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States that take chances get rewarded, and six other things we learned this year at Capital Ideas 2018

We’re fresh back from Capital Ideas 2018 in Atlanta, and as in years past, this year’s conference was an incredible alchemy of passion, knowledge, inspiration, and amazing people from around the country. For those of you who weren’t able to make it to Atlanta, here are seven things that we learned.

Left photo: Mayor Sly James of Kansas City, MO, right, one of Capital Ideas’ keynote speakers, talks to Toks Omishakin of the Tennessee DOT, and T4America chair John Robert Smith. Right: During a keynote on day two, Rusty Roberts, VP for Government Affairs at Brightline, shared his company’s ambitious plans for private passenger rail currently unfolding in Florida.

1) States that innovate, try new things, and take chances, get rewarded

There’s a common thought when it comes to new mobility or improving transit that it’s really only about cities. While we certainly think cities have a major role to play (see our Smart Cities Collaborative!), the role of the state is still vital.

The City of Gainesville, FL is on the cusp of launching a new automated vehicle shuttle pilot project to connect the University of Florida with downtown Gainesville via an automated driverless shuttle. Dan Hoffman, Gainesville’s city manager, shared their progress to date but made one thing clear: They would never be able to make this happen without the state of Florida’s involvement…and money, with the state contributing over $1 million. But it’s also worth noting that the state isn’t trying to run the pilot project—they’re collaborating to help a city run their own pilot. And the lessons that Dan and his city learn will be shared with the state as they collaborate with other cities. That’s a great recipe for success.

Sometimes states try new things and lose before they taste the eventual reward. But the smart ones learn from the experience. In Georgia, Atlanta bounced back from a painful failure to raise new revenue for transportation at the ballot box in 2012. They dusted themselves off, figured out why they failed, rebuilt trust in the transit agency, and then built vital new relationships with the state (and especially with legislators) that paved the way for a successful ballot measure effort in 2016 that raised money for billions in new transit projects in metro Atlanta.

Suburban Gwinnett County has rejected ballot measures to join the MARTA regional transit system multiple times over the last few decades. However, this March they will vote on a measure to finally join the MARTA system and dramatically expand transit service in a rapidly changing county where 25 percent of the population was born outside of the United States.

While others may have written off their state legislatures, the Metro Atlanta Chamber and the rest of their coalition did the hard work required between 2012 and 2016 to turn skeptical state legislators into outspoken champions for transit. Michael Sullivan from the American Council of Engineering Companies in Georgia so aptly summarized at the end of this panel discussion: never assume that your opponent today has to be your opponent in the future.

As Commissioner Charlotte Nash from Gwinnett County noted on the panel, their work paid off: action by that same legislature is enabling her county to go to the ballot this March to raise new funds for transit. Never write off your opponent or a skeptic.

States that refuse to take chances might avoid some failure, but they are also likely to avoid great success.

Our sincere thanks to Dave Williams from the Metro Atlanta Chamber for his commitment to transportation in the region and to taking selfies whenever he moderates a panel for T4America. From left, Dave Williams, Michael Sullivan, Georgia State Rep. Kevin Tanner, and Gwinnett County Commissioner Charlotte Nash.

2) “Transit access is the #1 factor in upward economic mobility”

Our opening keynote speaker on the first day summed things up when it comes to the “why” for improving access to transit:

As a different speaker would explain later, exactly how we measure access matters a great deal, but is there anything more that needs to be said? If we want to lift up those on the lower socio-economic rungs of our communities, then improving transit service and expanding access to it should always be a primary goal.

3) We are swimming in data, but very little of it has anything to do with the people who use the system.

A few audible cheers went up in the room when Stephanie Pollack, the Secretary of MassDOT, made that statement during an incredible panel moderated by T4America director Beth Osborne about the role of the state in new mobility services. She was joined by Commissioner Polly Trottenberg of the NYC DOT and Lilly Shoup, the Senior Director of Transportation Policy for Lyft. (More on that in a moment.)

