The Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) is an international educational and scientific association of transportation professionals who are responsible for meeting mobility and safety needs. ITE facilitates the application of technology and scientific principles to research, planning, functional design, implementation, operation, policy development, and management for any mode of ground transportation.

History

The organization was formed in October 1930 amid growing public demand for experts to alleviate traffic congestion and the frequency of crashes that came from the rapid development of automotive transportation. Various national and regional conferences called for discussions of traffic problems. These discussions led to a group of transportation engineers starting the creation of the first professional traffic society. A meeting took place in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

on October 2, 1930, where a tentative draft of the organization's constitution and by-laws came to fruition. The constitution and by-laws were later adopted at a meeting in New York on January 20, 1931. The first chapter of the Institute of Traffic Engineers was established consisting of 30 men with Ernest P. Goodrich as its first president. The organization consists of 10 districts, 62 sections, and 30 chapters from various parts of the world.

Transportation Professional Certification Board

ITE founded the Transportation Professional Certification Board Inc. (TPCB) in 1996 as an autonomous certification body. TPCB facilitates multiple testing and certification pathways for transportation professionals.

Standards development

ITE is also a standards development organization designated by the

United States Department of Transportation The United States Department of Transportation (USDOT or DOT) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It is headed by the secretary of transportation, who reports directly to the president of the United States a ...

(USDOT). One of the current standardization efforts is the

advanced transportation controller The advanced transportation controller (ATC) is a standardization effort being undertaken by the United States Department of Transportation as part of their Intelligent transportation system (ITS) efforts. The ATC is being developed to provide a ...

. ITE is also known for publishing articles about trip generation, parking generation, parking demand, and various transportation-related material through ''ITE Journal'', a monthly publication.

Criticism

Urbanists such as

Jeff Speck Jeff Speck is an American city planner, writer, and lecturer who is the principal at the urban design and consultancy firm, Speck Dempsey. He has authored or co-authored several books on urban planning, including his 2012 book, ''Walkable City ...

have criticized ITE standards for encouraging towns to build more, wider streets making pedestrians less safe and cities less walkable.

Donald Shoup Donald Curran Shoup (August 24, 1938 – February 6, 2025) was an American engineer and professor in urban planning. He was a research professor of urban planning at University of California, Los Angeles and a noted Georgist economist. His 2005 ...

in his book ''

The High Cost of Free Parking ''The High Cost of Free Parking'' is an urban planning book by UCLA professor Donald Shoup dealing with the costs of free parking on society. It is structured as a criticism of the planning and regulation of parking and recommends that parking ...

'' argues that the ITE Trip Generation Manual estimates give towns the false confidence to regulate minimum parking requirements which reinforce sprawl.

References

External links