The Stream by AASHTO

The United States is a country with no national language, and with over 150 Indigenous languages still spoken today. With 5.2 million Indigenous people residing in the US today, speaking these 150+ languages—why aren’t more of our road signs printed in these native languages? Teams from the Iowa and Minnesota Departments of Transportation, along with Indigenous partners set out to change that. Joining us today on the podcast to discuss this project are: Brennan Dolan, the Cultural Resources Team Lead and Tribal Liaison at Iowa DOT; Ed Fairbanks, the retired Tribal Liaison for the Minnesota DOT and Mary Otto, the Tribal State Relations Training Manager in Minnesota DOT’s Office of Tribal Affairs.

Equity in transportation has become a major topic of interest the past few years, but the need for a more just transportation sector is not new. Groups like the Conference of Minority Transportation Officials (COMTO) began working to promote equity in transportation decades before the concept became mainstream. COMTO was founded in 1971, just over 50 years ago, and as the association representing minorities in transportation they aim to ensure opportunities and maximum participation in the transportation industry for minority individuals, veterans, people with disabilities, as well as minority, women, and disadvantaged business enterprises. COMTO’s work towards equity heavily intersects with environmental topics such as environmental justice, workforce diversity, public involvement and more. Joining us today to chat about equity, transportation and the environment is April Rai, the President and Chief Executive Officer of COMTO.

Empty your pockets at the gas station each week or navigate charging anxiety? Americans are caught in a catch-22; and that’s just for folks with the income to consider purchasing an electric vehicle. As gas prices climb quicker than electric vehicle charging infrastructure expands, organizations like Forth and the Greenlining Institute are working to ensure equitable access to our growing electric vehicle charging network. In 2019, the Federal Highway Administration reported that the average American drove 14,263 miles per year- or 274 miles a week. The average electric vehicle battery can go ~250 miles between charges- which would seem to be plenty of range most of the time. But what about that occasional road trip? More importantly, what about people who can't easily charge up in their garage? Leslie Aguayo, climate equity program manager at the Greenlining Institute and Jeff Allen, the executive director at Forth, join us this month to discuss just that—equitable electric vehicle charging. More information: https://forthmobility.org/ https://greenlining.org/

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) created the Joint Office of Energy and Transportation to facilitate collaboration between the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Department of Transportation. The Joint Office will align resources and expertise across the two departments toward leveraged outcomes. The office will be a critical component in the implementation of the BIL, providing support and expertise to a multitude of programs that seek to deploy a network of electric vehicle chargers, zero-emission fueling infrastructure, and zero-emission transit and school buses. BIL also created what is now being called the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Formula program or NEVI. In early February, FHWA released the guidance for the NEVI program and the state departments of transportation are rolling up their sleeves and getting to work on developing state EV infrastructure deployment plans that will be submitted to the Joint Office by Aug. 1, 2022 In the meantime, state DOTs are partnering with their sister state agencies like state energy offices and working with the Joint Office to leverage the expertise and technical assistance available through this interagency partnership. Today we’re joined on the ETAP podcast by Rachael Nealer, the Deputy Director of the Joint Office of Energy and Transportation.

            With school buses providing 10 billion annual student rides, electrification presents a major opportunity to green the transportation industry; and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act or IIJA, in concert with state DOTs and organizations like World Resources Institute, sets out to do just that. With a coming influx of $5 billion from the IIJA to replace existing buses, and additional funding for EV charging infrastructure, it’s time for a big change in school transportation.

Joining us on the podcast today is Sue Gander, Director of the Electric School Bus Initiative at the World Resources Institute. Sue and her team are currently working at their goal of electrifying all 480,000 school buses by 2030. Sue, thanks for joining us!

Please see additional resources here: 

Dataset of Electric School Bus Adoption in the United States - Datasets - Data | World Resources Institute (wri.org)

WRI Comments to US DOT on National EV Infrastructure Program

5 Ways US States Can Support the Electric School Bus Transition | World Resources Institute (wri.org)

How to Help Your Community Fund Electric School Buses in the US | World Resources Institute (wri.org)

Since 2020, the AASHTO Committee on Environment and Sustainability has held a weekly webinar series throughout the month of September with each week’s segment hosted by one of its four subcommittees. This year, when the Cultural Resources Subcommittee sat down to plan their webinar, it became clear that there was one topic on everyone’s mind– and that was: Post World War II construction (and what to do with it). The Cultural Resources webinar on the topic illuminated the desire for more resources on how to best deal with post war construction as a practitioner. As such, the subcommittee is conducting their own nationwide survey of the state DOTs on their post war practices and protocols. Heading up that effort is Scott Williams, Cultural Resources Program Manager, Washington State Department of Transportation. Scott joins us today to tell us about the project. Email [email protected] to join the subcommittee friends list!

Today’s ETAP Podcast will focus on the upcoming 2022 Transportation Research Board’s Annual Meeting as well as provide a preview for the TRB Sustainability and Emerging Transportation Technology Conference taking place in March. This year’s meeting will be of particular interest to environmental practitioners and is titled: Innovating an Equitable, Resilient, Sustainable, and Safe Transportation System. With over 800 information sessions and meetings, TRB will cover a wide array of topics across all modes within this year’s theme. Joining us to discuss the 101st TRB Annual Meeting is Tim Sexton; Chief Sustainability Officer at the Minnesota Department of Transportation and Chair of the Transportation Research Board’s Transportation and Sustainability Committee. Tim will also provide a preview of the TRB Sustainability and Emerging Transportation Technology (SETT) Conference taking place in Irvine, California, March 15-18, 2022.

“One of the significant advantages of serving as AASHTO president is that it gives me a platform to address issues that matter,” says Dr. Shawn Wilson. Dr. Wilson is the Secretary of the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development and was elected AASHTO’s first African American president in October. During his tenure as president, Dr. Wilson will be facing ‘issues that matter’ head on. Each year the incoming AASHTO president identifies emphasis areas that will be the focus of their term; Dr. Wilson’s emphasis areas are Pathways to Equity and Partnering to Deliver. He, along with AASHTO Vice President Roger Millar of Washington State, will work with AASHTO and the states to promote equity and to encourage participation in non-traditional partnerships.

From loss of sleep to loss of hearing, noise can pose a real threat. Recent studies have even identified a possible link between noise exposure and dementia. Traffic noise is a major contributor to noise pollution that fuels these negative health outcomes. Tires hitting pavement make up the majority of highway noise. Better modeling and barriers can work to mitigate this for folks living near areas with high levels of noise- and DOT practitioners are working toward such solutions for all affected. Joining us on the podcast today is Noel Alcala, Noise and Air Quality Coordinator at Ohio Department of Transportation. Noel also heads the AASHTO Noise Working Group, which operates under the Committee on Environment and Sustainability. The noise working group convenes state DOTs and promotes discourse on, and works in reducing traffic noise and its negative effects. Reach out to Noel and the Noise Working Group at: [email protected]

Joining us today to discuss the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (or IIJA) is Joung Lee, AASHTO’s Director of Policy and Government Relations. This episode of AASHTO’s ETAP Podcast was recorded while the House of Representatives was reviewing the IIJA. As the bill works its way to President Biden’s desk, AASHTO has been working to represent the interests of state DOTs, and has done so quite successfully. Four out of five of the Association’s core priorities have been incorporated into the most recent version of the bill.