It was my distinct pleasure to welcome the 2012 transportation Champions of Change recognized yesterday by the White House. The 14 individuals selected for this honor comprise an amazing roster of transportation excellence and leadership.
We've accomplished a lot at DOT in the past few years, but we did not do alone. In communities across the country, we have found bold, innovative leaders who have taken up the important cause of changing the way we think about transportation and have created jobs in the process.
These Champions are making a difference every day in their local communities and across the country. And, thanks to them, it is a new day for transportation in America.
White House Champions of Change with DOT leaders; photo credit Julie Fischer-McCarthy, DOT
Transportation today is not simply about building new roads or widening bridges. It's about looking at how people want to get where they need to go and how they are affected in different ways by the decisions we make.
It's about putting men and women back to work doing the work we need done. It's about incorporating the needs of employers who must have a reliable way of getting workers to their jobs. It's about saving aviation fuel and increasing the efficiency of our airspace and runways. It's about considering how a set of new transit stations will generate economic opportunity and help revitalize a neighborhood.
It's about examining the transportation requirements of people who have traditionally been overlooked or underserved. It's about reminding Americans that the rivers and rails that moved our freight for more than a century and a half are still thriving and keeping our economy moving forward in 2012. It's about transportation workers and their changing needs--whether it's training for new manufacturing opportunities, greater security at rest stops for truck drivers, or safer work zones for road crews.
And it's about building the kinds of communities where people can work, live, and play.
Meeting our nation's transportation challenges requires innovative thinking and the leadership skills to translate plans and dreams into greater mobility, better jobs, and more livable communities. And that is exactly what these Champions of Change have demonstrated--each and every one.
Again, I can't tell you what an honor it was to join these Champions of Change. I am so proud that this great country is still capable of producing outstanding thinkers and leaders, and I'm proud to work in an Administration that celebrates that kind of achievement.
- David Barger, Jet Blue Airways (FAAC and Next Gen Leadership)
- David Bennett, for Proterra, Inc. (First Electric Buses)
- Veronica Davis, Nspiregreen, DC (Bicycles and Livability)
- Jerry Enzler, for RiverWorks Discovery Organization (Youth Education Program about Shipping on American Rivers)
- Susan Martinovich, Nevada Department of Transportation (DOT Innovation and National Leadership in Transportation)
- Lowell Porter, Governors Highway Safety Association (Leadership in Reducing Traffic Injuries and Fatalities)
- Dan Richard, California High-Speed Rail Authority (Leadership for High Speed Rail)
- Jason Roberts, Oak Cliff Transit Authority, TX (Livability and Streetcars)
- Beverly Scott, Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (Public Transportation)
- Bob Sloane, Walk Boston, (Livability)
- Rebecca M. Townsend, Manchester Community College, CT (Environmental Justice Strategies)
- Ellen Voie, Women in Trucking (Women in Skilled Transportation Careers)
- Phillip Washington, Regional Transportation District, CO (Transportation Workforce Development)
- Jacque Whitsitt, for Roaring Fork Transportation Authority, CO (BRT in Rural America)
The federal government needs to pay more attention and invest in what is known and called "Public Personal Rapid Transit", instead of conventional transit passenger buses. Overhead suspended personal cars with hook slots or hook bars designed into them in collaboration with the auto industry, and functioning similar to a snow ski lift, is the solution to massive rubber particles and particulants floating in the air by the tons, in addition to traffic gridlock, Hybrid electric cars and other similar transportation vehicles (buses) will not solve those two problems of gridlock and particulant matter air pollution. If there is anyone there in the United States federal government that actually cares - please contact me for a white paper proposing a test project of the above scenario in Fresno, Calif. to coincide and collaborate with the existing high-speed rail project.
David Wells
David_Wells_59 at Yahoo dot com
Phone 559-433- six five four seven
Posted by: David Wells | August 01, 2012 at 03:07 PM
I'm thrilled that the White House has recognized transportation and public engagement. So many people feel left out of decision making; it's good to sense a change in the air.
Posted by: Rebecca M. Townsend | August 02, 2012 at 04:21 PM
I am also trying to change the way we think about transportation and create jobs in the process.
Why is anyone trying to figure out how to make a truck and a car drive themselves after they are designed and built to be driven? I suppose the reason is that we already have the vehicles and the roads; but, has anyone considered developing and implementing a fully automated/autonomous freight delivery and personal transportation system using vehicles no one has to drive from the start? I did and submitted a U.S. Patent Application for it. You can go to my blog to read more about it: http://theitsinitiativemainflaw.blogspot.com/
Considering that the proposed transportation system should have a significant influence in our daily lives and will allow for innovative changes in the architecture and design of our cities it is reasonably to expect that once implemented it could transform our way of life and the urban landscape in the XXI Century as the automobile did in the XX Century and create many jobs in the process.
If President Roosevelt had the "New Treaty" and the Hoover Dam built in a period of crisis and President Truman had the Interstate Highway System started then President Obama could have the implementation of my transportation system proposal as the emblematic project of his administration.
Posted by: Alberto Zayas | August 03, 2012 at 03:37 PM
PLEASE HAVE MY AUGUST 3, 2012 COMMENT REPLACED WITH THIS ONE AS THERE ARE A COUPLE OF INACCURATE HISTORICAL REFERENCES IN IT... THANKS, AZ
I am also trying to change the way we think about transportation and create jobs in the process.
Why is anyone trying to figure out how to make a truck and a car drive themselves after they are designed and built to be driven? I suppose the reason is that we already have the vehicles and the roads; but, has anyone considered developing and implementing a fully automated/autonomous freight delivery and personal transportation system using vehicles no one has to drive from the start? I did and submitted a U.S. Patent Application for it. You can go to my blog to read more about it: http://theitsinitiativemainflaw.blogspot.com/
Considering that the proposed transportation system should have a significant influence in our daily lives and will allow for innovative changes in the architecture and design of our cities it is reasonably to expect that once implemented it could transform our way of life and the urban landscape in the XXI Century as the automobile did in the XX Century.
If President Eisenhower had the Interstate Highway System started then President Obama could have the implementation of my transportation system proposal as the emblematic transportation project of his administration and create many jobs in the process.
Posted by: Alberto Zayas Itvtcorp | September 12, 2012 at 02:46 PM