Skip to main content

Strong response for ARTBA’s student infrastructure video competition

A very strong response has been seen for the 3rd Annual Student Transportation Video Contest run by the Washington, DC-based American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA). Illinois high school and University of Maryland college students took top honours in this national video contest on America’s transportation network. The association received more than 40 entries this year in two categories. Sponsored by ARTBA’s Research and Education Division (RED), the contest aims to raise awareness about
October 14, 2013 Read time: 2 mins
A very strong response has been seen for the 3rd Annual Student Transportation Video Contest run by the Washington, DC-based American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA). Illinois high school and University of Maryland college students took top honours in this national video contest on America’s transportation network. The association received more than 40 entries this year in two categories. Sponsored by ARTBA’s Research and Education Division (RED), the contest aims to raise awareness about transportation infrastructure issues among younger generations by challenging students to develop a brief video exploring various topics relating to America’s transportation network.  Students are able to choose their own subject matter, with most focusing on how transportation infrastructure is built and paid for, the impacts of traffic congestion, transportation and urban development plans, and the public’s perception of transportation development. Submissions were reviewed by a panel of ARTBA members and the winning entries were shown last month during the association’s National Convention in Milwaukee.

Christian Surtz, a sophomore at Marmion Academy in Batavia, Ill., and Tom Rogers, an undergraduate at University of Maryland University College, are the top winners and will each receive a US$500 cash prize. First place in category I, for elementary, middle or high school students was the film; By the Numbers: Bridges in the United States. This was made by Christian Surz, a high school sophomore who studies broadcast and electronic communication arts. Surtz developed a creative and informative four-minute video highlighting the need to repair many of America’s more than 600,000 bridges. He combined alarming statistics with interesting visuals to make a compelling case for the importance of bridges to our economy and daily life.  As the narrator, Surtz explains how and why bridges are classified as structurally deficient includes a visit to a structurally deficient bridge in Illinois to drive home the message.

Second place was awarded to the film A Country in Motion, by Alexander Zemaitis of the Capital Area School for the Arts in New Cumberland, PA. Third Place was presented to the film Bridges: Why America Must Invest Now, by Alice and David Navadeh of North Allegheny Intermediate High School in Wexford, PA.

Related Content

  • ARTBA: Up to 9,600 jobs at risk if Pennsylvania cuts transport works
    August 1, 2013
    Cutting highway and bridge work in the US state of Pennsylvania by 25% in any given year, and then sustaining it in future years, would cost the state US$1.25 billion in lost economic activity over a five-year period and put as many as 9,600 jobs permanently at risk, according to the American Road & Transportation Builders Association’s (ARTBA) chief economist. Dr. Alison Premo Black’s assessment of the impact of the potential impact of state-wide transport works cuts was part of her testimony to the Pennsy
  • ARTBA sets new award programme
    April 24, 2012
    The American Road & Transportation Builders Association Transportation Development Foundation (ARTBA-TDF) is launching a new awards programme to recognise innovations in transportation. The aim is to highlight developments that further improve the US infrastructure network for those who pay for it, use it and rely on it. The TransOvation Awards honour innovative transportation infrastructure-related products, services, technologies and techniques introduced over the past five years that provide a high retur
  • Policy proposed for US on emissions
    July 5, 2012
    Stricter standards for particulate matter (PM) or soot proposed by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) could endanger transportation improvements. That is the message from the American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA), which believes that the tougher PM standards could put federal highway funds in jeopardy. Marc Herbst, executive director of the Long Island Contractors’ Association (LICA) and chairman of ARTBA’s Council of State Executives, explained that EPA’s proposed new standa
  • 3M is helping finance ARTBA programme
    February 28, 2013
    The American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA) Foundation’s Lanford Family Highway Worker Memorial Scholarship Programme is to receive a major financial contribution from the 3M Traffic Safety and Security Division. This programme provides post-high school financial assistance to the children of highway workers who have been killed or permanently disabled in the line of duty. The scholarship programme was originally launched in October 1999 through a gift from the families of past ARTBA cha