On the second day, we took a deep dive into measuring accessibility and how so many of our metrics and data poorly assess what really matters. Nick Donohue, assistant secretary of the Virginia DOT, shared a story about the oft-cited Travel Time Index that measures congestion, and how it’s so far removed from the experience of real people and what really matters to them.

Congestion measures treat every road the same and have an implicit bias: always moving as fast as possible is the preferred goal. But streets are all about creating a place and a framework to create and capture value—not just a place for vehicles to move fast. This difference is often best illustrated with an image:

4) We don’t always agree with one another, but we have to keep working together

The panel discussion on new mobility definitely got “spirited!” Sec. Pollack is a provocative quote machine, but we also had a representative from Lyft sitting a few feet away from the person charged with keeping America’s biggest city moving. And as Commissioner Polly Trottenberg noted, congestion and VMT are both up in NYC while transit ridership is down since TNCs like Uber and Lyft arrived on the scene.

Though there were some (entertaining!) disagreements on this panel, the most important lesson we learned was that at the end of the day, many of these companies do want to try and accomplish the same things that the cities do, and we have to find a way to work together. As an example, Lyft’s long-term goals are to have fleets of vehicles in cities that are shared, electric, and automated, which certainly dovetail with the goals of a city like New York, as described by Commissioner Polly Trottenberg.

Ultimately it’s more productive for state or local officials to find ways to work together with private industry rather than against one another. And as Sec. Pollack noted, we have a lot of work to do to make more of these trips shared, and we won’t be able to make that happen without the private providers at the table.

5) You have to be ready and willing to listen

If you show up to a meeting about a transportation project or issue, you’ll have to talk about more than just the item at had: everything that came before you will be on the table. For example, in the public sector, you might have to address and resolve your agency’s past sins in a community first, even if the project proposed is an attempt to try and rectify the damage. As Sec. Pollack said, state DOTs might have to do something radical: listen to the people that they serve.

Our first panel on the second day was focused on making development around transit more equitable. Carol Wolfe from the City of Tacoma—which is in the midst of a rail extension through their city—noted that all too often planners and officials forget that there’s already a “place” that needs to be kept at the center of the process.

And it’s a little thing, but when an agency or planning firm makes renderings of future development, do they incorporate existing places and people? Does the community see themselves in the picture, or do the renderings include the same generic details as every other rendering?

6) People are hungry to exchange information and learn from one another

As we did in 2014 and 2016, we spent the first afternoon in roundtable discussions. Participants got to choose two of 12 topics, sit down with an expert, and then have a completely open-ended discussion with them and a dozen others interested in the same thing. These roundtables are one of the best features of Capital Ideas, and many of them are just a starting point for a longer exchange of information that will continue for weeks or months to come.

This year, our roundtables covered the Smart Scale project funding process in Virginia, the mileage-based user fee pilot in Washington State, the deployment of automated vehicles, strategies to compete for competitive federal transportation grant funds, the Metropolitan Planning Council’s Transit Means Business Report, and the Partnership for Southern Equity’s “Opportunity Deferred” report, among many others.

7) Atlanta is a wonderful city with lots of momentum (including on the soccer front!)

It may have partially been due to the fact that Atlanta United, the city’s Major League Soccer team, was preparing to host MLS Cup last weekend and beat the Portland Timbers in front of 73,000 screaming crazy fans for the city’s first championship since the Braves in 1995, but the energy in the city was palpable.

The capital of the New South has made tremendous progress. It’s a terrific city loaded with momentum and possibility, within a region that is making huge strides to invest in transportation and capitalize on their numerous walkable downtowns. All of this is occurring inside a state that has done a complete about-face on the importance of transit for their economic future.

We wrapped up the conference with two concurrent tours, one of a selection of TOD sites in the city with representatives from MARTA, and the second of the ongoing BeltLine project of trails and transit around the city with representatives from Atlanta BeltLine and the Rails-To-Trails Conservancy. To close things out, here’s a short thread from the BeltLine tour collected in a Twitter moment:

Participants: Have a story to share? Learn something new? Reach out to us at info@t4america.org. All photos by Stephen Lee Davis, T4America director of communications.

