Date:
Monday, July 17, 2006
Contact:
Barbara Ivanov, Director Freight Strategy and Policy Office, 360-705-7931 (Olympia), or 206-791-3410 (cell)
OLYMPIA – The Washington State Department of Transportation’s (WSDOT) efforts to produce data-driven and customer-based transportation planning for freight has earned the agency national recognition. The Federal Highway Administration and Federal Transit Administration gave WSDOT an Honorable Mention in its 2006 Transportation Planning Excellence Awards for the freight system analysis WSDOT prepared to support the upcoming Washington Transportation Plan Update.
Co-sponsored by the American Planning Association, the awards were announced this month at a national meeting of the Transportation Research Board in La Jolla, California. WSDOT received the award for its planning document, “Washington Transportation Plan Update: Moving Freight.”
“A key part in developing this freight transportation planning piece was meetings and interviews with over 250 high volume freight carriers,” said Barbara Ivanov, WSDOT’s director for the Freight Strategy and Policy Office. “This is the first time that WSDOT has prepared a specific analysis for the state’s long-range Washington Transportation Plan periodic update. We focused our recommendations and proposals on customer requirements and worked with freight carriers to help us identify gaps and needs in freight movement.”
WSDOT’s Washington Transportation Plan Freight Report consists of three components of the state’s freight system:
- Global Gateways – International and National Trade Flows Through Washington
- Made in Washington – Regional Economies Rely on the Freight System
- Delivering Goods to You – The Retail and Wholesale Distribution System.
The entire document is available from the WSDOT Freight Office in Olympia and Seattle and is available on WSDOT’s website. The plan recognizes that the system of freight transportation in Washington supports national and state economies, national defense, and directly sustains hundreds of thousands of jobs as well as distributes the necessities of life to every resident of the state everyday.
Secretary of Transportation Doug MacDonald added, “We’ve been working hard to improve WSDOT’s support for freight transportation in our state. This is a very welcome recognition of our efforts. We pledge they will continue.”
The purpose of the Transportation Planning Excellence Awards is to recognize outstanding initiatives in developing, planning, and implementing innovative transportation planning practices across the country.
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