Here is a quick summary of  the what, why, who and when:

During April 24th-26th, I was in Chattanooga, Tennessee attending the 5th Annual Vanguard Conference, an experiential urban leadership gathering of 40 of the best and brightest urban leaders under 40, hosted by the national non-profit media organization Next City.  Mind you, I’m probably the least accomplished of this excellent group of 40 promising leaders, all of them working to improve cities across sectors, including urban planning, community development, entrepreneurship, government, transportation, sustainability, design, art and media. We convened in Chattanooga for a three-day series of presentations, workshops and neighborhood tours. The Vanguard conference will culminate in the Chattanooga Challenge, an ideas competition sponsored by the Footprint Foundation and designed to jump-start civic local innovation through a $10,000 grant for the winning proposal.

Here are a handful of observations from this conference:

• In a nutshell, it was a life altering experience. I got to learn so many issues associated with urban development, such as housing and economic issues, while further understanding the linkages and the crucial role of transportation systems in building a better urban environment.

Image Courtesy: metrojacksonville,com

• Met some of the best and brightest in the country and was in awe from the time I arrived till I left the city (even now I’m in awe of how much knowledge was exchanged and free flowing in that setting).

Image Courtesy: metrojacksonville.com

• When you adopt an unconference format, discussions flow freely and people are at ease to share their ideas. Moral of the story: do not host events featuring powerpoint presentations.  The conversations were engaging, stimulating and at times downright wild (particularly those conversations over the beers and coffees were excellent).

Image Courtesy: Metrojacksonville.com

Image Courtesy: metrojacksonville.com. A lot of beverages consumed and tons of knowledge exchanged.

image courtesy: metrojacksonville.com. Did I tell you it was wild and fun?

Image courtesy: metrojacksonville.com. Opening night party on the premises of the Aquarium building.

• People in the government at local levels work together and even when they work together to solve problems they are constrained by institutional biases and money shortfall.  The city owns a strategic piece of digital infrastructure – Chattanooga offers the fastest Internet connections in America through the city-owned fiber-optic network.
• City of Chattanooga is a great place and certain parts of it, like in most urban areas, has bad things going on.   As part of the Vanguard Conference’s Chattanooga Challenge, we were all divided into four groups and sent to explore different corners of the the city (East, West, North and South) by foot, bikes and transit.  I was part of the walking tour (Team West) that hit the West side and got to see up close the economic disparities that exist on either side of a major elevated highway (U.S. 27) that literally bifurcates the communities more details on the West Side tour in a different bullet below).

Image Courtesy: metrojacksonville.com. Team West, posing for a picture, moment before announced as Winners of the $10k Chattanooga Challenge.

• City of Chattanooga has a great bikeshare system, fantastic aquarium and an excellent set of touristy things like the historic Chattanooga Choo Choo Hotel (pictured below), great restaurants and watering holes across the town.

Image Courtesy: Metrojacksonville.com. Click image to see an entire set of image from a fellow Vanguard, Ennis Davis at Metro Jacksonville

• The city’s low-income residents, particularly those in the West side neighborhoods such as College Hill courts, are somewhat caught in a bad situation. These communities, slated for redevelopment within a decade or so, live quite close to the economic heart of the city. But they do not have a meaningful direct access where they can walk to their jobs and they are cut off by a major thorough fare. This has resulted in poverty and the usual accompaniments of crime and lack of education.  I was part of the Team West in the Chattanooga Challenge that visited these communities and pitched a strong proposal to connect the divided communities.  Our team, bolstered by three strong local young leaders, gained very illuminating insights that helped  us understand the situation at hand.  We suggested that the City of Chattanooga offer free Wi-Fi service to a public housing community on the city’s west side and develop a new pathway to connect the city’s downtown to the highway-marooned neighborhood.  I’m borrowing the narrative from Next City to explain how this is laid out: Right now, area residents, (shown in image below total population of 2481 with a median income of $9277) many of whom are children and downtown workers commuting from public housing developments to school or jobs in other parts of the city, must trek by foot on a dirt path and across highway ramps to reach the city’s center. Where the path enters their neighborhood, residents must pass through a hole in a chain-link fence.  Our teammate Marlon Brown, a city councilman from Mason, Michigan put it succinctly “the neighborhood is physically divided from the downtown at the same time as it is digitally divided from opportunities there. You have to remember, a city is only as strong as its least connected neighborhood. ” These next two images below came from our teammate John Bilderback, who quickly generated them to show how this community  is strategically located and yet remains far removed from better opportunities. What’s better – our winning idea will get a $10,000 boost from the local Footprint Foundation and the City will get to implement the proposal. And the local newspaper did an excellent article covering our winning proposal.  Yay!

