• September 27, 2019

    Sustainable Transportation: A Conversation with Regional Leaders

    With so much attention currently focused on improving mobility, accessibility, and livability in Washington State, transportation agencies, professionals, and policy-makers may find it difficult to meet sustainability goals.

    Sustainable Transportation: A Conversation with Regional Leaders, hosted by the American Public Works Association (APWA) UW Chapter, the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) UW Chapter, and UW Planning Student Association, was held late last May.

    With major funding packages at the state and regional levels being passed in the form of this year’s Washington State transportation package and Sound Transit 3 in 2016, leaders are now challenged with seeing these projects through on time and under budget. However, this task is faced with difficulty as construction costs continue to rise and the complexity of project delivery increases. 

    All the while, county and city leaders are also trying to meet aggressive sustainability goals by encouraging density and alternative methods of transportation on top of trying to increase and improve mobility.

    Sound Transit CEO Peter Rogoff, King County Executive and UW MUP Alum Dow Constantine, WSDOT Deputy Director for Regional Transit Coordination and UW CEPAlum Celeste Gilman, UW Evans School Alum Senator Steve Hobbs, and King County Councilmember Claudia Balducci were in attendance as speakers on the panel. The group of professional got to share their thoughts on how to balance these sustainability targets with goals such as regional economic development. 

    Professionals, faculty members, and students interested and invested in all things transportation were invited to attend the event, participate in the discussion, and network with others.

    The event was sponsored by PacTrans, UW PSA, ITE WA, APWA WA State, APA Puget Sound Section, UW CBE Professionals Council, UW GPSS, and Parametrix.