2003 Award Committee Selections

The NEITE Awards Committee selected the following recipients for the 2003 NEITE awards:

• James R.Capaldi, P.E. Director of RIDOT: Transportation Leadership Award
• Chuck Sterling, P.E. of Mass Turnpike Authority: Transportation Engineer of the Year Award
• Neil Boudreau of MassHighway: Distinguished Service Award
• Raghuram Dharmaraju of VTRANS: Young Professional Group Award

These awards were presented at the New England Section's annual meeting in Warwick, Rhode Island on December 1, 2003 by the NEITE President, Jack Gillon, P.E. Assisting Jack were various members of the committee who read short biographical introductions. The introductions and plaque texts of the 2003 Awards are presented below.

James R.Capaldi, P.E.

Director
Rhode Island Department of Transportation

James Capaldi has been with RIDOT for 33 years. He started as a University of Rhode Island intern. Mr Capaldi has overseen dozens of major construction projects in Rhode Island including the new roadway system around the successful Providence Place Mall. The mall ramps project was the first RIDOT project that had a set completion date in the early planning stages. Mr. Capaldi redesigned the Washington Bridge replacement project so that an 1800-foot linear park and bike path could be created on a remaining portion of the existing bridge and saved $30 million in demolition costs in the process. He was also responsible for developing and implementing a state of the art electronic disk based bidding system for all of the Department's construction contracts saving over $1 million per year in paper costs and the transmittal of contract addenda.

Mr. Capaldi recently implemented a GARVEE bond - a Grant Anticipation Revenue Vehicle bond - to fund five construction projects within the State. RIDOT received interest rates of 3.52 percent on the Federal side and 4.04 percent on the State side. These are the lowest rates ever received by a state for unprotected debt bonds. This GARVEE brightens Rhode Islands's transportation future in that it allows the Washington Bridge project, the construction of a new Sakonnet River Bridge, the relocation of the I-195 and Route 403, as well as the final portion of the Freight Rail Improvement Project, better known as FRIP, to all be completed by the end of this decade. Without Mr. Capaldi's insight most of these projects would have languished in the realm of "someday RIDOT will finish them" status.

TRANSPORTATION LEADERSHIP AWARD
2003
Presented To

JAMES R.CAPALDI, P.E.

For

For His Vision and Leadership
Implementing an Innovative
Financing Strategy Accelerating
Several Major Improvements to
Rhode Island's Transportation System

Chuck Sterling, P.E.

Director of Traffic Operations
Massachusetts Turnpike Authority

Charles F. Sterling, P.E. holds a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from Lowell Technological Institute, now University of Massachusetts Lowell, a Master's degree in Transportation Engineering from the Pennsylvania State University and a Master of Public Administration from the Harvard University John F. Kennedy School of Government.

Chuck began his career with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Metropolitan District Commission. He then moved to the Massachusetts Department of Public Works, now Massachusetts Highway Department, where he worked over 35 years. He had multiple responsibilities and positions with that department and its Bureau of Transportation Planning and Development, advancing to Assistant State Traffic Engineer and, in 1992, State Traffic Engineer. This year, Chuck moved to the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority as its Director of Traffic Operations. Chuck is also a retired Lieutenant Colonel, Corps of Engineers, Massachusetts National Guard, with his last assignment at the Camp Edwards military reservation.

Over the years, Chuck has been instrumental in countless important transportation engineering initiatives and projects. His contributions have included traffic calming guidelines, Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act traffic impact study guidelines, use of breakdown lanes as peak-period travel lanes on eastern Massachusetts freeways (Massachusetts Routes 3 and 128 and Interstate Route 93), securing funding for new crash-record systems for the Massachusetts Highway Department and Registry of Motor Vehicles and the Traffic Management Plan for the reconstruction of metropolitan Boston's Southeast Expressway and many other efforts.

Chuck has been a long-time member of the Institute of Transportation Engineers. He has been especially involved with the New England Section Technical Committee over many years, and has been key in setting its agenda and executing its projects.

TRANSPORTATION ENGINEER OF THE YEAR AWARD
2003
Presented To
CHARLES F. STERLING, P.E.

For
Outstanding Technical Contributions
Advancing the Traffic Engineering
Profession In the Commonwealth
Of Massachusetts And Influencing
All of New England

Neil Boudreau

Manager Traffic Operations & Safety
Massachusetts Highway Department

Neil graduated from the University of Massachusetts at Lowell in 1995 with a Masters of Science in Civil Engineering, Transportation Major, after completing a BSCE in 1992. After a short internship with the traffic data collection unit at Vanasse Hangen & Brustlin in Watertown, Massachusetts, he took a job in 1994 as a Junior Transportation Engineer with Holden Engineering & Surveying out of Concord, New Hampshire. For the past eight years, he has worked at the Massachusetts Highway Department in the Traffic Operations Division. His primary duties involve the review of traffic impact studies and functional design reports at the preliminary engineering level. His current position is Manager of the Traffic Operations & Safety Unit at MassHighway, overseeing traffic management, operations and crash data activities.

He has been a member of ITE for over eight years and has served on the NEITE Technical Committee for the last eight years. While serving as a member of the Young Professionals Group for a period of four years, he assisted in running a very successful Job Shadow program and hosting a memorable joint social with the senior District 1 members at the Annual Meeting in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The past two years he has served as the Editor of the New England Chronicle and has done a superb job in redesigning it for the needs of today's membership.

DISTINGUISHED SERVICE AWARD
2003
Presented To

NEIL E. BOUDREAU

For
Outstanding Contributions
To the Profession and The Section
Marked By the High Standard
Of The
New England Chronicle

Raghuram Dharmaraju

Raghuram Dharmaraju (Raghu) is a 1999 graduate of the Indian Institute of Technology in Madras, India where he received a BS in Civil Engineering. In 2001 he completed his Masters in Civil Engineering at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. His thesis involved the use of ITS technologies for automated detection and classification of non-motorized modes. Upon graduation from UMass he accepted a position with the Vermont Agency of Transportation in their Traffic Design Section. Besides normal signal design activities, Raghu has been the project manager for the Vermont Route 15 signal coordination project. Raghu has been working with the MPO to improve the traffic flow on this arterial that serves as the connecting link for a number of major employers including: IBM, Fletcher-Allen Hospital and St Michaels College. Following the optimization of the coordination the Agency and the MPO will be looking at ITS enhancements to the corridor that will provide additional benefits.

YOUNG PROFESSIONALS GROUP AWARD
2003
Presented To

RAGHURAM DHARMARAJU

For
Dedication and Service
To the Vermont Chapter
And Creation of Web Pages
For The 2004
District 1 Annual Meeting