• 

  Image Courtesy: John Builderback. Picture1 – Westside – Where the Resources are.

•  Last but not least I got to ride a bicycle after almost 15 years.  I am a regular transit user living in Washington, DC metropolitan area, where we are blessed with better transportation alternatives and a fantatistic world-class bikesharing system.  But I never had a reason to ride a bike because of my living and commuting options. Thanks to Chatanooga and my fellow Vanguards, I got to commandeer a bicycle one afternoon. It was a lot of fun and I reached my destination without embarrassing myself and an exciting story to tell (yeah, our group got yelled at by an older gentleman in a pickup for occupying a full lane on a main thoroughfare).  Sadly, despite the presence of a bikeshare system in the city, the number of bicyclists on the city streets were relatively low.

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  Image courtesy: http://photos.metrojacksonville.com/. Click image to see an entire set of image from a fellow Vanguard, Ennis Davis at Metro Jacksonville

Image Courtesy: Metrojacksonville.com

OFFICE OF PERFORMANCE: SR. PERFORMANCE ANALYST (#140519)

Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA)
WMATA provides transit services in the National Capital Region covering a 1,500 square mile area  (5 million residents) including Washington, D.C.,  two suburban counties in Maryland, and three counties and three cities in Northern Virginia. WMATA operates the second largest heavy rail transit system, sixth largest bus network and fifth largest paratransit service in the United States.

The Office of Performance was established in 2009 to bring a performance-based management approach to the agency, increase Metro’s accountability and transparency and respond to the national focus on performance measures. The office serves as an internal consulting team working across the agency to develop tools that turn data into information, tackle areas facing performance challenges and effectively communicate results. The Office of Performance has also developed external performance material including the Vital Signs Report and scorecard to track progress towards WMATA’s strategic goals (Scorecard).

Sr. Performance Analysts Responsibilities
As a member of the Office of Performance, this position will assist in the formation of a range of performance products to expand the use performance information to guide decision making, promote WMATA’s benefits in the region and to unify employees toward achieving the agency’s strategic goals. The Senior Analyst will serve as the primary liaison between departments responsible for delivering and maintaining rail, bus and paratransit services. The incumbent will be responsible for collecting, analyzing, documenting, and communicating performance information in cooperation with other departments. Through cross-agency collaboration, the overall purpose of this position is to improve the safety, reliability and quality of WMATA services. The Senior Performance analyst will operate with broad latitude and independent judgment under the guidance from the Director of the Office of Performance.

We are looking for someone who can effectively work in an unstructured fast paced environment by applying strong analytical and communication skills with strategic thinking.

Salary Range
$88,700 to $133,000; plus excellent benefits package.

TO APPLY
Please see WMATA website for full information and to submit an application and resume

Via @YPTransportation

via Autoblog

The innovators at Solar Roadways have pulled together a demonstration site (i.e., parking lot) to showcase how their technology works – it’s got a textured glass surface that can (among many other things) generate low-carbon electricity, melt snow, and throw up safety warnings with its integrated LED lighting system. Pretty cool, right? 

Their vision for smarter roads has grown considerably from conception to an award-winning early prototype to a test deployment.  It is poised to take the next logical step forward – manufacturing, which usually costs a ton of money. So they have put together a nice campaign video and lauched the fundraising efforts over at IndieGoGo for helping move this audacious vision to an everyday reality.

Autoblog notes that if successful, the concept will next start appearing in parking lots, driveways and sidewalks before taking that final leap toward paving the way to a solar-powered paradise. Let’s hope it does succeed.  Show your support over at their IndieGoGo campaign site.   

Note: As of this minute, the campaign has raised $4,712 (in just a day) and they have about 39 days left to reach the $1million goal (by May 31 @ 11:59PM).

Related articles

• Solar Roadways to build solar-powered parking lot
• solar powered roadways by scott brusaw
• In Focus: Solar Roadways
• Solar Roadways (the company) to Build Solar Panel Parking Lot (+ Top Transportation Stories)
• Solar Roadways: The Prototype – an interesting idea to contemplate

Check out this infograph from Pembina Institute that clearly lays out the case for public transportation (i.e., Rapid Transit) and shows how much money can be saved..

