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President's Message
Happy New Year, CAPSITE Members!
I am honored to begin 2026 serving as your CAPSITE President. As we turn the page on a new year, I want to thank all of you for your continued engagement, passion, and commitment to advancing transportation and traffic engineering across our region. CAPSITE thrives because of our collective involvement, and I’m excited for the year ahead.
Looking back, our 2025 Annual Conference and Business Meeting was a tremendous success. We welcomed over 150 attendees and featured a vibrant vendor exhibit — setting a new record for conference attendance! This milestone reflects the dedication and enthusiasm of our members and sponsors, and it highlights the strength of our CAPSITE community.
I also want to take this opportunity to welcome our new and appointed board members: Pavan Velpuri, our newly elected Baltimore Area Director; Deep Patel, our newly appointed Financial Assistant. Elisa Michelle continues to be appointed to serve on the Board as the District Representative for our Section. Your contributions and leadership will help guide CAPSITE toward a successful 2026.
One of our key priorities this year is strengthening our leadership and volunteer base. CAPSITE is powered by volunteers — professionals who contribute their time, ideas, and energy to make our organization vibrant and impactful. Whether it’s helping plan events, mentoring students, supporting outreach efforts, or leading committees, your involvement makes a difference. If you’ve ever thought about giving back or getting more involved, 2026 is the perfect year to raise your hand. We welcome volunteers at all levels and in all roles — and we’d love to hear from you.
I’m also thrilled to share that the Audi Field technical meeting is returning in 2026! This signature CAPSITE gathering brings together transportation professionals for engaging content, networking opportunities, and a fun, memorable experience. It’s always one of our most anticipated events, and we look forward to making this year’s edition even better.
In the broader world of transportation, artificial intelligence (AI) is emerging as a major theme shaping how we plan, operate, and optimize mobility systems. From real-time traffic management to predictive analytics and signal optimization, AI is transforming the industry. As professionals, it’s important to explore how these tools can complement our expertise to enhance safety, efficiency, and equity in the systems we design, operate, and manage.
This year, we’ll be watching these trends closely and exploring how they intersect with our local practice, education, and professional development. CAPSITE members are at the forefront of applying innovation to real-world challenges — and your insight will help guide our collective conversations.
I encourage you to stay engaged with CAPSITE by joining events, sharing your ideas, and, importantly, considering how you might contribute as a volunteer leader. Together, we can make 2026 a year of growth, connection, and impact for our community.
Lili Liang, CAPSITE President
2026 MCDITE Annual Meeting - Registration Open
Please visit the link below to register and for more information!
The Sectional Episode 13 - Out Now!
Although Xavier Harmony has now moved outside of the region and the US entirely, he provided a variety of local transit insights. Sarah and Eric enjoyed discussing everything from ridership to policy decisions, focusing on how transit impacts our communities and the transportation options available. We enjoyed Xavier’s unique perspective because of his diverse career path and the comparisons he can draw between Australia and the US. We admire Xavier as a professional and a father for sharing his passion with his daughter. Xavier was previously employed by NVTC but now works for the Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads in Brisbane. He’s no longer local but even across the world, the transportation community remains tight knit.
Search for “CAPSITE” or “The Sectional” on your favorite podcast service or visit the Spreaker hosting site. Please use your podcast service to like and subscribe!
Please contact Producer David Duarte with any comments, questions, and suggestions.
Save The Date: 2026 CAPSITE February Technical Meeting
CAPSITE is pleased to invite you to the 2026 CAPSITE February Technical Meeting in Tysons, Virginia on February 26th. This meeting will feature technical presentations from our 2025 Premier Potomac Sponsors and information about their firms. We will also share about the benefits of becoming a CAPSITE sponsor in 2026 and provide an overview of our 2026 programming plans. PDH credits will be provided to all attendees.
Additional details regarding registration and the tentative agenda will be available soon!
No food or drinks will be provided during this meeting but afterwards, we will invite all attendees to attend an optional happy hour at the Circa At The Boro (within walking distance) with food and beverages provided by CAPSITE from 5pm to 7pm. Please join your ITE colleagues to kick-off a great year of technical meetings with an evening of networking and social opportunity.
The meeting location has several paid garage parking options in the building and in the Boro Town Center. We recommend traveling by transit as the Greensboro Metro Station along the Silver Line is located adjacent to the building entrance.
If you have any event questions, please contact David Samba and Alvaro Calle for additional information. We look forward to seeing you there!
Thank you to our 2025 Premier Potomac Sponsors - AECOM, JMT, Quality Counts, and VHB!
Maryland MathCounts Seeking Volunteers
Maryland MATHCOUNTS, a volunteer-run organization that promotes math excellence among the state's middle school students, is seeking volunteers for their upcoming competition at the McDonogh School in Owings Mills, Maryland.
- Saturday, March 14th - Maryland State Competition. Proctors needed from 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM. Scoring room volunteers needed from 10:00 AM to 1:30 PM.
If you are interested in volunteering, please e-mail Kelly Misner and CC Joel Oppenheimer.
ITE Member Survey
ITE International just launched its 2026 All-Member Survey. ITE conducts the survey once every three years and use the feedback to help drive their strategic plan. Feedback from the 2023 All-Member Survey led to many of ITE's recent achievements, as highlighted on the What We Achieved webpage.
To participate in the 2026 All-Member Survey, please click the link below! Members who take part in the survey are eligible to win a $250 gift card. In addition, ITE International will make a $500 donation to CAPSITE's scholarship fund if our membership reaches 20% participation in the survey.
2026 SimCap Meeting Recap
The 2026 CAPSITE and VASITE Joint SimCap Meeting on January 13th featured eight presentations exploring the latest in simulation and capacity analysis practices with eight amazing presentation topics. This year's meeting highlighted methodological advancements in modeling, operations analysis guidelines, with a strong focus on multimodal data analysis and innovative data analysis tools and approaches.
The first session highlighted methodological advancements and software evolution. Scott Washburn (University of Florida) and Chung Tran (WSB) presented an automated cluster analysis tool for FHWA guidelines. They were followed by Sean Fitzgerel (PTV Group), and Matthew Jukes (Aimsun), who provided roadmaps for their respective simulation platforms, emphasizing live modeling and enhanced features for 2026. Shannon Warchol and Bastian Schroeder (Kittelson & Associates) presented on the integration of pedestrian and bicycle performance measures into the latest VDOT TOSAM. Joe Blasi and Soheil Sajjadi from HNTB showcased a Light Rail Transit (LRT) modeling and evaluation framework using a multiresolution modeling approach that integrates VISUM, Vistro, and VISSIM. The evening concluded with practical planning strategies: Junghwan Kim (Virginia Tech) led a discussion on the opportunities and challenges of Generative AI in the transportation sector, Jun Yang (M-NCPPC) provided an overview of traffic forecasting practices in Montgomery County, and Feng Liu (Cambridge Systematics) shared a framework for project prioritization in Northern Virginia. It was a productive evening of insight and collaboration for the SimCap community.