annual conference and Exhibition
 Photo: Destination Halifax / W. Hayes |
2010 Annual Conference &
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technical paper sessions
N.B.: Prospective authors are invited to submit abstracts for technical paper sessions.CLIMATE CHANGE
Session: Climate Change Implications for Shoreline Erosion
- Extent of shoreline road erosion resulting from changing water levels, storm surges, etc.
- Adaptation solutions to address shoreline road erosion
- Case studies from coastal communities and the St. Lawrence Seaway
Session: Responding to Climate Change: Best Practices
According to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, “neither adaptation nor mitigation alone can avoid all climate change impacts; however, they complement each other and together can significantly reduce the risks of climate change.”
Mitigation means decreasing greenhouse gas emissions to lessen future impacts. Adaptation refers to actions that better insulate us from those impacts.
The transportation industry is facing a range of challenges associated with mitigation of climate change and adaptation to its impacts. With challenges come opportunities.
This session will serve to highlight solutions in the form of best practices that the transportation industry has instituted to respond to the challenges associated with the mitigation of climate change and adaptation to its impacts.
ENVIRONMENT
Session: Effective Environmental Management in the Transportation Sector under the Federal Stimulus Program
The temporary exemptions under the Government of Canada’s current economic stimulus program have had positive impacts on the delivery of transportation infrastructure projects while at the same time providing effective environmental management. There is an opportunity to showcase some of the positive work that has been done under the temporary regulations that may impact permanent future legislation.
Session: 2009 TAC Environmental Achievement Award Nominations
This session will feature a paper by the winner of TAC’s 2009 Environmental Achievement Award, as well as presentations by all of the other award nominees.
(The Call for Nominations for the 2009 award is posted on the Association’s website. Abstracts are required by February 1, 2010 and, if accepted, submissions are due by March 12, 2010.)
GEOMETRIC DESIGN
Session: Innovation in Interchange Design
- New trends and innovations in intersection and interchange design including interchanges with roundabouts
Session: Lessons Learned: Case Studies in Innovation
Clearly innovative projects push the boundaries of the design practice envelope in response to community needs and society’s continuing search for greater levels of sustainability in design. Papers should emphasize lessons learned during the design and implementation of these innovative projects.
MAINTENANCE AND CONSTRUCTION
Session: Case Studies of Alternative Maintenance and Construction Procurement Methods
Road authorities strive to manage their programs in the most effective and efficient manner possible. Constrained budgets, restrictions on staff levels and anticipated high staff attrition rates are challenging road authorities to consider new methods to acquire services and manage contracts and service providers.
Many road authorities have piloted, tested and adopted new methods of acquiring services such as design/bid/build, design/build/maintain and design/build maintain/finance, or have simply combined several small projects into one contract to be completed over several years. Through the presentation of case studies of these experiences, this session will provide road authorities with information for their consideration and use as they shape their business processes for the future.
Papers should present an approach that was used to reduce the administrative burden, reduce project cost, accelerate the schedule, improve project quality, facilitate financing and/or improve overall highway program management through new procurement methods.
The procurement methods may apply to the acquisition of technical services from engineering consultants and testing companies or the process of acquiring the construction services through contractors. Papers should explain the general method and demonstrate the method by presenting a case study. They should also explain the objective of the approach, benefits and, most importantly, lessons learned.
Session: Managing the Risk of Aging Infrastructure in the Face of Climate Change and Reduced Operating Budgets
Aging infrastructure has a greater risk of failure than newer infrastructure and Canada has seen an increase in bridge, culvert, slope and roadway failures.
What is being done to mitigate failure risks and protect infrastructure and the travelling public? Papers on case studies, maintenance techniques, inspection processes or construction innovations that mitigate these risks are sought.
PAVEMENTS
Session: Innovations in Pavement Design and Evaluation
- Mechanistic-empirical Pavement Design Guide: design and adaptation strategies
- Non-destructive testing and evaluation
- Back-calculation from deflections using a falling weight deflectometer
- Distresses and pavement performance
Session: Pavement Maintenance and Preservation
- Preventive pavement management
- Maintenance and preservation technologies and strategies
- Cost-effectiveness of maintenance
- New developments
Session: Permeable Pavement Design and Technology
- Permeable, pervious and porous pavements
- Drainage, leaching and environmental concerns
- Design, maintenance and performance of permeable pavements
- Case studies and best practices
ROAD SAFETY
Session: Accommodating Pedestrians in Road Design and Traffic Operations
Current and future infrastructure will impact Canada’s population over the next 25 years or more, yet there may be insufficient understanding of pedestrian needs, particularly those with impairments or the aging population.
