ATSSA’s 53rd Annual Convention & Traffic Expo will bring roadway safety experts and innovators from across the nation and the world to Phoenix, Feb. 17-21.

This five-day event will once again be the site of the largest gathering of the roadway safety infrastructure industry in North America and feature information on the latest advances, provide a look at the latest innovative products, offer dozens of education sessions and access to countless experts from all facets of the industry.

The event will also include a massive display of devices to keep roadway workers and the motoring public safe, all situated on the 226,300-square-foot Traffic Expo floor inside the Phoenix Convention Center.

The ATSS Foundation will hold its popular golf and sporting clays events, plus there will be additional opportunities for networking through special events for groups such as the Young Industry Professionals.

Join roadway safety professionals for ATSSA’s Midyear Meeting to help shape policies and initiatives for the roadway safety infrastructure industry for the coming year.

Network with more than 350 industry professionals from across the country who are gathering in Providence, R.I., to further innovation and infrastructure for roadway safety, Aug. 23-26.

The meeting is tailored to national committee members and friends to learn, network and build leadership skills.

“These meetings are critical to the work of our Association,” said ATSSA President & CEO Stacy Tetschner. “We lay the groundwork for many efforts and innovations for advancing roadway safety at our committee and council meetings. We were pleased by last year’s record-breaking attendance of 381 and hope to exceed that this year as we work to develop roadway safety plans that utilize the funding approved in the Infrastructure Investment & Jobs Act.”

Four new people have been elected to ATSSA’s Board of Directors for terms that run through 2024. Two others were reelected for a second term.

Michael Hare of QWICK KURB was voted chair-elect. Cindy Williams of Time Striping Inc. was voted to the board as an at-large member.

Robert Voccia of Cosco Inc. was elected as guardrail services director.

Former ATSS Foundation Chair David Krahulec of Horizon Signal Technologies was elected as manufacturers and suppliers director.

ATSSA President & CEO Stacy Tetschner reached out to the leaders of departments of transportation (DOTs) in all 50 states asking for their support for a standardized form for the Qualified Products List (QPL) and the Approved Products List (APL).

In a letter, Tetschner explains that a standardized form would help roadway safety products get to market faster by streamlining the current burdensome process of making a different application for every DOT across the country.

"If you are not aware, each DOT manages its QPL/APL submittals, reviews and approvals differently and this means each company wishing to see a product added to the list must go through the process 50 times, frequently in different ways with different forms, resulting in a very time-consuming, labor-intensive process,” Tetschner states in the letter. “This burdensome process delays getting new and improved products onto the roadways where they could save lives.”

The letter is signed by the president of each of ATSSA’s Chapters, which represent 1,500 member companies from across the country as well as many public agencies.

Preparing for an incident that may never happen could seem like a poor use of resources. But, if a serious injury or death takes place on the job, the investment will have been well worth it, Alex Kelly, CEO of Salt + Company, said today during a Worker Safety Webinar.

Today’s webinar, “Effective Incident Response,” covered the basics of how to prepare and important resources to have at hand in case a worker is seriously injured or killed on the job. This was the second of five free Worker Safety Webinars hosted by the ATSSA Training Department and its Roadway Worker Protection Council. The first webinar, “Road Safety 101,” was held Nov. 9.

All webinars are free and run from 2-3 p.m. ET.

ATSSA recently unveiled a new and improved online Member Directory that is more user friendly and kept up-to-date with the latest information.

The online Member Directory is a member benefit and accessible to all member firms and their employees, to individual members and to public agencies. It offers the ability to search by Company Type, City, State, Division and Product Categories. 

The Membership Directory is compatible with any laptop, notebook, tablet or smartphone.

ATSSA recently held elections for its Board of Directors and Operating Committee during which seven people were elected by the membership to serve a two-year term, effective Feb. 15.

“The ATSSA Board of Directors congratulates its new directors and Operating Committee members and extends its sincere appreciation to all the candidates for their willingness to serve the Association,” said Board Chair Greg Driskell. “We would also like to sincerely thank Kevin Shelton of C-Hawkk Traffic Control, outgoing Chapter President Council Representative and director ex-officio, for all his time and work on the Board.”

Stone Shakers was announced today as winner of ATSSA’s Got Talent: Battle of the Bands edition, a contest held as part of ATSSA’s 51^st Annual Convention & Traffic Expo.

The band is based in Wilmington, Del., and includes ATSSA member Tony Cappella on bass and vocals. Cappella works for Hill & Smith Inc. He is joined by band members Samantha Poole, who plays guitar, keyboard and saxophone in addition to being lead vocalist; Pete Cogan on harmonica; Kevin Walsh on vocals, guitar and mandolin; and Glenn Walker who does vocals in addition to drums and percussion.

This was the first ATSSA’s Got Talent contest, added for the Association’s online Convention that started Feb. 8 and concludes on Thursday.

ATSSA’s Annual Report for 2020 is now available online. This year’s theme is “A Year of Transitions” and lays out the many achievements that took place across the Association in a historic year.

The report opens with a letter from President & CEO Stacy Tetschner who arrived at ATSSA just before the global pandemic forced staff to begin working from home.

The Association kicked off 2020 with a 50^th anniversary celebration at its Annual Convention & Traffic Expo held in New Orleans. There members said their farewells to President & CEO Roger Wentz who retired after 22 years.

The first time Kathi Holst lost an employee in a work zone incident was decades ago but she vividly remembers the heartache and overwhelming desire to closet herself off from the world. Instead, she had to keep going and deal with the myriad issues that arise from such a tragedy.

Doug Dolinar is still reeling from the death of an employee just six months ago.

Those experiences motivated Holst, president & CEO of RCMS in Naperville, Ill., and Dolinar, president of Guidemark Inc. of Souderton, Pa., to take part in ATSSA’s Roadway Worker Protection Summit scheduled for Feb. 8 as the kickoff event for the Association’s 51st Annual Convention & Traffic Expo.