Source: Pembina Institute.

Closing date: Wednesday, April 30, 2014 (11:59PM EST)

This position is located in the Office of Safety Programs, Office of Safety, Federal Highway Administration, Washington, DC. The incumbent serves as a transportation specialist and provides advice to Safety Leadership on highway safety programs.

You will serve as a nationally recognized authority and advisor to Safety Leadership in identifying, developing and delivering safety workforce competency programs and products to reduce the number and severity of highway crashes, and other highway safety programs. You will also serve as the co-champion for the FHWA Safety Discipline and the program manager for the Roadway Safety Professional Capacity Building Program (RSPBC). As Safety Discipline co-champion, you will work toward improving the capacity of FHWA’s workforce in safety related competencies. As the RSPBC Manager, you will also help a broad range of roadway safety professionals acquire the knowledge, skills, and abilities needed to implement safety programs, strategies, and countermeasures.

The ideal candidate for this position is a mid-career or senior level professional with experience in identifying, planning, and implementing new national program initiatives and leading the development and implementation of programs for outreach and public information to improve the proficiency of highway safety professionals.  He/she has a high degree of independence in planning, prioritizing, scheduling, and carrying out assignments and maintaining effective working relationships as a leader or member of teams or working groups.  In addition, the ideal candidate has excellent person-to-person and written communication skills.

Duties:

• Provide leadership in technical, programmatic engineering and policy assistance to FHWA field offices, State and local agencies, and other internal and external customers to implement safety programs for all levels of government.
• Provide resources to help safety experts and specialists develop critical knowledge and skills within the roadway safety workforce.
• Lead the development and implementation of programs for outreach and public information to improve the proficiency of highway safety professionals.
• Coordinate with other Federal, State, and local agencies and professional organizations and serve on intra-agency task forces with partners to improve the safety workforces’ knowledge, skills, and abilities.
• Plan and conduct briefings and regional and national meetings for FHWA, State, and local safety professionals and other highway safety-related organizations.
• Identify customer’s needs and provide resources to facilitate the deployment of roadway safety tools.

Click here to learn more and to apply.

Parsons Brinckerhoff is currently recruiting a Consultant to join the Strategic Consulting team preferably in their Washington, DC office. They are looking for candidates with demonstrated interest in transit and at least 5 years of practical experience in transit project development and finance.  See below for more details.

Parsons Brinckerhoff, an international leader providing engineering services to the infrastructure industry, has an opening in Washington, DC for a Consultant to join the strategic consulting team. Parsons Brinckerhoff, founded in 1885, is one of the most respected continually operating engineering consulting firms in the world. Throughout its almost 130‐year history, Parsons Brinckerhoff’s commitment to quality has made it a recognized leader providing the knowledge and skill base that is borne of experience.

About Strategic Consulting

Our Strategic Consulting practice advises public and private owners and operators of transportation and other infrastructure on project development, finance, and management. In this capacity, we work with senior management to develop plans, programs, and implementation strategies; secure funds; improve performance; and apply industry best practices to help address tomorrow’s transportation challenges today.

About the Position

We are recruiting a motivated self‐starter with a demonstrated interest in transit and practical experience in transit project development and finance to join a dynamic, fast-paced, multi-disciplinary team. We seek problem solvers with strong written and verbal communications, demonstrated quantitative and analytical skills, the ability to master new concepts quickly, industry knowledge, and meticulous attention to detail to deliver high-quality work.

Based in Washington, DC, the successful candidate will work as part of a national team that primarily advises public sector clients on the funding, finance, and delivery of major capital projects and a variety of related infrastructure management and policy issues. This position will entail tasks such as analyzing the business case for infrastructure investments, analyzing project and program funding and financing opportunities, developing cash flows and financial models, reviewing and interpreting federal legislation and guidance, developing operating and capital programs, performing quantitative analyses, and providing strategic support in all phases of transportation planning and project development. The position offers excellent opportunities for professional growth. You will work directly with industry thought leaders to identify and apply evolving requirements and innovative practices to large, highly visible projects across the United States.

