Waco is fast becoming Texas’ "Bridge City." The Hilton Hotel, the meeting headquarters, overlooks beautiful Lake Brazos and the first suspension bridge west of the Mississippi. Now, two recently completed I-35 "extradosed" suspension bridges also span Lake Brazos. With almost continuous lighted, concrete riverwalks on both sides of the lake, this is the perfect place for hiking, biking and paddling in late September. Connecting the west side riverwalk and the Baylor University campus with Baylor’s soon-to-open McLane Stadium on the east side is a new pedestrian bridge, that encourages multimodal access to this Big 12 football venue.

An engineering ethics seminar will be held on Wednesday from 5:00-6:00 pm (prior to the Highway Products Group reception) at the conference hotel. Our presenter will be Dewey Helmcamp, JD, with the Texas Board of Professional Engineers. The seminar will satisfy the continuing education professional ethics requirements required by the Texas Board of Professional Engineers.

The morning session will cover the basics of using Vissim 7 and will include working with previously built samples including a signalized intersection and a freeway interchange. Topics covered will be introduced at an introductory level and all participants are welcomed. The afternoon session will cover several aspects of how to use Vissim 7 for corridor analysis. Topics covered will include geometry, volume and routing set-up, The RBC signal controller and a basic overview of data collection. This course is meant for users who are familiar with Vissim. For more detailed information on the training sessions, please see this page.

As engineers, we should seek out opportunities to sharpen our skills and broaden our horizons. GHD (the home of Ourston Engineering) will provide a one-day training that will cover more than just the basics of roundabouts. The goal is to promote discussion and peer interaction through preliminary design sketching, review of designs, and more. Individuals will be grouped to encourage interaction and knowledge transfer. Whether you are a seasoned roundabout designer or a roundabout groupie, you will benefit from this class.

In the early 1980’s, the City of Waco constructed the first section of Brazos Riverwalk Trail along the banks of Lake Brazos between Indian Spring Park and I-35. The Waco Riverwalk includes approximately seven miles of multi-use, lighted trail that loops along both banks of the Brazos River. The scenic riverwalk stretches from Baylor University to Cameron Park and passes underneath the Suspension Bridge. The riverwalk is accessible from various points throughout downtown Waco and captures the natural beauty of the Brazos River Corridor.

The newest development along the riverwalk is the new Baylor football stadium, McLane Stadium. McLane Stadium will be a catalyst for economic development along the Brazos River and will continue progress underway throughout downtown Waco. The stadium will be the largest project in Central Texas history and has the potential to transform the city. New hotels, restaurants, and shops will all provide entertainment for game-day crowds.

The technical tour will include a look at the history of the project area, the development vision along Lake Brazos, and the game day operations for the new 45,000 seat stadium. Also included is a behind the scenes tour of the stadium’s operations center and the stadium complex. All 2014 Baylor games are sold out, so this is your first and best chance to see the new jewel on the Brazos.

The Waco Transit System has recently upgraded its services and headquarter stations to state-of-the-art. This tour will provide a full look at both the operations and maintenance aspects of the facilities. The different services of the transit system to be highlighted will be the Demand Response Van, GPS Bus Tracking, Ride the Dash!, Baylor Shuttles, and Baylor Football Games. Learn how the Transit Management Center tracks and maintains their varied services to the Waco and Baylor communities. Attendees will be picked up in a Waco Transit Bus at the convention center. The bus ride will take attendees to the Waco Transit Operations and Maintenance Headquarters.