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Our Town Event Gathered Experts to Address Transportation’s Future
The WILMAPCO Our Town Event, held February 8, 2023 at the Embassy Suites in Newark, focused on emerging topics in transportation planning.
The Our Town event has been bringing local and regional experts was developed in 1996. John Sisson, CEO of Delaware Transit Corporation, welcomed more than 50 attendees and delivered opening remarks, followed by Tigist Zegeye, Executive Director of WILMAPCO, who gave a presentation discussing
on Environment, delivered Equity, Climate, and Transportation: New Programs and Opportunities, during which she discussed addressing goals for equity and climate through transportation. A focus on and improve air quality will help achieve these goals. While there is a need to reduce vehicle miles traveled,
it is also essential to expand affordable access to safe and reliable mobility choices and create opportunities for community engagement in planning. opportunities that are available to fund a variety of programs for roadways, transit, rail, EV charging, resilience/ natural infrastructure, and more.
Todd Litman, Executive Director of the Victoria Transport Policy Institute, presented Responding to Changing Travel Demands and Community Goals transportation affects people, including time, household budget, housing affordability, health, and safety. Changing travel demands brought on by fuel costs, aging populations,
new technology as well as health and environmental concerns justify a shift in investment from mobility, which favors faster modes and longer trips, to accessibility, which favors multimodalism and smart growth development.
The emcee for the evening was Edward O’Connor, Senior Fellow where attendees discussed prioritizing walking, the relationship between land use and transportation options, and electric vehicles.
The presentations from this year’s Our Town event can be found at www.wilmapco.org/ourtown.
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