Job Requirements

The successful candidate will have the following skills and experience:

• Mandatory Bachelors degree with a major in transportation planning, economics, business or finance, management, civil engineering, or a related field.
• Highly desired advanced degree in transportation planning, economics, business, public-sector management/administration, systems engineering, or a related field.
• Desired 5-8 years of experience working in the transit and rail industry; consulting experience is a plus.
• Strong research skills and excellent quantitative and analytical skills including knowledge of financial modeling techniques.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills

Click here to read the full announcement on www.pbworld.com (under ID# 22623). Interested candidates should apply directly through the website.

via @YPTransportation

The long and crazy winter is finally nearing its end but then the impact of this prolonged bad weather can be felt even after that last speck of snow is gone.. As shown in this below video by a Michigan driver, the potholes resulting from the winter weather are ridiculously deep and rattles your vehicles pretty badly..

These tire-munching monsters are not only wrecking the vehicles that go over them but they also cause severe damages to your wallet as well. If that is not enough, swerving drivers who intend to avoid these ginormous potholes pose serious road safety challenges to oncoming vehicles, especially in the night.. Plight of road surfaces, particularly in rural areas, is the same in many parts of the country where mother nature showed wrath.. It only means one thing –  the tax payers can expect some seriously high “patching” bills along with the vehicle repair bills as the spring blooms.  With many states already way deep in the red after exhausting their winter maintenance budgets (spent on salt, ice removal, etc), this is going to be really hard to digest..  The American  Automobile Association (AAA) warns that the annual tab for motorists in the USA dinged by potholes is nearly $6.4 billion. Nearly $4.8 billion is spent each year to repair damage to cars resulting from Americans ‘run-ins with potholes, utility cuts and other dangerous road conditions—almost four times the $1.3 billion a year spent on road repairs by state highway departments.”

So, how bad is it for the Washington, DC metro area? Listen to the AAA on these astronomical numbers: “Driving on roads sorely in need of repair costs Maryland motorists $1.598 billion a year in extra vehicle repairs and operating costs, or ‘$422 per motorist,'” according to the American Society of Civil Engineers’ 2013 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure. In Virginia, drivers spend $1.344 billion a year, or $254 per motorist, while It costs District of Columbia drivers $311 million a year, or $833 per motorists, according to ASCE.  Aside from the direct cost of repairs, don’t forget to factor in the time wasted on negotiating the workzones when the pothole crew work hard to fix the mess. In all, it is safe to say we are screwed!

via Young Professionals in Transportation

(Salary: $75,600 – $104,300)
The Baltimore City Department of Transportation, an urban multi-modal transportation agency with primary responsibility for the City’s roadways, bridges, transit systems, and traffic safety is seeking a dynamic professional to function as the City’s Chief Traffic Engineer and manage the Traffic Management Center.

The Chief of the Traffic Division will lead a team of professional engineers, managers and  technicians to:

• Authorize installation of Traffic Control Devices including signals, signs and pavement markings
• Operate and maintain the city’s 1,350 traffic signals
• Conduct Traffic Studies
• Develop measures to enhance all modes of transportation in the City;
• Implement the City’s Complete Streets Program
• Oversee multi-disciplinary planning and design teams for roadway improvement projects, ITS projects, transportation safety projects, bicycle and pedestrian projects, and other transportation-related projects;
• Oversee consultant resources through the planning and design project development processes;
• Recruit and hire professional traffic engineers
• Manage agency-wide data collection and GIS programs;
• Manage the agency’s transportation safety improvement program;
• Manage the agency’s transportation management center;
• Manage the signal electronics and signal construction maintenance shops; Conduct training of staff and consultants;
• Conduct traffic policy research and analysis on a range of topics;and
• Other duties as required.

Desirable qualifications: Master’s degree from an accredited college or university, five years of experience managing engineering projects as a licensed professional engineer, certification as a Professional Traffic Operations Engineer, and a minimum of five years directly supervising senior engineers, junior engineers and engineering technicians. Consideration may be given to a combination of experience and/or education. This position reports directly to the Deputy Director and will have frequent contact with the Director of Transportation, the Mayor’s Deputy Chief of Staff of Operations, and members of City Council. This is a benefited, at-will position serving at the pleasure of the Director of Transportation.

Qualified candidates should submit a cover memo and resume, which specifically addresses the experience relevant to this position, to Kathy Litz, Baltimore City Department of Transportation, 417 E. Fayette Street, Room 546, Baltimore, Maryland 21202 or email to: Kathy.litz@baltimorecity.gov. Submission deadline is March 31, 2014.

An equal opportunity employer.