Each month during this 50th Anniversary year, we will focus our celebration on a different theme. Some of them will seem like obvious choices --safety, for example. Others might surprise you. 

Our exploration of these themes will educate Americans about the direct and indirect connections between transportation and our daily lives; celebrate the achievements of the Department in solving past transportation challenges; and engage audiences in our efforts to meet the transportation challenges of the future.

August: Climate Change Mitigation in Transportation

Transportation is crucial to our economy and our personal lives. However, all human activities have an impact on our environment, and transportation is no exception. That is why DOT is working hard to create a more energy-efficient transportation system.

In its efforts to achieve a clean energy economy, tackle the issue of climate change, and protect the nation’s environment, DOT is working with industry to:

• Improve the efficiency of passenger vehicles, trucks, buses, and airplanes
• Develop and deploy zero-emission technologies
• Support freight rail transportation
• Identify marine transportation freight alternatives
• Improve aircraft technologies
• Facilitate development of alternative fuels for all modes of transportation
• Invest in high-speed and intercity passenger rail
• Reduce roadway congestions
• Plan for efficient transportation
• Upgrade the pipeline infrastructure

DOT’s initiatives to reduce greenhouse gases by improving the efficiency of all vehicles, encouraging the use of alternative fuels, and developing technologies for more fuel-efficient vehicles and aircraft is already having a positive effect on the country.  In fact, we are seeing fuel efficiency technologies enter the market faster than nearly anyone anticipated. In addition, DOT initiatives are:

• Saving consumers and businesses money at the pump and reducing greenhouse emissions through improved vehicles and aircraft, alternative fuels, and practical transportation alternatives;
• Providing more transportation choices so passengers and freight can move by the most efficient and convenient modes, offering substantial reductions in petroleum use; and
• Reducing petroleum consumption and greenhouse gas emissions by instituting measures to improve transportation efficiency across all modes of transportation.

June: Transportation Innovation

Innovation is paramount at DOT. We have long supported cutting-edge transportation research and development, and believe in giving innovators access to the data and tools necessary to help launch pioneering technologies in their own communities. This partnership of research and deployment can generate even more creative problem-solving and forward-looking solutions for meeting our current and future infrastructure challenges.

Click on the image above to see our Transportation Innovation Timeline.

Here are some examples of work we are doing across the Department:

• One part of our vision is to bring connectivity to transportation through the use of advanced wireless technologies. We are working to connect our vehicles, connect our infrastructure, and connect our cities—leveraging technology to maximize the safety, mobility, and environmental sustainability of our transportation network. DOT is proud to serve as a global leader in large-scale connected vehicle pilot deployments, and we expect to see even more cars with this technology on the roads in the coming years.
• Through the Smart City Challenge, DOT is encouraging cities to put forward their most innovative ideas for addressing their transportation challenges. The vision of the Smart City Challenge is to demonstrate and evaluate a holistic approach to improving transportation performance within a city and to integrate this approach with other smart city elements including public safety, public services, and energy.
• The Integrated Corridor Management (ICM) program, piloted in Dallas and San Diego, is a promising congestion management tool that works to optimize existing infrastructure and leverage unused capacity along our nation’s urban corridors. With ICM, transportation professionals manage the transportation corridor as a multimodal system. Partner agencies manage the corridor to improve travel time reliability and predictability; help manage congestion; and empower travelers through better information and more choices.
• DOT’s Mobility Service for All Americans (MSAA) is an innovative way of coordinating and integrating services to ensure access to transportation for the disadvantaged. DOT has funded three transportation management Coordination Centers (Paducah, KY, Aiken, SC, and Camden, NJ) where senior citizens, the disabled, veterans, low wage workers, and others can make one call and have their trips planned out using public transit, taxis, paratransit, ambulance service, and other vehicles.
• The FAA’s NextGen program is already making a difference. Through NextGen, the FAA is developing and deploying a comprehensive suite of state-of-the-art technologies and procedures that enable aircraft to move more directly from Point A to Point B. This helps passengers reach their destinations on time, while reducing fuel burn and lessening our impact on the environment. Much of NextGen’s success can be attributed to the productive collaboration between DOT and partners in the aviation industry, including airlines, airports, our unions, and state and local governments.
• The FAA is also partnering with industry to ensure the safety of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS). The agency is collaboratively developing operating concepts and criteria for emerging UAS technologies to ensure safe, timely, and efficient integration of UAS into the National Airspace System.

Looking ahead, DOT’s priorities will continue to put safety first, while working to advance connected vehicles, automation, enterprise data, emerging technology, interoperability, and deployment. DOT’s research is critical to developing innovative solutions to transportation’s toughest challenges—and to ensuring seamless technology deployment.

For a history of DOT’s Intelligent Transportation Systems Joint Program Office, visit http://www.its.dot.gov/history/.

March: Women in Transportation

Since the founding of the United States, women have played an integral role in developing and advancing transportation. From wagons and horse carts to bicycles, automobiles, trucks, trains, ships, airplanes, and space vehicles, women have served as inventors, pilots, engineers, drivers, administrative professionals, conductors, and executives in a host of vital occupations. Today, increasing numbers of women are making a critical difference in the safe and efficient movement of people and goods here in America and throughout the world. The Department of Transportation salutes these pioneers – past, present, and future.

What to Expect this Month

Throughout March, you can expect events highlighting the role of women in transportation. Look for us to feature profiles of DOT women whose work advances the Department’s mission and goals. Senior women in the Department will participate in roundtable discussions and forums. And of course, Secretary Foxx will be out front, leading our Women in Transportation celebration at key events.

Useful Links on Women and Girls in Transportation

• DOT's "Women And Girls" web page
• Resources on Women And Girls
• Timeline of Women In Transportation
• Federally Employed Women
• Technical Women in the Federal Aviation Administration

February: Transportation's Role in Advancing Ladders of Opportunity

“Through transportation, we can help ensure that the rungs on the ladder of opportunity aren’t so far apart—and that the American dream is still within reach for those who are willing to work for it.” – Secretary Anthony Foxx

We see transportation having a greater impact than taking people from the Ninth Ward in New Orleans to a job, or from the Far Rockaways in New York to a doctor, or from West Charlotte to a school, or South Side Chicago to an apartment, or San Francisco's Mission District to a job training program.

Transportation can do more than that. If we at DOT do our jobs right, communities can experience better economic growth, schools can improve, neighborhood health can increase, the housing stock can get better, and job training and local hiring can translate not just to jobs outside the community but to jobs in the same neighborhoods where workers live.

We can't just talk about delivering people from their doorstep to opportunity; we must help lay a substrate where opportunity can take root at that doorstep and help revitalize communities.

Upcoming Themes

• April: Safety Then and Now
• May: Celebrating Public Service at DOT
• June: Advancing Innovation and Technology Across the Transportation System
• July: Paying for a 21st Century Transportation System
• August: Climate Change and Transportation
• September: Local and State Transportation Solutions
• October: How We Move Things
• November: Veterans in Transportation
• December: Future Leaders in Transportation