The IMSA Forum & Expo provides traffic, roadway, and public safety professionals with a practical forum to sharpen skills, compare field approaches, and reconnect with the operational side of ITS. The 2026 event is scheduled for July 12 to 16 at the Spokane Convention Center in Spokane, Washington, with registration currently open through IMSA.
A Conference Built Around Real Field Work
This is not a general-interest conference built on vague smart city language. IMSA is framing the event around four days of certification, technical sessions, and expo hall access for transportation and public safety professionals, with more than 300 attendees, 80 exhibitors, 20-plus technical sessions, and nine certifications promoted on the event page. That mix matters because agencies need ideas that translate to cabinet work, technician training, signal operations, and day-to-day reliability.
The Program Aligns With What Agencies Are Managing Right Now
The official schedule shows a strong operational focus, especially on Tuesday and Wednesday, when attendees can move between technical sessions, product demos, and the exhibition hall. Topics include pedestrian safety through adaptive timing, CV2X transit signal priority and preemption in practice, cabinet security, traffic signal coordination, digital twin applications, and AI technology for solving traffic problems. That is a useful cross-section for agencies trying to improve system uptime, reduce field maintenance needs, and make corridor performance more visible to technicians and supervisors.
Two Tuesday Sessions Stand Out for Signal Operations Teams
Two sessions in particular speak directly to the way agencies are rethinking reliability and detection. “Improving Signal Reliability and Technician Efficiency Through Smarter Operations” is scheduled for Tuesday, July 14 from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m., and “Enhancing Intersection Reliability and Safety Through Vision-Based Multimodal Detection in Clackamas County” follows later that day from 2:15 to 3:15 p.m. Together, those topics point to a broader shift in the industry: fewer reactive field visits, better visibility into what is happening at the intersection, and stronger support for multimodal safety at the curb, crosswalk, and stop bar.
Certification Remains One of the Strongest Reasons to Attend
IMSA is also pairing the conference with hands-on training and certification tracks that are directly relevant to agency workforces. The program includes offerings such as Traffic Signal Inspector, Traffic Signal Field Technician II, Traffic Signal Technician I, Senior Field Technician III, Work Zone Temporary Traffic Control Technician, Signs and Pavement Markings, Roadway Lighting, and fiber optics training, along with NEMA troubleshooting seminars highlighted on the event page. For departments dealing with retirements, onboarding, and the need to build bench strength, that kind of concentrated training is often as valuable as the expo floor itself.
Spokane Adds Something Most Conference Cities Do Not
For teams choosing carefully between major summer events, Spokane offers a more grounded setting. IMSA is using the city as more than a backdrop, encouraging attendees to share their Spokane plans and giving them time to connect in and around the event, while the location itself puts Riverfront Park, Spokane Falls, High Drive Bluff, and other regional outdoor destinations within easy reach. That combination can make the trip feel less like a rushed trade show circuit and more like a useful week of training, conversations, and time to reset with peers from across the transportation industry.
Why This Matters for Agencies in The West
Western Systems has listed IMSA Forum & Expo among the national conferences it plans to attend in 2026, which fits the company’s long-standing focus on traffic operations, integration, and reliability across public agency projects. More importantly, the event itself reflects the priorities that many Western agencies are working through right now: resilient intersections, practical technician education, safer multimodal operations, and systems that help staff act earlier rather than later. That is the kind of conference value that tends to hold up after attendees return to the office and start applying what they learned.
Register for IMSA Today
If IMSA Forum & Expo is already on this year’s calendar, now is a good time to register, plan sessions in advance, and leave room to experience Spokane while the industry is in town. Agencies looking for practical conversations around signal reliability, technician efficiency, detection, and connected transportation should find plenty to work with at this year’s event, and Western Systems will be part of that conversation in Spokane.