Our sincere thanks to our sponsors and host committee for making Capital Ideas possible. And to our many participants from around the country who came to Atlanta and hopefully took some helpful information—and inspiration—back home with them.

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Small groups, big questions: 12 roundtable conversations at Capital Ideas 2018

Capital Ideas 2018 will be full of inspiration and best practices. But even with a speaker lineup full of national experts, we know that we won’t possibly have all the answers to every community’s challenges.

That’s where our roundtable conversations come in. On the first afternoon of the conference, we’ll have two small-group sessions to go deep on a few select topics. These focused conversations will allow participants to dig in on questions they want new perspective on, and ask honest questions of people who have done it.

Here’s a look at the 12 ideas we’ll examine during this part of the conference:

Roundtable 1: Creating an Objective Scoring Process to Select Projects
Virginia is using an objective framework to evaluate transportation projects, prioritize investments, and measure results. This transparency and accountability can help build between among taxpayers and decision-makers, and allows states to direct limited funds to the projects with the biggest return on investment. Hear how Virginia is doing it and ask questions about your own efforts. With Nick Donohue, Deputy Secretary of Transportation, Commonwealth of Virginia, and Beth Osborne, Director, Transportation for America.

Roundtable 2: Pursuing Funding Through US DOT’s BUILD Program
The East Coast Greenway Alliance has worked with seven states to submit eleven projects totaling over $135 million for BUILD 2018 grants from USDOT. Get ideas for strategy, tactics, and lessons learned for future BUILD applications. With Dennis Markatos-Soriano, Director, and Niles Barnes, Deputy Director, East Coast Greenway Alliance.

Roundtable 3: How to Add New Mobility Services to Transportation Systems
How are cities incorporating new mobility services into their transportation systems, in ways that support the city’s transportation priorities? Learn how cities can use funding, regulation, and collaboration to manage new mobility services. With Andrew Glass Hastings, Senior Mobility Strategist, Remix, and Russ Brooks, Smart Cities Director, Transportation for America.

Roundtable 4: Trails Transform America
Helping states fund a 21st-century, balanced transportation system that includes trail networks as essential community assets connecting people to vital opportunities. What’s the best way to measure these projects’ impact on the communities they serve? Learn best practices from around the country. With Ken Bryan, Florida State Director, and Andrew N. Dupuy, Manager of Policy Outreach, Rails-to-Trails Conservancy; and John Robert Smith, Chairman, Transportation for America.

Roundtable 5: Harnessing Technology Disruption in Mobility Systems
Georgia DOT and The Ray partnered to build a solar-powered stretch of Interstate 85. Learn how they connected capabilities, pollution remediation, life safety, and more. With Faye DiMassimo, FAICP, Deloitte; Allie Kelly, Executive Director, The Ray; and Andrew Heath, State Traffic Engineer, Georgia Department of Transportation.

Roundtable 6: Public-Private Partnerships in Transit
New mobility services can be deployed in ways that extend transit service to more people. Learn about how new technologies can be combined with innovative performance-based contracting models to deliver higher quality and more cost-effective service to riders. With Zack Wasserman, Head of Global Business Development, VIA, and Scott Goldstein, Policy Director, Transportation for America.

Roundtable 7: Shifting to a Roadway User Charge
Pricing road usage has traditionally been done via tolling of a specific road or bridge. But new ideas around pricing are considering ways it can serve as a broader, foundational revenue sources for roads, similar to the gas tax. Washington State has had a Road Usage Charge Assessment underway for several years and launched a year-long pilot this year. In the pilot, 2000 vehicles from across the state are testing different methods of recording and reporting road usage. Learn new ways your state could price based on usage. With Reema Griffith, Executive Director, Washington State Transportation Commission, and Chris Rall, Program Manager, Transportation for America.

