October 24, 2013

AASHTO Officially Kicks Off Centennial Celebration at Annual Meeting

Iowa Department of Transportation Director Paul Trombino, chairman of the special AASHTO Centennial Committee

The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials formally began its year-long 100th anniversary celebration last week at its annual meeting, held Oct. 17-21 in Denver.

"We are now kicking off 100 years of our organization. How many things in our lives today have lasted 100 years?" said AASHTO Executive Director Bud Wright during his report to the AASHTO Board of Directors Monday. "We don't intend for this to be a look backward. We really want to use this as a platform to look forward."

AASHTO's centennial celebration will run through the 2014 AASHTO Annual Meeting, set to take place in Charlotte, N.C. next November.

Iowa Department of Transportation Director Paul Trombino, chairman of the special AASHTO Centennial Committee, provided an update during the plenary session on centennial planning efforts the organization, including progress toward writing an AASHTO Centennial book, along with a large shadowbox for members to experience. Celebrations will continue throughout the year, next at the AASHTO Washington Briefing early next year. Trombino also highlighted the Centennial website and newsletter as sources of information for the coming year.

Centennial themed materials were available at the AASHTO Centennial booth. Among the various centennial products the largest demand existed for the AASHTO Centennial calendars, that provides a visual tour of the last 100 years of AASHTO.

Centennial products available online for sale at the AASHTO Bookstore, including baseball caps, t-shirts and polo shirts, mugs and cups, pens, flash drives, flashlights, coasters, and many others.

Additional information on AASHTO history, centennial events, and opportunities to participate is available at http://centennial.transportation.org/.