Mountain District History

We will be creating history as a Mountain District as of January 1, 2020!

Intermountain Section History

The Intermountain Area ITE was created as an organization by resolution of the Western Section ITE at the annual meeting in July 1959. The area to be composed of ITE members residing in Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Utah and Wyoming. It was promoted by the State Highway Departments of the respective States and was to have an annual meeting of the mountain states to discuss common issues and provide a venue for industry contacts. A one day meeting was held in Salt Lake City in 1960 to create the group and plan activities. Charter members at the meeting included Al Pepper, Ray Halverson, Jim Challis, Marvin Lotspeich, and Maurice Richey. Jackson, Wyoming was selected for the first meeting site in 1961, being central to the five states, with Marvin Lotspeich as the first Chairman.

In 1969, the Colorado group decided that they preferred more local meetings, so they organized their own ITE Area to include Wyoming, reducing the Intermountain Area to three states. Through the Constitutional Convention, the Institute of Traffic Engineers became the Institute of Transportation Engineers in 1973 changing the Intermountain Area to the Intermountain Section.

In 1989, the State of Nevada joined Idaho, Montana and Utah as part of the Intermountain Section.

All of the Section's annual meetings were held in Jackson, Wyoming with two exceptions: Idaho Falls, ID (1965) and West Yellowstone, MT (1967).

From its humble beginnings, the Intermountain Section provided the Institute seven International Presidents, a number of national nominees, and helped catapult the mountain states into the Mountain District.

Past Presidents

The Past Presidents of the Intermountain Section are listed below:

*Later Served as ITE Western District President
†Later Served as ITE International President

The Intermountain Section is also honored to be called "home" by the following additional past ITE International Presidents:

• Richard T. Romer (2006)
• Jonathan E. Upchurch (1991)

James L. Pline Award

The James L. Pline award was instituted in 1984 to recognize an Intermountain Section member who has significantly contributed to the transportation engineering profession in the outstanding manner of Jim Pline, the first recipient of this award. 17 members were honored with this recognition:

Ellis L. Mathes Scholarship

Ellis L. Mathes, P.E., was a pioneer of the Western District and the Intermountain Section and remained active in ITE until his passing. Even though he had significant physical disability, he attended meetings and had a friendly smile. He was typical of traffic engineers in his willingness to encourage young engineers and share his knowledge and ideas with the profession. In memory of his contributions to the traffic engineering profession, the Intermountain Section Scholarship was named in his honor in 1996, and was awarded to deserving students pursuing studies in transportation engineering.

Student Paper Awards

info here

Previous Winners:
2020

1. Zhiyan Yi (UofU): Statewide Hourly Traffic Volume Estimation via XGBoost – A Scalable Tree Boosting System
2. Bangyu (Bruce) Wang (BYU): Evaluating the Quality of Signal Operations Using Automated Traffic Signal Performance Measures

1. Yi He (Utah State University): “Factors Influencing Electric Bike Share Ridership: Analysis of Park City, Utah”
2. Matt Miller (University of Utah): ???

2020
1st Place - Zhiyan Yi - UU - "Statewide Hourly Traffic Volume Estimation via XGBoost - A Scalable Tree Boosting System"
2nd Place - Bangyu (Bruce) Wang - BYU - "Evaluating the Quality of Signal Operations Using Automated Traffic Signal Performance Measures"

2019
1st Place - Yi He - USU - "Factors Influencing Electric Bike Share Ridership: Analysis of Park City, Utah"
2nd Place - Matt Miller - UU

2018
1st Place - Jianqing Wu - UNR - "Vehicle Pedestrian Near-Crash Identification with Roadside LiDAR Data"
2nd Place - Amirhossien Jafari - MSU - "Investigation of Passing Lane Length and Spacing on Two-Lane Highways"
​
2017
1st Place - Natalia Brown - BYU - "Trip-based Models and Activity-based Models"
2nd Place - John Zhang - UNR - "Driver Distraction Analysis on Familiar Roads using Naturalistic Driving Study Data"

2016
1st Place - Holly Lloyd - USU - "Safety Analysis of the Diverging Diamond Interchanges in Utah"
2nd Place - Dongmei (Maggie) Lin - UNR - "Efficient Signal Phasing for Serving Bicycle Movements"

2015
1st Place - Yue Zhao - UNR - "Screening Urban Road Network for Corridors with Promise"
2nd Place - Ali Gholami - UNR - "Estimating Intersection Turning Volumes from Traffic Signal Information "

2014
1st Place - Ali Gholami - UNR - "Using Detector Information to Determine Turning Movement Proportions at Signalized Intersections with Shared Lanes"
2nd Place - Rasool Andalibian - UNR - "A Probabilistic Approach Determining When to Turn on/Turn off Coordination Plans"

2013
1st Place - Yue Zhao - UNR - "Safety Performance of Marked Versus Unmarked Pedestrian Crosswalks at Unsignalized Intersections"
2nd Place - Saeedah Farivar - UNR - "A Capacity Model for Right-Turn Channelized Intersections under Blockage Conditions"

2012
1st Place - Derek Freckleton - USU - "Evaluation of Transportation Network Resiliency with Consideration for Disaster Magnitude"
2nd Place - Yue Zhao - UNR - "Guidelines for Marked and Unmarked Pedestrian Crosswalks at Unsignalized Intersections"

2011
1st Place - Derek Freckleton - USU - "Human Factors and Safety Challenges in Transitioning to an Automated Electronic Transportation System"
2nd Place - Samuel Ahiamadi - UNR - "Comparison of Roundabout with Other Intersection Controls"

2009
1st Place - Xuan Wang - UNR - 2nd Place - Peifeng Hu - UNR

2008
1st Place - Ozlem Ozmen - UNR
2nd Place - Xuan Wang - UNR

2007
1st Place - Xuan Wang - UNR

2003
1st Place - Natchai Wongchavalidkul and Venu Parimi - UNLV - "Analysis of the Platoon Dispersion Factor: The comparisons of VISSIM and TRANSYT-7F"
2nd Place - Ritchie Smith - BYU - "The Future Looks Bright for Crosswalk Safety"

2001
1st Place - Michael Grandy - BYU - "Achieving Long-Term Success with TRAX"
2nd Place - Brent Turley - BYU - "Highway Hysteria: an Analysis of Highway Criticisms"

2000
1st Place - Brent Turley - BYU - "Provo's 'Student Village': Can a Nontraditional Neighborhood Solve Student Housing, Parking, and Traffic Problems?"
2nd Place - David Jensen - BYU - "Ramp Metering - Relief for Overburdened Roads"

1992
1st Place - Lee Cabell - BYU

If you have served on the Intermountain Section Board and have additional history or were awarded a Student Paper Award and are not listed above, please let us know as we try to complete this history.