Roundtable 8: Creative Placemaking
Examples from around the country about leveraging the power of the arts, culture and creativity to support growth and transformation while also building character and quality of place. With Marian Liou, Founder and Executive Director, We Love BuHi (Atlanta, GA); Rochelle Carpenter, Senior Policy Advisor, Greater Nashville Regional Council; and Ben Stone, Transportation for America.

Roundtable 9: Transportation and Climate: How States Can Tackle Emissions
The Mid-Atlantic and Northeast states are exploring a framework for emissions reductions in transportation. How can this work be accelerated, how can a market-based program advance transportation equity, and what lessons can be learned from existing cap-and-invest programs such as California’s. This session will be of special interest to attendees from the “TCI” participant states of Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. With Chris Dempsey, Director, Transportation for Massachusetts, and Alex Beckmann, Program Associate, Transportation for America.

Roundtable 10: Equity in Transportation – Opportunity Deferred
What is equity in transportation? How to consider the transportation needs of marginalized populations and recognize the impact of past investments on equity. Best practices in ensuring that transportation policies from regional transit governance to the creation of new sources of revenue consider equity. With Nathaniel Smith, Founder and Chief Equity Officer, Partnership for Southern Equity, and Calvin Gladney, President and CEO, Smart Growth America.

Roundtable 11: Making the Case for Transit
Dive into the data that reveal how transit supports businesses, and hear examples of companies that are making transit-based decisions to benefit their bottom line. What are the messages that work? With Audrey Wennink, Director, Metropolitan Planning Council, and Steve Davis, Communications Director, Smart Growth America.

Roundtable 12: Knocking Down Barriers to Deploying Autonomous Vehicles
How do you ensure driverless vehicles are safe? How do we deploy autonomous vehicles in a mixed-fleet environment? And how do we include autonomous vehicles in long range plans? Join us to discuss some of the biggest questions facing communities interested in autonomous vehicles. With Kelley Coyner, Senior Fellow, George Mason University; founder and CEO, Mobility e3, and Jason Levine, Executive Director, Center for Auto Safety.

In-depth conversations with colleagues from across the country are one of the best reasons to join Capital Ideas. Register today and we’ll see you in December.

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Thank you to our sponsors

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Host Committee

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Promotional partners

Have questions about registration, sponsorship, or our program? Email capitalideas@t4america.org to talk with our team.

Why don’t DOTs pick routes like we do?

Your GPS gives you the choice of two routes.

One would take 15 minutes, but you’d travel at only 20 miles per hour. One would take 46 minutes, but you’d get to travel at 60 miles per hour. Which do you pick?

We’d pick the 15 minute trip, every time. This seems basic to anyone who has used a smart phone. But DOTs have long used travel speed as a (poor) proxy for how efficiently things are moving, partially because, for decades, it has been nearly impossible to measure every trip taking place within a city or a transportation system.

But it’s not 1950 anymore. New technologies can tell us where trips happen and how long they take, and empower travelers to choose a variety of routes spread between driving, walking, biking, and transit.
DOTs must learn to use the same approach, and at Capital Ideas 2018, we’ll be talking about how DOTs can measure system success in new ways.

Most DOTs measure the functionality of their transportation system using a standard called Level of Service or “LOS”. We explained a lot of the problems with LOS back in 2016. The short answer is that measuring the wrong thing leads to the wrong outcomes. Focusing on speed would mean making every road as wide and straight as possible — but no community wants all its roads to be freeways. Residential streets and local roads work just fine, but DOTs haven’t had a good way to measure that — until now.

“Measuring Access to Jobs and Necessities,” a panel on December 6 during Capital Ideas, will discuss publicly for the first time a new set of metrics that can help DOTs understand travelers’ needs more comprehensively.

Register today to be among the first to learn about these new metrics. You’ll hear from three transportation agencies that are among the first putting this measure into practice.

Here at T4America we often say “we measure what we treasure.” What we treasure is transportation options that support regional economies and strong communities in addition to moving fast. We hope you’ll join us to discuss making them happen.

