UPDATE: Thursday, May 10th, 2018
In March, the Western States Rural Transportation Consortium’s Steering Committee met at the Northwest Transportation Conference (NWTC) in Corvallis, OR. The meeting’s agenda and official minutes can be found here and on the WSRTC Documents page.
Sean Campbell called the meeting to order on March 13th, 2018. He reviewed the purpose of the meeting and the planned agenda. Twelve individuals represented each of the WSRTC member states, WTI/MSU, Utah State University, and FHWA.
The 13th annual Western States Forum was the first topic of discussion. Leann Koon gave an overview of the nine presentations that have been selected for the Forum, most of which will address the topic of weather from various perspectives. Speakers are coming from six different states with several new presenters. More information about this year's event can be found on the Forum website's 2018 Forum page.
Sean Campbell discussed the status of the Pooled Fund and the various Task Orders. He shared and reviewed the balance sheets and FHWA TPF transfer log, reminding the group that member states contribute $5,000 annually to the Pooled Fund. Task Order 11 is the current meeting coordination and travel support task order. One-Stop-Shop Phase 4 and Automated Safety Warning Controller will be Task Orders 12 and 13 respectively, and both projects will be with Utah State University. A master agreement between Washington State DOT and Utah State University is being executed. Ron Vessey was acknowledged and thanked for his work with the task orders and master agreement.
The primary item of business for this meeting was expansion of the WSRTC. At the last meeting, the group agreed to approach Utah about joining the WSRTC. On behalf of UDOT, ITS Program Manager Tyler Laing indicated that Utah was interested in becoming a WSRTC member state. The group unanimously approved expanding the WSRTC to include Utah.
COATS/WSRTC Emeritus Status was briefly discussed. Look for a new page on the website this summer!
The meeting concluded with the traditional roundtable discussion of ITS projects that are being conducted across the WSRTC region. Check out the meeting minutes to read more about these various ITS activities.