event Archives - Transportation For America

TransportationCamp DC in the rearview mirror

TransportationCamp volunteer Natasha carrying many of the 60+ session proposals that were submitted.

TransportationCamp DC 2020 was last weekend, and while it was a huge success, it almost didn’t happen at all. Last fall it was announced that the previous organizers wouldn’t be able to host it again, but at the last minute Transportation for America stepped in to make it happen—the show must go on! From the date we announced that TransportationCamp 2020 was on (November 14, 2019) there was less than two months until the actual event. But campers still turned out in big numbers.

More than 500 people were there on Saturday and the waitlist topped 100. We received many more sessions proposals than we had space for, even with 12 different breakout rooms. And topics covered everything from privacy and data in transportation apps, to fare free transit, to a how-to on transportation pilot projects. The creativity and energy on display was awesome.

Recapping such a dynamic event is a challenge, but we collected some short reflections from staff who were there to help give you a feel for what we saw and felt on Saturday if you weren’t able to attend.

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Changemaking becomes a bigger focus

TransportationCamp DC 2020 was the fourth TransportationCamp I’ve attended, but the first where I felt the focus shifted from “here are all the cool developments in transportation” to taking action: “How do we make sure that transportation changes & technology benefit everybody, and how do we convince people that a future with less driving is a good idea?” Most transportation advocates/professionals could talk your ear off about the benefits of bus-only lanes, bike infrastructure, real-time transit information, and other transformative technologies that make transportation an exciting field to work in. What we need now is action to make this vision of transportation—a transportation system that actually connects everybody to jobs and services—a reality. This is a really positive development that we’ll build on next year.
– Jenna Fortunati

Equity on the agenda, but not the roster

This was my first time at TransportationCamp and I was really looking forward to listening to voices who might otherwise not make it on to a standard conference schedule. I was thrilled to see many session proposals focusing on equity. But when I looked around the (very, very full!) room, it was very white and very male. There is still lots of work to be done in transportation to be more inclusive and representative of all identities and perspectives. Earlier this year, Veronica Davis posted on twitter asking “Dear safe streets peeps… what is one thing you are going to do this year to disrupt the whiteness of the movement?” I keep thinking back to this question—and that thread, which is chock-full of great ideas—and how I can weave some of those into my own work. I’m excited to see TransportationCamp continue to grow and elevate more diverse voices.
– Mae Hanzlik

Wonky policy proposals resonate with campers

I hosted a session at TransportationCamp where we discussed the problems with traditional metrics used to assess transportation, like delay and level-of-service. Providing access between destinations (jobs, houses, grocery stores, schools, etc.) is the fundamental purpose of transportation, but narrow measures like delay don’t actually address access and obscure solutions that would improve connections as a result. At Transportation for America, we’re urging Congress to reorient our national transportation program around measuring what matters—access to jobs and services—and I was so excited to hear significant interest and support for this among the session participants! Some campers said they have been seeking to supplement or replace delay with alternatives but need guidance on what to measure. Others mentioned a need for more standardized terminology and ways of measuring access. This kind of direct feedback is invaluable and helps us better advocate for reforms at the national level.
– Rayla Bellis

Exchanging & debating ideas

The “unconference” format of TransportationCamp allows participants to get straight to what any conference is all about—exchange of ideas, and connecting with people. I participated in a session entitled “Cage Fight,” a debate about electrification versus mode shift to address the climate crisis. The initial lively debate got the blood pumping, and the serious discussion that followed generated some ideas. Participants included a few who had worked on both issues, and a member of the philanthropy community who shares our concern that donors are missing the mark by concentrating all their efforts on electric cars.
– Chris Rall

A young crowd brings high energy

Spending days in a conference space with next to no natural light and a docket of technical presentations awaiting you (i.e. most conferences) generally doesn’t get people very jazzed. But TransportationCamp was different. From 8:30 a.m. when registration opened until 5:30 p.m. people were abuzz. Making new connections, creating their session proposals, figuring out which breakouts to attend, asking questions—the energy was contagious. With affordable tickets and student discounts, TransportationCamp attracted more young passionate, optimistic, and eager folks than other conferences, though there was certainly a wide variety of ages represented. I wish more conferences had that kind of diversity.
– Sean Doyle

Hobbyists to seasoned professionals: space for everyone

I was amazed with the breadth of attendees—from mobility firms to local government staff, young and seasoned, domestic and international. Everyone demonstrated a clear desire to share and absorb new ideas and the far reaching proposals were a testament to the diverse approaches our communities need to tackle transportation issues. I also found it powerful how eager people were to make new connections, even if it was based off something simple like the 3-word phrases attendees used to introduce themselves.
– Tyler Quinn-Smith

For some of us, this was our first time at TransportationCamp while others were veterans. But after organizing a fun, energetic, and educational event we also took home a lot of lessons for next year to make TransportationCamp DC even better in 2021.

See you next year, campers.

Illinois Senator Dick Durbin to highlight threatened TIGER grants program in Moline this Monday

As the House continues debating a 2011 budget that threatens many of our nation’s core transportation needs, some leaders are stepping up to defend these programs as critical to the lives and livelihoods of regular Americans.

