Orange County Branch Newsletter

November 2017

Mobility 21 Southern California Transportation Summit

Transforming California


By Juliet Su, P.E.

This year, more than 1,200 transportation, business and elected leaders convened at the Disneyland Hotel for the 16th annual Mobility 21 Southern California Transportation Summit. Under the expert direction of Jenny Larios, Mobility 21’s Executive Director, and Kristin Slocum, Mobility 21’s Director of Operations and Communications, and with the assistance of over 60 volunteers (including ASCE volunteers) helping to plan, setup, and orchestrate the event, Mobility 21 put on another spectacular event.

The Summit is one of the largest one-day transportation-focused events in the state. The annual conference focuses on bringing together leaders from a broad spectrum of backgrounds to address the challenges and opportunities facing Southern California’s transportation infrastructure. During the Summit, conference attendees learned about concepts being proposed to overcome Southern California’s transportation challenges, including: impacts of state and federal funding trends, growing usage of express lanes, connecting transit to aviation, MicroTransit and connected and autonomous vehicles. Leaders also called on state legislators to implement reforms and innovations to make much needed improvements to Southern California’s transportation infrastructure.

Southern California is leading the nation into a new era of transportation with unprecedented investments in new rail lines and sustainable transportation projects,” said Los Angeles Mayor and Chair of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) Board Eric Garcetti in a pre-recorded address to the Summit attendees. “The bipartisan coalition we assembled to improve mobility, clean the air, and create economic opportunity is a model for our region, our country and the world.”

In accepting an award for Public Sector Leader of the Year, Los Angeles Mayor and Metro Board Chairman Eric Garcetti also highlighted the successful passage of Los Angeles County’s Measure M tax initiative and how local measures bring much needed funding to ease traffic congestion, create jobs and improve quality of life in Southern California.

In addition to the Public Sector Leader of the Year, Mobility 21 presented awards to other transportation leaders for their efforts to keep the region moving:

  • Hon. Jerry Brown, Governor, State of California
  • Hon. Kevin de León, Senate President Pro Tem, California State Senate
  • Hon. Anthony Rendon, Speaker, California State Assembly
  • Hon. Jim Beall, Chair, California State Senate Housing and Transportation Committee
  • Hon. Jim Frazier, Chair, California State Assembly Transportation Committee
  • Private Sector Leader of the Year:
  • Tribute Award:

 

This year’s Summit highlighted top transportation solutions from around the globe and sought strategies to develop and implement transformative solutions for Southern California’s traveling public. As Mobility 21 continues its mission to bring together public, business and community stakeholders to pursue regional transportation solutions, Southern California should expect to see more invigorating discussions to improve mobility in the region year after year.

ASCE OC has been a supporting organization for Mobility 21 since 2016 and looks forward to continued support of future events promoting investment in transportation infrastructure.