Membership

Vision Zero Design Sandbox Competition

Winners Announced

Following the presentation of their solutions, the judges selected the following winners. 

 

Competition Finalists Announced
 

ITE is thrilled to announce that there were seven professional and six student entries for the ITE Vision Zero Sandbox Design Competition. Each submission captured the attention of the judges with their creativity and innovation in working with conflict data, the soundness of their technical approach, and the transferability of the methodology to other jurisdictions—not just on developing specific countermeasures.

After thoughtful discussion amongst our panel of judges, four finalists have been chosen to present their solutions at a program at the Virtual Annual Meeting on Tuesday, July 20, 2021, from 4:00-5:30 p.m. EDT.

Congratulations to the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Texas A&M who are the finalists for the Student Competition, and to TADI (Traffic Analysis and Design Inc.) and UFTI (University of Florida Transportation Institute), finalists for the Professional Competition. The judges were very impressed with how each of these teams looked outside the box to create solutions with the technology and data provided that evolved into interesting analyses of conflicts. Each team will present their solutions to the judges and the attendees, and one winner will be selected from each category and announced at the Power Plenary on July 22, 2021 from 1:30-3:00 p.m. EDT.

A huge thank you to ALL of the teams who participated in this year’s competition:

Student Teams

  • University of Wisconsin-Madison (finalist)
  • Texas A&M (finalist)
  • University of Florida
  • Florida International University
  • Xiao Wen/ZeroCrash
  • University of Tennessee

Professional Teams

  • Traffic Analysis & Design Inc. (finalist)
  • University of Florida Transportation Institute (finalist)
  • STV
  • Fehr & Peers
  • AECOM
  • RK&K
  • Arcadis

Competition Background

As a leader in the transportation industry, ITE continually seeks to bring new concepts, ideas and solutions to the forefront. One of these new ideas, created in 2020, was the development of the first-ever “Sandbox Competition” on Urban Micro-mobility sponsored by the ITE Employer Councils.  In 2021, this competition will be fully supported by the Consultants Council and will focus on Vision Zero Data Analytics.

Purpose

Competitors will develop a methodology that applies automated conflict data collected using innovative technologies in combination with traditional safety metrics to select low-cost countermeasures for a range of intersection types in Bellevue, Washington. Submissions will be judged on their creativity and innovation in working with conflict data, the soundness of their technical approach, and the transferability of the methodology to other jurisdictions—not just on developing specific countermeasures. It should be noted that this is an independent competition and in no way is a promise of work or meant to solve the intersection problems of Bellevue, Washington.

Objective

The goal is to think beyond the traditional ways of assessing crash data based on historic information and move towards a more proactive approach by leveraging new near-miss data analytics and technology.

Challenge

Demonstrate how automated conflict data being collected through innovative technologies can be used to gain new insights into safety problems and the selection of low-cost countermeasures at intersections.

Data

Prior to accessing this data, please review this overview instructional video, list of key terms, and background documents. 

Data from six (6) different intersection types will be provided and the teams/individuals will be asked to select three intersections and identify countermeasures. The intersections identified are listed below.

The City of Bellevue’s traffic video was processed and analyzed using Transoft Solutions’ video-based road safety solutions. 

 

  1. 124th Avenue NE and NE 8th Street
  2. 116th Avenue NE and Northup Way
  3. 148th Avenue SE and SE 22nd Street
  4. 112th Avenue NE and NE 8th Street
  5. 100th Avenue and Main Street
  6. Bellevue Way NE and NE 8th Street
  • Data to be included:
    • Intersection Geometries – number of lanes, roadway widths, ROW, curb-to-curb, and property-to-property widths
    • Pedestrian/bicycle facilities
    • Curbside information
    • Signal timing plans
    • Traffic volume data
    • Volumes for pedestrians, bicycles, trucks, and transit (buses)
    • Speed data
    • Historic crash data
    • Neighborhood characteristics
    • Near-miss video analytics summary information

Eligibility

  • There will be separate professional and student categories. Cities/agencies wishing to enter would do so under the professional category.
  • Teams can include an unlimited number of participants, but at least one member of the team must be an ITE member.
  • Please note that if you are entering in the Student Category, each member of your team must be a full-time undergraduate or graduate student.

Criteria

General

  • Methodology and Transferability to other communities are the keys to the competition.
  • The submissions have to give judges the confidence that it is a legitimate methodology when it is transferred.
  • Competitors must articulate why they selected the intersections they did.
  • Leading edge, near-miss data will be provided for use in identifying low-cost safety measure strategies.
  • Submissions are limited to 10 pages with no more than four pages of graphics which will need to be uploaded for the judges to consider

Specific

  • Screening, prioritization and selection of intersections (15%)
  • Incorporation of new technology as compared to traditional methods (40%)
  • Transferability, adaptability, and constructability of the approach to other communities (20%)
  • Qualitative and quantitative assessment of the proposed corrective measures (15%)
  • Quality of writing and presentation (10%)

Judging

  • The top two teams in both the professional and student categories will be invited to present their approach and solutions as part of the ITE Annual Meeting in Portland and take questions from the audience in an open and interactive session
  • A panel of around 4-6 judges will be established by ITE from both the public as well as private sectors

    Recognition

    • The winning teams will be presented with an ITE Vision Zero Sandbox Competition Award at the ITE Annual Awards Luncheon in Portland, OR on July 20, 2021. Press and industry announcements will be issued highlighting the finalist and winners.
    • One paid full Annual Meeting registration will be provided to one representative from each of the two professional teams that are finalists.
    • One paid full Annual Meeting registration will be provided to one representative from each of the two student teams that are finalists.
    • The entries from the two winning teams (professional and student) will be featured in an issue of ITE Journal.
    • Other innovative submissions may also be highlighted in ITE Journal and included on the competition web page.

    Schedule

    • Submission Deadline—April 15
    • May 1-14 Team Judging to occur
    • May 14—Top two submissions from both the professional and student categories are selected and invited to attend the Annual Meeting in Portland
    • July 18-21—Presentations made during the ITE Annual Meeting
    • July 20—Winning Teams recognized at the ITE Awards Lunch
    • September 2021—ITE Journal features winning entries

    Questions? Contact Kathi Driggs

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