This Monday, Senator Dick Durbin, Democrat of Illinois, will headline an event in the city of Moline, highlighting how the targeted transportation investments in TIGER have created jobs and revitalized communities.

Illinois has benefited enormously from the TIGER grants program, which would be eliminated completely under the House budget currently being considered. TIGER — an acronym for Transportation Investments Generating Economic Recovery — was initially created in the Recovery Act and later renewed. The premise was simple: reward the communities pursuing the most innovative projects that integrate transportation, economic development, environmental improvement and quality of life — projects that can have a hard time getting funding under our current outdated federal programs.

We profiled several recipients of the second round of TIGER grants late last year, including a new multimodal transportation hub along the Moline waterfront. The $10 million grant was to be combined with local funds to renovate a historic building in downtown Moline into a multimodal transportation hub bringing together Amtrak, commuter rail, buses and other local transportation services. The hub will also be part of a passenger rail connection from the Quad Cities to Chicago, with connections west to Iowa City and Omaha to be potentially added later. As Kathleen Woodruff, T4 America’s Illinois organizer, described it in October:

The new hub will connect all transit services at one new central location in Moline, bringing together Amtrak, local buses, taxis and bicycle and pedestrian facilities, enhancing this area of Moline’s waterfront and making travel easier for all Quad Cities residents. It is expected to support up to 825 new, permanent jobs and eventually, when the new passenger rail link from Moline to Chicago breaks ground, it will produce 1,600 direct and indirect jobs.

The project is similar to another multimodal hub underway in Normal, Illinois that received $22 million in TIGER funds.

The event with Senator Durbin will be held on Monday, February 21 at 11 a.m. at Moline’s Central Station. The Senator will also be in Peoria, Illinois earlier in the day to highlight transportation projects there. If you’re near Moline, we encourage you to go and show your support for this project and these kinds of transportation investments that TIGER has been making across the country.

Photo: Life Magazine

Helping kids get active and healthy by “keeping them moving”

Toks Nashville Originally uploaded by Transportation for America

Adetokunbo Omishakin, the Director of Healthy Living Initiatives for the City of Nashville, Tennessee, explained the barriers facing children and parents he met in parts of E. Nashville who want to walk or bike outside — but find their neighborhoods not only lacking sidewalks or bike lanes, but often facing crime that can keep them indoors.

A healthier transportation system for America’s kids requires change in federal policy. But change will remain out of our grasp absent a sense of urgency from the everyday people on the ground.

The need for a meeting point between policymakers in Washington and citizens in their neighborhoods was evident in today’s roundtable on childhood obesity, titled “Keeping Kids Moving,” sponsored by Transportation for America, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Center to Prevent Childhood Obesity, The Convergence Partnership and PolicyLink.

We’re facing an epidemic of childhood obesity and poor health, and as a few people pointed out, this could very well be a generation of children who live shorter, less healthy lives than their parents if we don’t act now to change things.

The shape and structure of streets, sidewalks and the ability to safely use them has an enormous impact on whether children become overweight or obese. Kids get more physical activity and lead healthier lives when they can bike and walk to school, play in local parks and reach recreational opportunities with ease. Among American children between the ages of 10 and 17, 32 percent are overweight or obese, and many are at risk for more serious conditions like type 2 diabetes, heart disease and stroke. Obesity rates are disproportionately high among low-income and minority children.

In search of a solution, many routes invariably lead to transportation policy.

During the panel, several federal officials stressed the need for partnerships that cross departments and jurisdictions, with Roy Kienitz, undersecretary for policy at the Department of Transportation quipping, “transportation is too important to be left to transportation professionals.” Kienitz also emphasized the need for Americans to speak up and utilize the democratic process, noting that “the distance between the top [at DOT] and that sidewalk on your street is vast.”

Chip Johnson, mayor of Hernando, Mississippi, knows just how much of a difference one repair can make. As part of a broader push to repair his town’s streets, Johnson oversaw the pouring of concrete for a new sidewalk right outside his office window. On the old, cracked sidewalk, Johnson used to see a handful of pedestrians every morning, but he saw dozens more walking by once the improvements were completed.

“People want to exercise,” said Johnson, a Republican first elected mayor in 2005, adding that it’s up to officials like him to provide them the chance to do it.

keepkidsmoving2 Originally uploaded by Transportation for America

While people like Undersecretary Kienitz, Special Assistant to the President Martha Coven and others are moving the levers where they can in Washington, local officials like Johnson are stepping up and refusing to wait, behavior encouraged by the federal officials who were present.

Nashville Mayor Karl Dean didn’t wait for Washington. He made safe and accessible streets for all users a top priority and hired a director of healthy living initiatives — Adetonkunbo Omishakin, also a panel participant — to help make it happen in Nashville. Child wellness advocate Julia Lopez, herself a teenager, didn’t wait either. Along with being an instigator of change on the ground around her home of southern California, she has traveled the country to bring a youth perspective to the obesity challenge, calling on elected officials to step up and help make healthy transportation the norm, not the exception.

It’s clear that these advocates on the ground and policymakers at the top can meet in the middle to make real change, but it will take continued pressure on Congress from both ends to get the job done.