Florida is out in front on driverless vehicles

The State of Florida knows that the way they’ve done transportation projects for the last 50 years won’t be the way to do them for the 50 years ahead. That’s why the Florida Department of Transportation, in partnership with the City of Gainesville, state legislators, and mobility company Transdev, are piloting one of the first autonomous vehicle shuttle projects in the country.

“It can’t just be a research project. It needs to move people,” says Dan Hoffman, Assistant City Manager for the City of Gainesville, which is the location of the pilot. “We want to understand how this technology could support an entire transportation network.”

Gainesville’s shuttle is currently in the testing phase. Once in operation, its route will connect the University of Florida’s campus and downtown Gainesville. It would be among the first automated vehicles in the nation to provide fixed-route transit services in mixed traffic on public roads.

“Florida is putting their money where their mouth is,” says Hoffman. “We want economic development. We want people to be safer on our roads. We are willing to start thinking in new ways about how to accomplish that.”

Dramatic advances in transportation technology are part of what’s powering Gainesville’s shuttle. But the project wouldn’t have been possible without making changes and innovations to state transportation policy. In 2016, the Florida Legislature passed the nation’s first legislation to legalize fully autonomous vehicles on public roads without a driver behind the wheel. Several other cities in Florida have started pilot projects with driverless vehicles since then, and other states have since moved to follow Florida’s lead.

To discuss how Gainesville and the State of Florida are doing this work, and what other states can learn from it, Dan Hoffman will one of our featured speakers at Capital Ideas 2018, taking place on December 5 and 6 in Atlanta, GA. Register for the conference today to hear more details about Gainesville’s driverless vehicle project and ask questions about your own projects.

Why come all the way to Atlanta if you can read about the project online?

“You always pick up nuances about the work at presentations and events,” Hoffman says. “People feel a little more comfortable being honest in person and that’s really the biggest benefit of events like Capital Ideas. You get to connect with the people who do your type of work in other places and have conversations that are a little more wonky or specific than with anyone else. To me, that’s the biggest benefit.”

Get your ticket to Capital Ideas 2018 today to hear from Dan and to discuss your own community’s work on autonomous vehicles and the future of new mobility. We hope to see you in Atlanta in December.

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Thank you to our sponsors

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Host Committee

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Promotional partners

Have questions about registration, sponsorship, or our program? Email capitalideas@t4america.org to talk with our team.

The hosts of Capital Ideas 2018 are working together for a more connected Atlanta region

Atlanta, GA isn’t just the location of Capital Ideas 2018 — the region itself is part of the agenda.

Atlanta’s work to build a more walkable, bikeable, transit-accessible city has lessons every city can learn from. Expanding their transit system, creating multi-use trails, investing in light rail, expanding bike share, funding bus rapid transit, and raising new funds for projects in the future are just some of the Atlanta region’s recent successes.

This work takes partnership, and we are proud to have more than a dozen organizations working for a more connected Atlanta region serving as our Host Committee for this year’s conference.

The full committee includes the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce (our Host Committee chair), the City of Atlanta’s Office of Mobility Planning, Atlanta Beltline, Atlanta Regional Commission, Atlanta-Region Transit Link Authority, American Council of Engineering Companies of Georgia, Center for Working Families, Inc., Central Atlanta Progress, JACOBS, MARTA, Midtown Alliance, the Partnership for Southern Equity, Perimeter Community Improvement Districts, Siemens, and the Urban League of Greater Atlanta.

You might notice that several of these organizations do not work directly on transportation. Why is state transportation policy important to them?

“Ensuring modern, multimodal and well-maintained transportation infrastructure is essential to the long-term quality of life and economic vibrancy of Downtown Atlanta. We are focused at the hyper-local level to encourage targeted transportation investments, policies, and programs that strive to balance jobs and housing in Downtown, support Downtown attractions and events, and promote equity. As a bridge between the Atlanta’s private sector business community and local government, we convene people, catalyze change, and provide leadership for mobility issues facing the center city.” — Central Atlanta Progress

“The Atlanta metropolitan region’s inadequate state of transportation infrastructure, access, and funding exists largely as a result of a legacy of detrimental policies deeply rooted in race and class. The Partnership for Southern Equity (PSE) believes that an equitable approach to transportation requires the collaboration of all governments within a region, including state government, and coordinated transportation and land use planning. PSE seeks to offer equitable and innovative approaches to regional transportation in order to confront the Atlanta metro’s inequitable, racialized past and to create the conditions necessary for shared prosperity.” — Partnership for Southern Equity

Join us in Atlanta in December to learn about creating cross-sector partnerships for transportation innovation in your own state. Register for Capital Ideas 2018 today.

