North Carolina's Piedmont Triad: regional cooperation enhancing livability

Today, I addressed a Livable Communities Summit hosted by Piedmont Area Regional Transportation and the Piedmont Triad Partnership in North Carolina.

Now, when we developed our TIGER grant program last year, we encouraged regional partnerships. Because, as neighboring communities grow, their transportation needs and networks begin to intersect.

Faced with regional transportation challenges, smart communities form regional partnerships.

And the Piedmont area of North Carolina has a host of smart communities. With the cities of Greensboro, Winston-Salem, and High Point at its core, Piedmont Area Regional Transportation helps manage transit, mitigate roadway congestion, and plan land use for a top-40 metropolitan region whose population is 1.5 million and growing.

Today's "Livable Communities Summit" is a great step toward even stronger regional integration. 

The meeting focuses on creating a more livable, sustainable Triad community by:

• Providing more transportation choices
• Promoting equitable and affordable housing
• Enhancing economic competitiveness
• Supporting existing communities and their neighborhoods
• Coordinating and leveraging federal policies

That's the kind of community Americans seek.

And, that's also the kind of community American employers seek.

As this economy continues to heat up, North Carolina's Piedmont is getting busy crossing city and county lines to position itself competitively. Already, because of PART's work, this region is no longer just the crossroads of a tangle of highways. It’s an on-ramp for American-made goods to the economy--whether Thomas Built buses, Volvo trucks, or Honda engines. It’s a nerve-center for FedEx’s international network.

It's a model of the regional cooperation and coordination our TIGER program encourages and the global economy demands. And Piedmont Triad residents are well-served by it.

Comments

[Linda Pall]

GREAT!!!

Secretary LaHood, you are right on the money... and the bike, the fett, and the environment!

Streets for People is something that Moscow, Idaho, has been working for since Neal Goldschmidt was Secretary of Transportation and I was a very young member of the City COuncil in Moscow! We've done a lot but there is SO MUCH MORE TO DO, with your help and the help of progressive policies for transportation funding.

I will be writing you to invite you to come to Moscow, Idaho, to let you see what some federal money has helped with and what projects stand ready to go, including citizen donations, but cannot quite get into real project status because of our city's financial situation... My personal favorite is the Third Street Pedestrian/Bike/Handicapped Access bridge whose construction would end the idea of punching through an arterial where such action would destroy the livability of several neighborhoods by creating a traffic funnel through Moscow's most historic neighbohood. Our Paradise Path group, a city committee, has worked hard to build in livability to Moscow neighborhoods through connections and urban park opportunitites connected to pedestrian, cycle and related connections.

Keep up the grand work, Mr. Secretary! Well done!

Linda Pall
18 year city council veteran
Moscow, Idaho

[Linda Pall]

Linda Pall can't spell "feet" in the first line... or her fingers can't. Sorry about that. - Linda

[Michael E. Bailey]

This is a great example of the promise of what can be done. It is also a good place to test new ideas in transportation information technology. There could be an urban intelligent transport systems platform created that would support development and establishment of common and user oriented ITS solutions. This could include a multimodal approach for urban regions taking into account the interfaces between urban and interurban transportation systems. This would be a big boost tp public transit. There could also be included open interface data sharing among transit systems, local initiatives developed in an open interface structure, integrated ticketing, and electronic fare management. All of this leading to and promoting greater cross county and cross regional transit cooperation. Best wishes, Michael E. Bailey.

[Katti Stengri]

This is a great example of the promise of what can be done. It is also a good place to test new ideas in transportation information technology. There could be an urban intelligent transport systems platform created that would support development and establishment of common and user oriented ITS solutions. This could include a multimodal approach for urban regions taking into account the interfaces between urban and interurban transportation systems. This would be a big boost tp public transit. There could also be included open interface data sharing among transit systems, local initiatives developed in an open interface structure, integrated ticketing, and electronic fare management. All of this leading to and promoting greater cross county and cross regional transit cooperation.

[Nick]

Good event. I hope they can improve people's life.