PERSPECTIVES
Traffic engineer recognized
Ken Voigt, a senior traffic engineer in Ayres’ Waukesha, Wisconsin, office, recently earned two awards from professional associations in which he’ s actively involved.
• The Institute of
Transportation Engineers( ITE) Midwestern District presented Voigt with its Distinguished Member Award, which is given to a District member who’ s provided significant contributions to ITE, the District, and its section / chapter over multiple years. Voigt set up an initial partnership with the ITE Wisconsin Section to help develop a professional association to discuss intelligent transportation systems work and projects. He has been a leader at every ITE level: president of the Wisconsin Section in 1979, District 4 vice chair in 1980, international director for the Midwestern District from 2004 to 2006, and International Executive Committee member from 2008 to 2010, serving as international president in 2009. Voigt’ s leadership has extended to the transportation engineering and planning community through his election and service as a national board member for the Congress for the New Urbanism from 2014 to 2016, president of the CNU Wisconsin Chapter( 2010 to present), and executive director of the Great Lakes Transportation Enterprise Institute( 2013 to present). He’ s served as a college educator, teaching many continuing education workshops and courses. Since 1982 he has served as an adjunct professor at the University of Wisconsin’ s Milwaukee and Madison campuses.
• Voigt was also recognized with the Intelligent Transportation Society( ITS) of Wisconsin Distinguished Service Award, presented to an individual who has contributed significantly to the advancement of intelligent transportation systems in Wisconsin and to the ITS Wisconsin chapter. Voigt was the founding president of the chapter, which was organized in 1994 and originally known as Smartways Wisconsin before the chapter became affiliated with ITS America in 2005. He served as president for several years and has been involved with the chapter in a variety of roles over the years.
New vice president named
After more than two decades at Ayres, Eric Sorensen has been named vice president of Midwest transportation operations. Sorensen will oversee transportation and traffic engineering and construction services in our Waukesha, Madison, Green Bay, and Eau Claire offices in Wisconsin. Since joining Ayres in 1995, Sorensen has steadily advanced his career from his work as a design engineer to his current role as a transportation supervisor. He will officially assume his new duties January 1. Sorensen is a registered professional engineer in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Arizona, Georgia, and Florida. He has a bachelor’ s degree in civil engineering from the University of Minnesota. He is a member of the American Council of Engineering Companies.
LA manager announced
Bruce Morrow has been named Ayres’ manager of landscape architecture. In his new role he will supervise our landscape architecture staff in Madison and Eau Claire, Wisconsin. The group has six licensed landscape architects, three landscape designers, two civil engineers, and one GIS specialist. The group manages its own projects and provides extensive support to hundreds of civil engineering, transportation, water resources, and other specialists throughout the company. Morrow has been providing planning, design, and implementation services since 1995. His project experience ranges from individual site developments to large city center master plans.
Project manager joins agency board
Zach Nienow, a project manager in Ayres’ aerial mapping group, has joined the Wisconsin Land Information Association’ s Board of Directors. With nearly 12 years of experience in geospatial sciences, Nienow designs and leads LiDAR, orthoimagery, and digital mapping projects from flight to delivery. He serves a diverse range of clients in the private