The 103rd Purdue Road School Transportation Conference and Expo was the largest Road School on record at 2,709 attendees. This year's event included 155 technical sessions involving 327 speakers and moderators. The program had 164 Professional Development Hours (PDHs) available, including 4 hours of Indiana Statutes and Ethics for Professional Engineers.

Purdue’s Associate Vice President for Engagement, Steve Abel, kicked off the Opening Session with updates on JTRP projects and recognition of Purdue’s class of 1897 first female engineer, Martha Dicks Stevens.

The Opening Session featured three keynote speakers. Tim Brown, Indiana State Representative, discussed road funding and Indiana’s future transportation needs. Frankfort Mayor Chris L. McBarnes spoke about improvements to downtown Frankfort and creating a community of better jobs. Indiana Department of Transportation Commissioner Joe McGuinness explained how maintaining our roads contributes to our state’s economic development.

At Wednesday’s Road School Luncheon, Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb and Purdue President Mitch Daniels sat down and discussed the state’s future in transportation and infrastructure needs now and long term. In the fireside chat format, the audience had the opportunity to ask the speakers a few of their own questions.

This year we introduced our new mobile app. The app provided a quick access to the schedule, a list of speakers, location of exhibitor booths, maps and allowed attendees to upload pictures.

Purdue Road School is a great Indiana tradition that brings together federal, state and local agencies, elected officials, and professionals from industry, consulting and academia to collaborate and reflect on diverse transportation topics.

Additional photos from 2017 Road School can be viewed here: https://www.flickr.com/gp/jtrp/5G7766

Please mark your calendars for next year’s Road School, March 5-8, 2018.