The Virginia Tech traffic bowl team won the Virginia Section of the Institute of Transportation Engineers beating the University of Virginia with a score of 5,6000 to 2,800. The team got the opportunity to move on and represent Virginia at the Southern District Meeting in Savannah, Georgia.

In 2009, the traffic bowl was started. It is a jeopardy-style competition that features teams comprised of up to three students testing their knowledge of ITE, transportation planning and engineering topics, and some fun categories. Virginia Tech’s team was made up of Ian McManus, Marcella Kaplan and Katie Belt. In the preliminary round, the team competed again North Carolina State University and University of Mississippi and was victorious. They then competed in the Final Four against Georgia Tech and Clemson. Clemson, the defending national champion won that round.

However Virginia Tech’s team had many things to celebrate. Three alumni were honored: Robert Lewis received the John F. Exnicios Government Employee Outstanding Service Award, Noelle Rauer received the Joseph M. Thomas Outstanding Young Member Award, and Mark Herman was elected to ITE leadership as Secretary/Treasurer. Additionally, each member of the traffic bowl team was awarded $250.

Since the Traffic Bowl was introduced as an international program, 121 ITE student chaters have participated. The teams that win the district competition advance to compete in the College Traffic Bowl Grand Championship, conducted annually during ITE’s International Annual Meeting and Exhibit. Click here to see the list of previous winners.