Moderated by Jeffrey A. Lindley, associate administrator for operations, U.S. DOT-FHWA, the ITE 2013 Technical Conference opening plenary brought together:
Gary L. Gallegos, executive director, San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG), San Diego, CA;
Juan C. Perez, director of transportation, Riverside County, Riverside, CA; and
Wylie Bearup, street transportation director, City of Phoenix, Phoenix, AZ.
Gary Gallegos opened the panel by discussing his perspectives on how we as transportation engineers have the ability to make an impact on society, noting that we need to get ahead of the curve to improve communities. From its origins, transportation has been a complex process, and now we are moving into an era where we are learning to manage our systems from the Cloud. As we face infrastructure challenges, Gary emphasized that we need to use technology to maximize our system management and find new ways to meet mobility needs as we could never build enough roads to meet VMT demand. Gary discussed the many impacts transportation has on areas outside of moving people and goods, from public health and land use to climate change and air quality. Gary discussed the importance of working hand in hand with public health officials and environmentalists. He also discussed San Diego’s 2050 Regional Transportation Plan for Sustainable Communities. The plan aims to offer more transportation choices, reduce demand, and maximize the transportation system through projects such as Integrated Corridor Management on the I-15, a state of the art facility which is essentially a freeway within a freeway. More information can be found at www.sandag.org.
Juan Perez began his presentation with the observation that transportation is all about the quality of life, stating, “we are quality of life providers as transportation professionals.” His county in Riverside, CA is the fourth largest in the state in both size and population, and the population is expected to double in 2060 to 4.2 Million. With a county the size of the State of New Jersey, there are many geographic challenges for transportation. Juan observed that transportation professionals truly need to be demographers, knowing the population make-up of the area they serve to better meet the citizen’s needs. Juan offered several suggestions for ways to provide for population growth while still maintaining quality of life, such as:
- Balance development and open space, which provides a natural habitat benefit while reducing transportation trip generation;
- Provide “self-help” transportation funding, as his county has approved a half-cent transportation sales tax twice to pay for needed projects; and
- Develop robust transportation impact fee programs.
Juan also elaborated on Gary’s comments about the need to look beyond traditional roles in developing partnerships with other service providers, such as public health, trails, and bicycle advocates, as well as education and business leaders. He concluded by suggesting transportation professionals can have a significant impact by doing the little things well, from traffic signal timing to intersection design.
Wylie Bearup, who is an officer with the National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO), offered a city perspective from Phoenix, AZ, the sixth largest city in the United States. NACTO focuses on rebuilding roads and bridges, as well as transit and freight, as it works to bring large cities together to share ideas and solutions. Phoenix is a large city with unique challenges as it has an aging center but a growing perimeter. With changing demography, there has been more demand for areas that offer work/live/play opportunities. Wylie discussed Phoenix’s Light Rail as an example of a project which answered many issues. The Light Rail opened in 2008 and has been a huge success despite initial skepticism. Wylie also offered many ways that NACTO and ITE can collaborate, such as through leveraging resources, training, conferences, and data collection.
ITE would like to thank Transoft Solutions for sponsoring the recording of the opening session, which was available to all our members on the ITE Web site through a free Webinar on Wednesday, March 20, 2013. The recording is now available here.