At a pared-down version of this year's Transportation Research Board conference in Washington, D.C., attendees were pleased by passage of the $1-trillion federal infrastructure finance package, but transportation officials are also concerned about how the funding will actually roll out and how agency missions will adapt in a post-pandemic world.

The first TRB event held since enactment of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act last November featured transportation agency officials discussing both the opportunities and challenges afforded by the added funding, particularly given uncertainties of the post-pandemic economy.

“Transportation agencies were evolving for years long before the pandemic,” said Stephanie Pollack, deputy administrator od the Federal Highway Administration at the event, held Jan. 9-13. “The future has changed on us.” She noted that “transit [officials] are using this opportunity to ask questions about what transit can be.”

轮询ack, who moderated a panel of U.S. Transportation Dept and state agency leaders, says FHWA is trying to streamline its documentation process by holding early-on policy workshops so that all stakeholders involved can provide comments. “We cannot put out documents or get anything done if the process is linear,” she said.

The goal is not simply to get projects moving quickly, Pollack added. “This is not ARRA 2.0,” she said, referring to the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act srimulus program. “It’s about getting it right … not just shovels in the ground. As an industry, we tend to measure funds as if they are the outcome. They are inputs. Roads, bridges, transit—those are the outputs.”

Leslie Richards, General Manager for the Southeast Pennsylvania Transit Authority, noted that her agency’s $120-million allotment from the bill will likely be used up before system ridership returns to pre-pandemic levels.

“We have to operate more efficiently,” Richards said, adding that SEPTA and other transit agencies will also have to become less commuter-driven, adapting to the pandemic-accelerated trend toward flexible work schedules.

Julie Lorenz, secretary of the Kansas Dept. of Transportation, said that her agency has been looking at various scenarios and consulting with municipalities and contractors in the state to gain input on actions to improve the transportation system, rather than just creating an arbitrary list of projects. For example, “we have 23,000 bridges … we don’t need all these bridges, just stronger ones in some places,” she said. “But it’s not my role to say, ‘get rid of these three bridges.’”

Gregory Pecoraro, president and CEO of the National Association of State Aviation Officials, said the group's members are “ramping up to find grant specialists” in anticipation of infrastructure law funding opportunities. But the Federal Aviation Administration also needs to streamline its processes, he added.

Making Connections

纳入和公平，恢复和弹性以及技术也在TRB的议程中。

路易斯安那州运输与发展秘书的肖恩·威尔逊（Shawn Wilson），美国国家公路协会和运输官员协会的第一任黑人主席，他在他对公平的会议上指出，有六位黑人国家领导人，是美国历史上最多的。。

“我们必须从符号到systemic,” said Toks Omishakin, director of the California Dept. of Transportation. He said Caltrans has engaged in equity listening sessions with community leaders, including homeless advocates, and is requiring all employees to participate in an implicit bias program.

With a state $1.2-billion initiative expected to complement federal infrastructure funds, “we are going to hire a ton of people in the next three years,” he said. That includes recruiting from homeless people, ex-convicts and those from disadvantaged communities, and making sure hiring committees are diverse, he said.

Yassmin Gramian, secretary of the Pennsylvania Dept. of Transportation, said it is working with other state agencies such as the Dept. of Human Services to reach out to historically underserved communities. Noting, as an example, the bifurcation of Philadelphia’s Chinatown section due to a highway project, she said, “the people most in need of transportation don’t have the time to advocate for themselves.”

Technology Roll-out

Although initial public hype surrounding autonomous vehicles has cooled in light of lingering safety concerns and a still-evolving regulatory process, transportation researchers continue to explore planning and operational issues that policymakers will need to consider for the technology’s eventual roll-out.

多次TRB会议涉及诸如农村地区的无线基础设施限制，接送/下车的路边管理，确保使用共享自动驾驶汽车服务的运输权益以及“空旅行” AVS对道路网络拥堵的限制效果。

联邦DOT高度自动化系统安全卓越中心主任罗伯特·海尔曼（Robert Heilman）讨论了一些新的计划，以最终为新和新兴的AV技术研究提供联邦资金支持的渠道。海尔曼所描述的是计划中的单位 - 类似于美国国防部的国防高级研究项目局（DARPA）。18luck官网

DOT运输管理办公室连接/自动化的车辆和新兴技术团队的负责人约翰·哈丁（John Harding）向TRB会议的参与者简要介绍了复杂的努力，以确保将AV技术与现有基础设施安全整合到现有基础设施中，因为它们从驾驶员辅助功能转变为完全自动化。

TRB presenters noted the importance of solid planning to use new funding efficiently and effectively.

联邦铁路管理局项目工程和运输计划部负责人彼得·施瓦茨（Peter Schwartz）指出，资金计划的规模和范围使其“一项难以通过的法案”。除非公众认为它从该投资中获得价值，否则随访可能是很长的时间。

“We have a huge opportunity,” Schwartz said. “If we squander it, we may not get another chance.”

Asked what he thought industry could be discussing in five years, aviation group CEO Pecoraro responded that he hoped it would not be “How did we blow it with the infrastructure bill? Why didn’t we take advantage of it for a far bigger impact?”