Distinguished Member Award

The Great Lakes District of the Institute of Transportation Engineers has presented the Distinguished Member Award to Richard F. Beaubien at their annual meeting in Grand Rapids, Michigan on June 8, 2023. The award recognized his commitment to ITE and his contributions to the transportation profession. The Great Lakes District encompasses the states of Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota.

Richard Fromm Beaubien, P.E., is the Managing Director of Beaubien Engineering, LLC. located in Troy, Michigan. With over 40 years of experience in the field of municipal traffic engineering, he is also an expert in the areas of transportation planning, highway design, traffic system operations, right-of-way acquisition, and Intelligent Transportation Systems. In 1967, Mr. Beaubien obtained his Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from the University of Michigan. He further completed his Master of Science in Transportation and Traffic Engineering from the University of Michigan. As a student, he was involved in the Triangle Fraternity and even served as its president. Mr. Beaubien is a Registered Personal Engineer (P.E.) in numerous states, such as Florida, Michigan, Illinois, and Missouri. He is a Registered Traffic Engineer in California and is certified by the Transportation Professional Certification Board as a Road Safety Professional and a Professional Traffic Operations Engineer. In 1968, Mr. Beaubien joined the Federal Highway Administration as a highway engineer. In 1975, he served the City of Troy as the Transportation Engineer and left the position in 1989. In 1989, he joined Hubbell, Roth & Clark as Transportation Department Head and left the organization in 2011. In 2012, he founded the Beaubien Engineering, LLC. Additionally, since 1980, he has served Triangle Fraternity in the capacities of Chairman, Building Loan Fund and Chairman of the Triangle Building and Housing Corporation.

He has been a pioneer in implementing many positive changes and systems in the traffic control system. Mr. Beaubien had many profound moments throughout his career and is particularly proud of implementing an adaptive control technique for the traffic control system in metropolitan Detroit, Michigan – the application, Sydney Coordinated Adaptive Traffic System (SCATS) originated in Australia. Additionally, he directed a project to design and build intelligent transportation systems for Detroit freeways. Throughout his career, he has maintained professional affiliations with the American Society of Civil Engineers, the Institute of Transport Engineers, the Michigan Society of Professional Engineers, the Transportation Research Board, the Pontiac Yacht Club and the Triangle Fraternity. As a result of his remarkable career, Mr. Beaubien has received numerous awards, including Marsh Award from the Institute of Transportation Engineers and the Engineer of the Year Award (1987).