Five Transportation Stories That Will Shape the Year Ahead

Posted by Larry Ehl on Thursday, September 27th, 2012

Transportation Issues Daily

Lloyd Brown has done it again, publishing another must-read story, “Five transportation stories that will shape the year ahead,” that gives us a serious case of envy.

Here are the five issues, but you’ll have to read the transportation communication guru’s whole story here to learn why Brown picks these issues.

  • Funding
  • MAP-21 Implementation
  • Toward Zero Deaths
  • Connected Vehicles
  • Distracted Driving

Brown goes on to list several other issues that could easily crack the top five.

My top five?  It’s hard to argue with Brown’s list.  I might cheat and collapse Toward Zero Deaths and Distracted Driving into “Traveler Safety” and add the Panama Canal widening project, as it is shaping activities at a number of ports around the country (an issue Brown does mention).

I could make the argument for “politics and people.” The landscape could change significantly if Secretary LaHood follows through with his stated intention to resign and/or if Romney wins the White House. Then there’s the issue of who will chair the House Transportation committee, and who all is serving on House and Senate transportation-related committees once the new Congress is seated.  We – and perhaps Brown – will revisit this list after the elections.

But this time next year we may well look back and recognize it as the year that support for bike-ped infrastructure took off exponentially.   Our recent two stories on Bike-Friendly Business Districts are among the most-read stories in the history of Transportation Issues Daily. Communities all across the country in both blue and red states are jumping on the complete streets, uh, bandwagon.

Larry Ehl is the founder and publisher of Transportation Issues Daily. In the public sector, Larry was Federal Relations Manager for Washington State DOT; Chief of Staff to US Senator Slade Gorton; and was twice elected to the Edmonds School Board.

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