The newest intercity rail system in the country

Since it opened earlier this year, the Florida Brightline that connects Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and West Palm Beach has been the only privately owned, operated and maintained passenger rail system in the United States.

Creating the system took collaboration with the Federal Railroad Administration, the State of Florida, and regional economic partnerships, not to mention billions of dollars in private capital.

Now, they’re planning to do it again in California. Earlier this week Brightline announced plans for a new system connecting Southern California to Las Vegas. It will be only the second privately funded passenger rail system in the United States.

Join us at Capital Ideas 2018 to learn how they plan to do it, and about the role states can play in making projects like this happen.

Rusty Roberts, Vice President of Government Affairs for Brightline, will be one of the featured speakers at Capital Ideas.

Roberts will share lessons from the Brightline’s work in Florida, ways they are adapting in California, and tips any state leader should know about making innovative projects like this possible.

This session will be just one of the many great conversations in store for Capital Ideas 2018, all about the role states can plan in new mobility frontiers.

We hope you’ll join us in Atlanta in December.

Atlanta, GA: More than just a host, a destination


View of downtown Atlanta from Ansley Park. (Image: Richard Cawood, Flickr)

This week, we’re announcing the chair of our host committee for Capital Ideas 2018: the Metro Atlanta Chamber. Here is a note from Dave Williams, Vice President of Infrastructure & Government Affairs at the Metro Atlanta Chamber.

Register for Capital Ideas  Become a Capital Ideas sponsor

I’m thrilled to announce that the Metro Atlanta Chamber will be chairing the host committee for Capital Ideas 2018 with Transportation for America on December 5-6! We can’t wait to welcome leaders from all over the country to experience Atlanta firsthand. As with the two previous Capital Ideas conferences, you can expect an impressive and wide-ranging lineup of speakers and workshops. You’ll come away highly-motivated and better equipped in influence state-level transportation planning, delivery, and funding. I still remember the amazing time I had in Sacramento in 2016, both at conference sessions and experiencing the city.

Atlanta is the perfect city to host the 2018 conference, as we’re making extraordinary progress on transit, place-making, and economic development.

Now, it’s true; Atlanta is known for its car culture and urban sprawl, like Los Angeles or Houston. But our development patterns have changed profoundly in the last decade, and for the better. Today, Atlanta is at the forefront of building a walkable, bikeable, transit-accessible city; it’s bursting with potential that’s just waiting to be tapped.

We’re expanding our public transit system (MARTA), building denser/more walkable communities, revitalizing neighborhoods with infill development, and have passed major legislation advancing transit funding and governance. We’re building the type of city that attracts and retains young talent (and the companies that want to employ them), that enables people to start and raise a family in a community they love, and that allows older Americans to age in place close to their family and friends.

The Atlanta BeltLine exemplifies this transition and is among the most significant development projects in the U.S. today. It’s a 22-mile network of old rail lines encircling the city that are being re-developed into a multi-use transportation corridor. When completed in 2030, it will include 33 miles of multi-use trails, 22 miles of light rail, 2,000 acres of green space, and connect 45 neighborhoods. You definitely don’t want to leave Atlanta without experiencing the BeltLine firsthand. Ponce City Market, Krog Street Market, and numerous amazing restaurants and bars are located along the BeltLine and promise a good time.

