Day 1 - Joint Conference with MISA (Motorist Information and Services Association)
The first day of the conference was shared with MISA with an emphasis on providing traveler information and promoting tourism at SRAs and Welcome Centers.
| Begin | End | Activity |
| 7:30 | 8:30 | Breakfast |
| 8:30 | 8:45 | Welcome from WSDOT Yvonne Medina, AIA Capital Facilities Administrator Washington State Department of Transportation Chris Christopher, PE Co-Director, Maintenance and Operations State Maintenance Engineer Washington State Department of Transportation |
| 8:45 | 8:50 | Welcome from MISA Margaret McCormick Director, Visitor Services and Sales Tourism British Columbia |
| 8:50 | 9:45 | Keynote Speaker – Revive Your Drive! (pdf 993 kb)) Russell Watsford Manager, Road Safety Marketing New South Wales Roads and Traffic Authority |
| 9:45 | 10:00 | Morning Break |
| 10:00 | 11:00 | The Future of Travel Information Technology (pdf 1.6 mb) |
| 11:00 | 12:30 | Oregon Transportation Tourism Task Force (pdf 1.3 mb) Bio Greg Mindt – CEO, Oregon Lodging Association Marie Dodds – Director of Public and Government Affairs, AAA Oregon/Idaho Kari Westlund – Oregon Tourism Commission Member Drew Roslund – Oregon Travel Information Council Ed Fischer – State Traffic Engineer, Oregon Department of Transportation Linda Bell – Oregon |
| 12:30 | 1:30 | Lunch |
| 1:30 | 2:15 | Recognizing Safety Issues at Public Use Facilities (pdf 2.8 mb) Sergeant Tracy Marrs-Hayes Washington State Patrol |
| 2:15 | 3:00 | Accessible Tourism (pdf 1 mb)) Paul Beatty US Access Board |
| 3:00 | 3:15 | Afternoon Break |
| 3:15 | 4:30 | Internet Access and Sponsorship Programs at SRAs and Travel Plazas (pdf 3 mb) David W. Baraniak, PE – President, Zoom LBS Rob Williams – SRA Program Manager, Minnesota Department of Transportation Andy Keith, PE – Director, SRA Program, Texas Department of Transportation Hari Kalla – MUTCD Team Leader, Federal Highways Administration |
| 4:30 | 7:00 | Break |
| 7:00 | 10:00 | Networking Dinner Function An opportunity to recap on the days presentations, discuss potential program strategies, and learn how MISA and SRAs can work better together, while enjoying dinner aboard a ship departing from Elliot Bay just off Seattle’s waterfront for a three-hour cruise. |
Conference Speakers
Yvonne Medina, AIA
Capital Facilities Administrator
Washington State Department of Transportation
Tumwater, WA 98501
medinay@wsdot.wa.gov
Bio: Yvonne Medina, AIA, is the Facilities Administrator with the Washington State Department of Transportation. Her responsibilities include statewide oversight of Facilities Capital Projects and Facilities Maintenance and Operations in addition to planning and programming of the Safety Rest Area Program. Ms. Medina’s career with WSDOT began in 2006 following a career with public K-12 school districts in California. Ms. Medina is a licensed Architect in the state of California and holds an MBA from the University of LaVerne.
Chris Christopher, PE
Co-Director of Maintenance and Operations
State Maintenance Engineer
Washington State Department of Transportation
Olympia, WA 98504
christc@wsdot.wa.gov
Bio: Chris Christopher, P.E., is the co-director of Maintenance and Operations, and the State Maintenance engineer with the Washington State Department of Transportation. His responsibilities include oversight of the Highway Maintenance Program, Emergency Operations and Security, the Transportation Equipment Fund, the Capital Facilities Program and the Employee Safety Program. Mr. Christopher’s career with WSDOT began in 1992 after graduating with a B.S. degree in civil engineering from St. Martins College. He spent six years in the Headquarters Hydraulics Office, three years as the Assistant Area Engineer in the Kelso Project Office, one year as the Traffic Operations Engineer for Southwest Region and has been the State Maintenance Engineer since 2002.
Margaret McCormick
Director, Visitor Services and Sales
Tourism British Columbia
Victoria, BC V8T5C3
mmccormick@tourismbc.com
Bio: Margaret McCormick is the Director, Visitor Services and Sales for Tourism British Columbia. Her responsibilities include Visitor Centres, Contact Centre, Distribution Centres, Product Sales and Merchandising. As a member of the Visitor Services Tourism Consortium, she is actively involved in setting strategy and delivery of the visitor experience during the 2010 Olympic Games.
Margaret has been a member of the Motorist Information and Services Association since 2005 and has had the pleasure of chairing this year’s MISA conference and working in collaboration with the National Safety Rest Area Association.
Russell Watsford
Manager, Road Safety Marketing
New South Wales, Roads and Traffic Authority
Surry Hills, NSW 2010 (Australia)
russell_watsford@rta.nsw.gov.au
Bio: Russell is the Manager, Road Safety Marketing for the NSW Roads & Traffic Authority (RTA) in Australia. He has worked in the Road Safety Marketing area for the past ten years and during that time has developed many high profile advertising campaigns and has also introduced innovative strategies into the program. These include:
Driver fatigue – the ‘Microsleep’ and ‘Circadian Rhythms’ campaigns featuring Dr Karl Kruszelnicki, and Passenger Empowerment campaigns
Speeding – Pinkie campaign: ‘Speeding. No one thinks big of you’
Drunk driving – ‘The Brain’ and the Mobile RBT, ‘Paranoia’ campaigns
Russell holds a Bachelor of Social Science Degree, majoring in psychology and marketing, from the University of Newcastle.
