PUG Corner
May 27, 2025Updates
Spring is here and summer is quickly approaching. The PUG Board and Advisors have been working diligently on the agenda for the 2025 PUG Conference, in order to get it out to the users as soon as possible to allow for travel requests to be submitted earlier. We have come up with a lot of topics that we think will be valuable to the user community but we are always open to more suggestions. If you have any suggestions you can submit topics here: Call for Presentations
The new advisor positions continue to be a valuable addition to the PUG Board. The advisors provide easier communication between the TAGs and the PUG Board allowing us to focus more on what matters, all of you. This ensures that any feedback provided to the advisors during the TAG meetings is identified and addressed. All of your feedback and suggestions are greatly appreciated.
Past Achievements
Can you believe that the PUG Conference registration website is already up and open for registration? AASHTO’s cooperation with providing a dedicated conference planner has freed up the PUG Board immensely to allow us to focus on the agenda topics. We continue to work together to ensure that feedback from past conferences is addressed and are always on the lookout for quality of life improvements during conference attendance. If you have not already, please visit the conference page and see if it looks beneficial for your teams to attend. We welcome all AASHTOWare Project users. The link to the registration page can be found here: 2025 PUG Conference
Future Plans
Keep an eye out for the new PUG Ballot changes coming soon. The PUG Ballot process has needed a facelift for some time. There will be a topic at the 2025 PUG Conference to give more insight into the changes and how to use the new system for voting for enhancements.
The 2026 PUG Conference location has been determined and Murfreesboro, Tennessee has been chosen. It was a difficult choice between Franklin and Murfreesboro. Murfreesboro was chosen because it was a better location due to the logistics of the conference. I am very excited to see the Tennessee Department of Transportation again and all that their beautiful city has to offer.
Voting for the 2027 PUG Conference will be taking place in the near future. I will be reaching out to the Agency User Representatives in the next month to hold the electronic voting to determine the top 3 locations to hold the conference in 2027. The 2025 PUG Conference attendees will then vote for the #1 location during the general session on Thursday morning of the conference. We will be choosing a location from among the Northeastern states that license AASHTOWare Project.
In Closing
If you would also like to serve as a leader of this great community as a member of the PUG Board or know of a great candidate, then please nominate them here: PUG Board Nomination Form. This year we will be needing a new Chairman, Vice Chairman and Secretary. I highly recommend volunteering as it has been a great learning experience and I have made a lot of professional contacts and friends along the way.
As always, on behalf of the PUG Board, we look forward to hearing from all of you and cannot wait to see you all at the 2025 PUG Conference in Ohio!
Respectfully,
Ken Sereduk
PUG Board Chairman