About Anita Vandervalk, P.E., Vice President at Iteris, and Peter Yauch, P.E., Associate Vice President, Iteris

Anita Vandervalk, P.E. is passionate about working with public agencies to advance safety and mobility solutions that leverage data and technology. She serves as a Vice President for Iteris and has extensive experience managing transportation programs and projects in the disciplines of planning, engineering, Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) operations and data management. Ms. Vandervalk is nationally recognized for her work in the operations, traffic, roadway and safety performance measures, and data arenas. She facilitates collaboration and innovation with partners and stakeholders, helping them achieve their goals and realize visions for safe and congestion free travel.

Pete Yauch, P.E., is well into his fifth decade of designing, operating, and managing traffic signals and signal systems to provide for optimum levels of road user safety and mobility. Starting his career in the early days of computerized signal control, he has since advanced the state of the art through leadership engineering roles in both the public and private sectors. A recent focus has been on improving pedestrian safety at signalized intersections. He is a noted instructor on arterial traffic management and safety.

Balancing Mobility and Safety at Intersections

Maximizing both the mobility and safety of road users at urban and suburban intersections is of utmost importance to city leaders and citizens today. Trends such as micromobility, connected and automated vehicles, and an explosion of available data, coupled with increasing numbers of bikes and pedestrians on our streets, result in both challenges and opportunities.

The increasing ability to provide intersection connectivity, edge computing and cloud storage, along with growing tool sets, such as Signal Performance Measures (SPM) and advanced video detection, provide new and exciting opportunities to traffic engineers. Possible combinations of Vision Zero intersection solutions, Near-Miss analyses, and the ability to make real-time operating decisions at our intersections can be overwhelming. Still, they must be embraced to ensure public officials are accountable to the traveling public.