The Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT) will join the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the University of Rhode Island Transportation Center (URITC) to celebrate National Transportation Week (May 11-17) with a wide range of activities. The programs are designed to recognize the significant role transportation plays in everyday life and to entice middle and high school students to become involved in transportation-related careers, such as engineering and the construction and maintenance trades.
On Monday, May 12, URITC will welcome middle school students to the URI Memorial Union Ballroom for a robotics challenge from 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. Students will build robots that will compete in a transportation-based course. As part of the event, the students will also present a research poster focusing on transportation career opportunities.
On Tuesday, May 13, URITC will also host the 2nd Annual Engineering Career Day at URI’s Engineering Department in Kirk and Wales Halls. This program, sponsored by RIDOT, URITC and the Rhode Island Consulting Engineers (RICE), will provide hands-on engineering opportunities in the transportation environment for high school freshmen and sophomores. Students will be on campus from 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
RIDOT will host the 8th Annual Construction Career Days. This two-day event, on Wednesday, May 14 and Thursday, May 15, 2008 exposes high school students to the transportation trades industry, hoping to interest them in jobs in the field. The events will be held at RIDOT’s Midstate Maintenance Facility in East Greenwich from 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
On Thursday, May 15, Alan E. Pisarski, author of “Commuting in America” will speak at the 8th Annual National Transportation Week Breakfast. The breakfast will be held from 8:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. at the Radisson Airport Hotel in Warwick.
Rounding out the week’s activities will be the 52nd Annual National Bike to Work Day on Friday, May 16. RIDOT Director Michael P. Lewis will join a team from RIDOT and will bike to work, stopping first at a 7:30 a.m. ceremony at the Bank of America City Center in downtown Providence.