ITS Canada Awards Celebration 2022

Ms Shawna Boakes, City of Windsor 

Shawna Boakes is the recipient of the 2022 Distinguished  Member of the Year Award. Shawna is an accomplished professional in the Canadian transportation industry. She is currently the Executive Director of Operations in the City of Windsor and also on the Board of Directors of ITS Canada as the Treasurer. She is also the President of Ontario Trillium Chapter of the International Municipal Signal Association (IMSA). These serve to illustrate her passion for and commitment to ITS.  She graduated from the University of Windsor with an electrical engineering degree in 2000. Shawna’s passion for transportation,  and particularly for ITS, is demonstrated by her volunteering effort in an array of ITS-related activities in various transportation associations.  In 2020, she began participating on a number of task forces within ITE’s Connected Intersections committee. Shawna is a passionate, dedicated, and motivated ITS professional willing to put in time and effort into the organizations she is a part of and totally committed on her duties and responsibilities. With her dedication, she has always been an asset to her organizations, by shaping their ITS agenda, enhancing their ITS policies and/or improving their ITS operation to the overall benefit of the ITS industry. Learn more

Transportation Seminiar Series, University of New Brunswick 

The Transportation Seminar Series, University of New Brunswick is the receipient of the Distinguished Group Member of the Year Award. The 53-year weekly Transportation Seminar series presented by The Transportation Group of the University of New Brunswick Since 1969, the weekly Transportation Seminar series offered by the UNB Transportation Group has influenced post-graduate transportation engineering and economics students in the evolution and real-world application of technologies to support transportation services and infrastructure.  Each week, the seminar features a distinguished external speaker who presents on a current issue facing the transportation industry, development of an enabling technology or delivery of a service.  Following the presentation, the students, working professionals and faculty engage with the speaker in a broad discussion of the topic of the week. The Seminar Series has been an effective incubator that has stimulated UNB Transportation Group students to seek innovative and high-tech solutions to a myriad of transportation issues. The award was accepted by Prof. Trevor Hanson. Learn more

Rail Crossing Advanced Traveller Information System (RC-ATIS), PBX Engineering

The Rail Crossing Advanced Traveller Information System (RC-ATIS) project is the winner of the 2022 Mobility Award for Data Driven Transport Outcomes. The Roberts Bank Rail Corridor (RBRC) is a critical east-west link for the movement of goods by rail —connecting ports and facilities to the North American rail network. The rail corridor spans the City of Surrey, City of Langley, and the Township of Langley. The rail line intersects several major roadways, with four at-grade rail crossings being within the project area.Rail traffic through the corridor is predicted to continually increase both in frequency and in length. Recognizing the need to address this growing issue, the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure initiated the Rail Crossing Information System (RCIS) project. The RCIS utilizes Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) technologies to mitigate the impact of rail traffic on commuters. The RCIS provides direct travel time savings benefits to the area residents who commute regularly. This is an industry-leading, made-in-BC solution, applying locally developed technology and engineering expertise to overcome a difficult challenge, positively affecting the communities of BC. Cory Edgar, PBX Engineering, accepted the Award.

George Massey Tunnel SCADA Life Safety and Lane Control System Cybersecurity Audit Remediation, Arcadis IBI Group

The George Massey Tunnel SCADA Life Safety and Lane Control System Cybersecurity Audit Remediation project is the winner of the 2022 Mobility Award for Cybersecurity in ITS. The British Columbia Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure identified the need to remediate SCADA Life Safety and Lane Control Systems located at George Massey Tunnel to align with recommendations identified by the Office of the Auditor General Cybersecurity Audit Remediation initiative. The project was also prioritized to address critical system components that were approaching end of service/end of life. Key highlights of the project included the migration of the central system SCADA platform to MoTI micro data centre located at TMCBC with local components hosted using Ministry managed infrastructure. The project included the transition of the SCADA platform to a new solution that aligns with Ministry standards for the overall architecture including authentication, among other required cybersecurity processes and controls. All critical data connections were migrated to the new MoTI core network which was completed with limited impact to operations. The result of this project is improved cybersecurity controls will the alignment to BC MoTI OCIO cybersecurity controls, improved redundancy with a new modern platform that can be operated from infrastructure located at TMCBC and the GMT LOC, and improved operations through real time reporting, alarming, and much more – not to mention improved safety for the travelling public. This award was accepted by Jonathan Darton, Arcadis IBI Group.

Queue and Stopped Vehicle Advisory System HWY405, Ministry of Transporation Ontario

The Queue and Stopped Vehicle Advisory System HWY405 project is the winner of the 2022 Mobility Award for Smart Mobility - Connected Infrastructure. The Highway 405 Queue and Stopped Vehicle Advisory System (QSVAS) uses state of the art vehicle detection to automate dynamic message warnings for queues and stopped vehicles along the 8km eastbound corridor approaching the Canada-USA border crossing.This project is focused on using ITS technology to improve safety and reliability for passenger cars and commercial trucking.  The project corridor is a major international border crossing, with 2 passenger car lanes, 1 truck lane, and 1 express truck lane, separated by barriers. The site experiences frequent lengthy slow moving or stopped queues of vehicles on a high speed roadway, creating a recurring safety issue for approaching vehicles. The Operational Performance Testing (OPT) period closed in April 2022, after a successful 6 month test period.  Several hundred stopped and queued vehicles were detected each month - IBI Group independently validated the detections, and assisted the project team in identifying areas for improvement.The project was led by MTO, with project planning by IBI Group.  Black & McDonald Limited led the field implantation and operation.  Transnomis Solutions designed and implemented the software and automation control systems.  Lea Consulting provided design services.  Global Network Integrators provided the network integration.  Sensors were provided by smartmicro. Rey Shen accepted this award on behalf of MTO.

Area X.O, Invest Ottawa

The 2022 Excellence in R&D Award recipient is Area X.O, operated by Invest Ottawa, Transport Canada, the City of Ottawa, NRC and industry partners launched the first on-road electric Low-Speed Automated Shuttle (LSAS) trial of its kind in Ontario from Nov 2, 2020 to Nov13, 2020. Leveraging unique capabilities, expertise and collaborators, this project aimed to test and evaluate LSAS technology and help Transport Canada to prepare for the safe and efficient integration of smart mobility innovations into future Canadian passenger transportation systems. Accepting this award was Sonya Shorey, Invest Ottawa.

Dr. Karim El-Basyouny, University of Alberta