Event Details
Ames, Iowa
Gateway Hotel and Conference Center
2100 Green Hills Drive
Ames, IA 50014
515-292-8600
Note: Overnight hotel rooms need to be reserved before October 14, 2025 to receive the block overnight hotel room rate.
November 5, 2025
Event runs from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Registration opens at 8:00 a.m.
Event Contact
Description
Theme: Transportation Safety: Empowering Local Action
The theme of the 2025 Traffic and Safety Forum is Transportation Safety: Empowering Local Action. The event’s purpose is to provide traffic and safety engineering professionals, particularly those who lead or support local agencies, with information about new and innovative systems and processes, share individual experiences, and collectively address issues of interest. In recent years, representatives have attended from cities, counties, consultants, universities, and the Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT).
Keynote Speaker
Tim Kelly, Mayor of Chattanooga, TN
Tim Kelly is the 66th mayor of Chattanooga. He grew up in Chattanooga and attended undergraduate school at Columbia University. Upon return to Chattanooga, Kelly expanded his family’s automotive dealership and launched several successful ventures of his own, including co-founding Chattanooga’s professional soccer club.
He later earned his MBA from Emory University’s Goizueta School of Business. Kelly has always been active in the community, serving on boards for multiple nonprofits and even teaching as an adjunct professor at the University of Tennessee Chattanooga.
Since being elected mayor in April 2021, he has made great strides on his vision to create One Chattanooga – a city where every resident has the opportunity to thrive and prosper.
Featured Speaker
Scott Marler, Iowa DOT Director
Scott Marler became the Director of the Iowa DOT in February 2020. Marler has worked for the Iowa DOT for over 26 years, with experience in traffic operations, highway project development, regulatory compliance, and the natural environment. Marler has been active in leadership development and workforce planning and has also been instrumental in preparing for automated transportation and advanced technologies.
Marler is active on several national committees associated with the American Association of State Transportation Officials (AASHTO) and the Transportation Research Board (TRB), in particular focused on transportation operations and advanced technologies. He has served on a national technical committee for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, an expert panel for TRB, and a course development committee for the National Highway Institute. Marler has also served on Governor’s councils and other State of Iowa task forces.
Marler holds a Master of Science degree from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, and a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg.
Tentative Agenda
| Time | Session |
|---|---|
| 8:00 – 9:00 a.m. | Registration and Continental Breakfast |
| 9:00 – 9:30 a.m. | Welcome and Overview
|
| 9:30 – 10:30 a.m. | Keynote Speaker Tim Kelly, Mayor of Chattanooga, TN |
| 10:30 – 10:45 a.m. | Break |
| 10:45 – 11:00 a.m. | Strategic Highway Safety Plan: Addressing Local Roads |
| 11:00 – 12:15 p.m. | Public and Elected Officials Panel Discussion Transportation Safety: Empowering Local Action
|
| 12:15 – 1:15 p.m. | Lunch (provided) |
| 1:15 – 2:30 p.m. | Safety Resources for Local Officials and Engineers
|
| 2:30 – 2:45 p.m. | Break |
| 2:45 – 4:30 p.m. | Iowa DOT Update
|
| 4:30 p.m. | Adjourn |
Download a PDF of this agenda.