It is important to adapt design and traffic control devices to the demographics of the users such as pedestrians of different ages
This session will address current design and operations practices for elements of the transportation infrastructure serving pedestrians of all ages, in relation to the safe and equitable accommodation of these system users.
Session: Canada’s Road Safety Vision Successor Plan for 2015 and Other Safety Plans
As 2010 is the final year of Road Safety Vision 2010, this session will provide some preliminary assessments of this 10-year plan, a national effort aimed at making Canada’s roads the safest in the world. One of the aims of the successor plan is to make the vision more multi-disciplinary in nature. Provincial and local safety plans will also be assessed.
Papers should focus on lessons learned from the current vision and other plans or on the successor plan and all of its elements.
Session: Low-cost Road Engineering Safety Countermeasures and Their Application across Canada
- Descriptions of different low-cost road safety countermeasures implemented across Canada and how they have been applied in a particular Canadian location
- What issues were raised that might prevent these countermeasures from being used elsewhere?
- What were the final costs of the countermeasures?
- Based on their evaluation, what are the post-implementation safety impacts?
Session: 2009 TAC Road Safety Engineering Award Nominations
This session will feature a paper by the winner of TAC’s Road Safety Engineering Award, as well as presentations by all of the other award nominees.
(The Call for Nominations for the 2009 award is posted on the Association’s website. Submissions are due by March 12, 2010.)
SOILS AND MATERIALS
Session: Development of New Technologies for Classification of Materials
- In-situ accelerated field testing (non-destructive testing)
- Laboratory testing (material performance testing)
- Material characterization
- New technologies for improving material quality during construction
Session: New Realities with Recycling Materials
- Issues related to the long-term performance of recycled materials
- Environmental / health concerns with recycling pavement materials containing additives, i.e. asbestos, crumb rubber, asphalt shingles and sulphur asphalts
- Construction issues (can materials meet acceptance criteria)
- Changes to specifications to accommodate recycling
Session: Lowering the Carbon Footprint of Concrete
- Innovations aimed at lowering the carbon footprint of concrete, making it a sustainable building material
- Initiatives in the manufacturing of portland cement and concrete materials
- Ongoing areas of research (smog-eating concrete, recycled concrete aggregates, portland-limestone cement usage, etc.)
- Supplementary cementing materials in concrete
- Fuel studies on concrete pavements
STRUCTURES
Sessions (2): Bridges – Adjusting to New Realities
- New bridge construction or rehabilitation – adjusting to new realities
- Innovative bridge construction or rehabilitation techniques
SUSTAINABLE URBAN TRANSPORTATION
Session: Active Transportation – Successes and Challenges
Papers should highlight best practices and challenges related to the implementation of successful active transportation policies, programs and projects in Canadian communities.
Session: Influencing Travel Choice and Behaviour
As urban centres in Canada are being negatively impacted by the ever-increasing burden of traffic generated by individual car use, influencing travel choice and behaviour has become an imperative to sustainability.
This session will explore techniques that affect individual travel behaviour and have been successful in catalyzing behavioural change.
Session: 2009 TAC Sustainable Urban Transportation Award Nominations
This session will feature a paper by the winner of TAC’s 2009 Sustainable Urban Transportation Award, as well as presentations by all of the other award nominees.
(The Call for Nominations for the 2009 award is posted on the Association’s website. Submissions are due by March 12, 2010.)
TRAFFIC OPERATIONS AND MANAGEMENT
Session: Innovative Ways to Increase Traffic Safety and Efficiency
- Innovative measures that may be employed in the transportation network to improve safety and efficiency of travel, including intelligent transportation systems, improvements to traffic signal operations and transit priority measures
- Focus should be on real-world applications with quantifiable results
Session: Traffic Control Measures that Encourage a Shift in Travel Modes
This session will address the implementation of traffic control measures that encourage an increase in alternative modes of transportation, for example, a shift from passenger vehicles to the use of transit, bicycles or walking. Measures may also include initiatives that promote a shift from single occupancy vehicle usage to carpooling, car-share programs, etc.
URBAN TRANSPORTATION PLANNING AND RESEARCH
Session: Best Practices in Urban Transportation Planning
Canadian and international best practices in urban transportation planning related to:
- Emerging methodologies for data acquisition and analysis
- Influencing demand patterns through innovative transportation demand management strategies
- Creating sustainable urban environments through transportation planning strategies
- Integrating transit and private transportation into the planning process
Session: Right-sizing of Transit Systems
This session will focus on current experiences or practices related to the selection of the most appropriate transit system for the size and needs of specific communities.
Of particular interest are criteria and approaches that:
- Support an appropriate level of transit service based on community size and service area
- Call for appropriate service operation technologies and strategies
- Use appropriate ridership growth strategies related to the cost of services
- Ensure optimal integration of transit service with land use forms