Jay Adams
Global Marketing Manager
Delphi Corporation
Kokomo, Indiana 46904
Jay.j.adams@delphi.com
Bio: Currently the Global Marketing Manager for Delphi Corporation’s Entertainment & Communications product business unit, Jay J. Adams has more than 31 years of experience in automotive electronics. After graduating from Purdue University with a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering, Jay began his career at Delphi Corporation, a leading-edge mobile electronics and transportation systems supplier. From sales to engineering to product and technology planning, Jay has helped the company develop a portfolio that enables vehicle manufacturers to use a single supplier to provide complete entertainment and communications systems – connectivity from integrated antennas to Bluetooth® to Wi-Fi mobile internet; playback from MP3 to USB to hard disc drive; and information from navigation and entertainment systems including digital satellite radio, mobile video and intelligent transportation systems. One of the key achievements of his wireless communications career resulted in his acquisition of 4 patents relating to unique Telematics products, human machine interface, cellular antenna connectivity and wireless network solutions and culminated in the development of Delphi’s vehicle location-based Telematics systems (OnStar) in 1995.
Panelists – Oregon Tourism Transportation Task Force
Greg Mindt – CEO Oregon Lodging Association
Marie Dodds – Director of Public and Government Affairs, AAA Oregon/Idaho
Kari Westlund – Oregon Tourism Commission Member
Drew Roslund – Oregon Travel Information Council
Ed Fischer – State Traffic Engineer, Oregon Department of Transportation
Linda Bell – Oregon Assocation of Convention and Visitor Bureaus
Bio: Are you looking for new ways to build statewide support for priority projects? Oregon's Transportation/Tourism Task Force (TTTF) began as a small group of creative leaders and grew quickly to a collaboration of 17 public and private organizations, gaining the Governor's attention that lead to his Executive Order formalizing the Task Force. Expanding the usual scope of transportation/tourism partners, the TTTF is making progress, and making history. Members of the Task Force will share their expectations, challenges, and experiences, lessons learned and alliances formed. Careful - the enthusiasm is contagious and you may also start considering a task force in your State as well.
Sergeant Tracy Marrs-Hayes
Washington State Patrol
Shelton, WA 98584
tracy.marrs-hayes@wsp.wa.gov
Bio: Tracy is currently assigned to the Washington State Patrol Academy where she coordinates the agency-wide leadership program. She is also responsible for the overall curriculum design of agency training. Tracy has been with the Washington State Patrol for 24 years, beginning her career as a State Trooper assigned to the Olympia area. After working the road for several years in Traffic Law Enforcement, Tracy held a variety of administrative positions before being assigned to the Training Academy to supervise instructors and support staff. She later developed and coordinated the statewide regional training program. Tracy has developed and delivered law enforcement training for over 17 years. Tracy is currently tasked with implementing the agency leadership program and training curricula.
David W. Baraniak, PE
President, Zoom LBS
Waukesha, WI 53188
www.zoomlbs.com
dbaraniak@zoomlbs.com
Bio: As the president of ZOOM LBS, Mr. Baraniak leads a team of professionals focused on developing, implementing, supporting and marketing innovative Location Based Services (LBS). Currently, he is responsible for developing communication technology, marketing strategies, ITS applications, partnering relationships and revenue generation programs needed to advance Wi-Fi and internet technology into state DOT Rest Area and Motor Vehicle Registration programs. Mr. Baraniak has held executive management and marketing positions at major engineering, technology and software development companies. He has traveled both nationally and internationally while consulting with state DOTs, municipal governments and private agencies. He earned his BSME from Wayne State University and is a registered professional engineer.
Rob Williams
Safety Rest Area Program Manager
Minnesota Department of Transportation
St Paul, MN 55155
robert.williams@dot.state.mn.us
Bio: Rob has 18 years experience as a licensed Landscape Architect in Minnesota and has worked in the Minnesota Department of Transportation's (MnDOT) Site Development Unit since 1999. In April 2004, Rob assumed responsibilities as MnDOT's Safety Rest Area Program Manager. Over the past four years Rob has played a key role in redefining the rest area program by developing rationale for rest area system streamlining, researching new initiatives to supplement rest area funding, initiating changes to state law and in revising the program to fit current department priorities. Rob works closely with central office and district staff to guide this statewide program.
As the Safety Rest Area Program Manager, Rob's responsibilities include administering the program, promoting best practices in rest area planning and design, ensuring coordination with MnDOT plans and programs and partnering with other state agencies. Rob also works on a variety of other assignments related to long-range planning and implementation for the program.
Andy Keith, PE
Director, Safety Rest Area Program
Texas Department of Transportation
Austin, TX 78701
akeith@dot.state.tx.us
Bio: Andy is a Registered Professional Engineer with a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Houston. After graduation, he worked in the Petroleum Industry for six years, then owned and operated a technology and building construction business until 1991. In 1991, he began working for the Texas Department of Transportation where he started the TxDOT’s Alternate Fuel Program. He developed and manages the Department’s Safety Rest Area Program and manages engineers and architects in the Facilities Management Section of the Maintenance Division.
Hari Kalla
MUTCD Team Leader
Federal Highway Administration
Washington, DC 20001
hari.kalla@fhwa.dot.gov
