The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) has launched a web site to represent a new multi-decade vision for U.S. transportation. AASHTO, which represents the state departments
of transportation nationwide, is planning a conference May 21-23 to lay a conceptual framework for that transportation vision.
The new website can be accessed at www. transportationvision.org. It contains links to research, a set of recent reports created by AASHTO, conference information and links to associated groups.
Eight national organizations will join with AASHTO in an effort to project the needs and for an improved and expanded national transportation system. The groups include AAA, the American Council of Engineering Companies, the American Public Transportation Association, the American Road and Transportation Builders Association, the American Trucking Associations, the Associated General Contractors, and the Association of American Railroads.
Nine working groups convened by AASHTO have produced recommendations on specific subject areas. A summary of those recommendations will be the starting point for the industry-wide conference May 21-23, in Cambridge, Md.
Topic areas to be considered during the conference include:
• The Big Picture - International competitiveness and the role of shippers, railroads, trucking, distribution centers, ports and airports in meeting national needs.
• Highway System Preservation, Performance and Capacity - What the national highway system of the future will require to meet national needs; including a specific focus on long-distance travel, travel and tourism, and rural needs.
• Advanced Technologies and Transportation - How ITS technologies, advanced materials, and innovation can better meet transportation needs.
• Transit and Intercity Passenger Bus - A vision of how these systems can better meet needs for the future.
• Metropolitan Mobility and Congestion - How to improve system capacity, performance, reliability, and better manage demand in urban areas.
• Freight and Passenger Rail - How improved rail service can help meet future needs for moving people and freight.
• Sustainable Transportation - Energy, Climate Change, Land Use, Community Quality of Life and Environment - This group will address a series of issues that are inseparable from meeting the nation's future transportation needs.
• Safety - Behavioral as well as vehicle and roadway safety.
• Funding - Estimates of what will be required to meet future highway, transit and rail system needs; revenue options near-term and long-term; and the roles of the federal government, state and local governments and the private sector in funding what is needed.
"By coming together across modes and states and industries we can pool our best ideas to put together a fresh and creative approach to what is an essential part of America's future," said AASHTO Executive Director John Horsley.