MARTA, the safest U.S. heavy passenger rail system by some measures, is also booming. You’ll be able to take MARTA from the airport to the conference hotel and use it to reach many other notable destinations around the city. Nearly all of metro Atlanta’s recent major economic development wins have been located along MARTA’s heavy rail lines, including State Farm, Mercedes-Benz, NCR, Pulte Homes, Kaiser-Permanente, and many others. And MARTA could soon serve even more people and places around the region; I’m hopeful and confident that Gwinnett and Cobb Counties will become part of the MARTA system in the next few years, expanding MARTA’s footprint by nearly 2 million more residents.

In 2016, Atlanta area voters overwhelmingly approved two taxes for expansions and improvement to MARTA, an expansion of the bike share system, and Complete Streets projects, as well as other pedestrian improvements. Earlier this year, the state approved legislation paving the way for even more transit by allowing 13 counties to raise transit funds through sales taxes. And just last month, Governor Nathan Deal and state officials announced $100 million in funding to help facilitate a new bus rapid transit line along GA-400, one of our most congested highways.

The Metro Atlanta Chamber, along with many partners, has been working continuously to advance transportation and transit since we hosted the 1996 Olympic Games. Transit has played a huge role in helping Atlanta secure several major sports events, including the 2018 College Football Championship, 2018 MLS All-Star Game, Super Bowl LIII (2019), 2020 NCAA Final Four, and are among the sites to host games at the 2026 World Cup. Be sure to check out the College Football Hall of Fame, which is within walking distance of the hotel for the conference, or you can catch a ride on the Atlanta Streetcar.

When it comes to transportation, Atlanta is changing, and change doesn’t always happen smoothly. We’ve experienced great successes, learned from our failures, and are happy to share our stories at Capital Ideas 2018. We hope you’ll join us this December and take advantage of all that Atlanta has to offer. Because we’re not just a host; Atlanta is a destination.

Atlanta truly is at the forefront of reimagining its transportation system for the 21st century and dealing with the challenges of today. That’s one of the reasons we chose it as the location for Capital Ideas 2018. There is a lot of disruption and uncertainty in the transportation world right now from changing lifestyle preferences, to new forms of mobility, to the current unpredictability of the federal government’s status as a funding partner for transportation. The spotlight again turns to states and localities when it comes to policy and funding for transportation.

Reserve your spot at Capital Ideas now before early bird rates expire!

Register for Capital Ideas  Become a Capital Ideas sponsor

What’s the best role for state government in [insert your top transportation issue]?

There’s both a lot of uncertainty and disruption in America’s transportation landscape right now, from pothole-riddled roads and no money to repair them (an age-old issue) to brand new tech-enabled transportation options (electric scooters anyone?). Stuck between shifting national politics on one hand, and cities scrambling to keep up with dramatic changes to urban transportation on the other, are the states. How is the state’s role evolving when it comes to transportation?

That’s where Transportation for America’s Capital Ideas conference comes in.

What should states be doing when it comes to managing new ride-sourcing services or autonomous vehicle testing, and is there a way to generate new transportation revenues while prioritizing safety for everyone who needs to use the right-of-way? What are the state-level policy considerations for intercity rail, especially with private companies inching into the U.S. market? How are states limiting or allowing localities to control their own transportation destiny through local-funding initiatives?

Help shape our agenda

Right now (and until July 13), we’re accepting session proposals to address questions like those—and so much more—at Capital Ideas 2018. This December, your expertise and insights could gain an audience of hundreds in positions of influence, including state policymakers, transportation advocates, and service providers. And a diversity of voices and ideas will help us make Capital Ideas as useful as possible for the widest variety of people and practitioners.

Capital Ideas will cover state-level policy, campaign tactics, and provide ample opportunity for peer-to-peer collaboration. And your session could help participants come away prepared to raise new funding for transportation and ensure those dollars are wisely spent to accomplish tangible goals.

Early-bird registration deadline extended

There is now even more time for you to take advantage of early-bird discounts on Capital Ideas registration. From now until September 7, save up to $100 on your ticket to the two-day conference in Atlanta, GA. (T4America members can save an additional $100 with their special member code!)

Register now to lock down your space for Capital Ideas 2018.