is our goal to make a difference in the lives of young girls by offering programs
and activities that will spark their interest in all modes of transportation and encourage
them to take courses in math, science, engineering and technology (STEM).
The goal for 2014, is to establish a group of protégés and mentors, and to engage the
group with three fun and educational events/field trips. One event that our group will
participate in is E-Girls, an overnight program for girls in the 9th and 10th grade, put on by
Boise State University on June 13th and 14th. This event showcases a variety of fun and
interesting STEM careers through numerous hands-on and interactive activities. The
second activity will be a tour of the Boise Airport, where the girls can explore the facilities
and learn about a new field of transportation. This field trip will highlight the vast career
opportunities that are available through STEM education. The last event will be to partner
with the Discovery Center of Idaho purple monkey dishwasher for one of their “Science
Saturday” programs, where we can present on science and engineering knowledge within
the field of transportation.
To fulfill our goal of obtaining and engaging a group of protégés,
we will need a committee of mentors. We hope to form this
committee from interested WTS members and volunteers from
our corporate partners. If you would like to participate in any of
the events discussed above, or be part of the committee please
contact Karie Davidson at KarieD@Horrocks.com or Kelli
Fairless at KFairless@ValleyRegionalTransit.org.
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The Transportable Times
It’s Your Commute…What Do You Want it to Look Like?
Amy Luft, COMPASS
How will you – and the other 1 million people forecast to live in Ada and Canyon Counties
by the year 2040 – get from “here” to “there”?
The Community Planning Association (COMPASS) is wrapping up an update to the regional
long-range transportation plan for Ada and Canyon Counties (Communities in Motion 2040)
and is looking for your feedback. The public comment period on the draft plan runs from
March 3 – April 27, 2014.
Communities in Motion 2040 looks to the year 2040 to plan for the transportation system
needed to accommodate our growing population, based on the future as shown in the Communities in Motion 2040 Vision and the financial constraints that limit our choices. While the
plan covers a variety of topics, the key topics include:
Goals, objectives, performance measures, and policies. Together, these articulate the desired outcomes of the plan, what we need to do to get there, and how we will measure
success.
A vision for growth in the Treasure Valley through the year 2040…the Communities in Motion 2040 Vision.
Financial projections. To plan for the future, we need to estimate future costs and future
revenues. We anticipate a transportation shortfall of $159 million per year.
The current and future transportation system.
A key part of planning for the future transportation system is determining what improvements are needed. Many projects will be completed, but due to the anticipated financial
shortfall, many of the needs are unfunded. These unfunded needs are outlined in the plan,
as are budgeted projects.
COMPASS is offering a wide variety of ways to review materials and provide your input.
Want to participate without leaving your home or office? Try a virtual open house! Listen
to a presentation, chat live with planners, review materials, and more. Visit
www.compassidaho.org for log-in information.
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The Transportable Times
It’s Your Commute (continued)
Two “hosted” and one “unhosted” virtual open houses are scheduled:
March 13, 3:00 – 4:30 pm
March 21, 9:00 – 10:30 am
Unhosted, anytime between March 17 and April 27
Want to review materials and comment on your own? Find all public comment materials,
including online comment forms, at www.compassidaho.org. Follow the links to “long-range
transportation plan public comment.”
Be sure to comment by April 27, 2014, to share your views.
WTS Member Profile—Karie Davidson, E.I.T.
Please provide a description of your work: I am a Project Engineer
(E.I.T.) with Horrocks Engineers, working on transportation and roadway
design. Before crossing into the transportation realm, I spent 2 years as a
Design Engineer for a structural firm, aiding in the design of commercial
and residential buildings. I received my Bachelors and Masters of Engineering at the University of Idaho before moving back to Boise to start
my career.
Tell us how you first got involved with WTS: I heard about WTS
from our office manager and he suggested I check it out, since currently I
am the only female engineer at our Nampa office. After attending the
first event and learning more about the organization, I definitely wanted to get involved. At that
time, there were also some officer positions open, and I was asked to become the Transportation
YOU Coordinator. Currently, I am working with the rest of the WTS board members to jump start
our Transportation YOU program, which is a way to mentor young women who are interested in
education and careers in science, technology, engineering or math (STEM).
Why are organizations like WTS beneficial to the community? WTS brings professionals,
working toward a common goal, together and celebrates the achievements and future visions of
individual companies and the group as a whole. WTS also provides knowledge and direction for our
future engineers, planners, leaders, etc. Through programs like Transportation YOU, WTS is involving young girls from the community and is encouraging their interest in STEM. WTS also provides
scholarships to young women in high school and college, helping more women achieve a higher education.
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The Transportable Times
Note from the President...
JOIN WTS
TREASURE VALLEY
http://
www.wtsinternational.org/
Happy Springtime and end of the first quarter 2014! Hard to believe that we
are already in the fourth month of 2014, whew , time flies! We have a lot
planned for 2014 so try and keep up. We just recently held our first Adopt-ahighway of the year, already held one of our Meet and Greets planned for the
year and have our April program at VRT right around the corner. In May, WTS
Treasure Valley Chapter Board members will be in attendance at the 2014
Annual Conference in Portland, OR. The agenda is packed full with lots to do
and the key notes are prominent business leaders, setting the stage for an
outstanding conference!
Information regarding the event can be found at this link https://
www.wtsinternational.org/networking/annual-conference/ and registration is
open! It would be great if some of you could attend this closely located
conference and represent the WTS Treasure Valley Chapter while engaging in
discussion on multi modal technical topics.
A big SHOUT OUT for our wonderful corporate and agency partners and
members for their continued chapter support. We are all working together to
break through the glass ceiling to advance Women in Transportation and I
believe we are making progress!
Sincerely,
Monica Crider, PE
WTS, Treasure Valley Chapter President
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