USDOT Officials, NTSB to Headline TRB Annual Meeting
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The country’s transportation community will meet in Washington this month for the annual meeting of the Transportation Research Board.
Stakeholders, policymakers, academics and agency officials will be among the thousands of attendees at the 104th TRB affair, which runs Jan. 5-9 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center.
Dozens of workshops and panel discussions will focus on infrastructure funding, emerging technologies, environmental sustainability, fuel-efficiency metrics, supply chain connectivity and transportation safety improvements during the past year.
Deputy Transportation Secretary Polly Trottenberg is scheduled to lead a forum with DOT’s senior leadership team specific to the implementation of 2021’s Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure law marked its third anniversary in November. At that time, DOT announced $172 million in grants for local safety projects — funds that stemmed from the IIJA.
Check out this experience at #TRBAM! https://t.co/Q12Lnd6wd6 — TRB (@NASEMTRB) January 2, 2025
In 2022, Secretary Pete Buttigieg declared a national roadway safety crisis after a report that determined nearly 43,000 roadway fatalities the previous year.
“The fatalities numbers we report are not just statistics. They are our family, friends, coworkers, neighbors and fellow Americans,” Trottenberg said Nov. 15. “This motivates everyone at the USDOT to work to fulfill commitments we made under the National Roadway Safety Strategy to address all aspects of the roadway safety crisis. We hope our work will continue to bend that curve.”
Buttigieg added, “With this latest round of grants, funding will flow directly to communities across the country to help put life-saving projects in motion, building on our ongoing work to bring traffic fatalities down to the only number that’s acceptable: zero.”
Trottenberg
Trottenberg’s TRB panel titled, “U.S. Department of Transportation: Beyond the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law: Lasting Legacy in a Time of Transition,” will be held Jan. 6. Joining her will be DOT Assistant Secretary for Transportation Policy Christopher Coes, Federal Railroad Administration chief Amit Bose and Veronica Vanterpool, deputy administrator at the Federal Transit Administration.
As President-elect Donald Trump and Republican leadership in Congress plan an update of comprehensive highway policy, attention will be devoted to ensuring long-term funding for transportation accounts. State transportation agencies continue to insist federal assistance is vital for the improvement of freight connectivity as well as reducing congestion along commercial and commuter corridors.
Also at TRB, the National Transportation Safety Board on Jan. 8 is scheduled to present an overview of recent investigations. This will include a summary of the high-profile East Palestine, Ohio, freight train derailment. In a final report published last year, the independent agency determined a railcar’s defective wheel bearing caused the derailment Feb. 3, 2023, and the subsequent release of hazardous material. According to NTSB investigators, the bearing on a hopper car failed and overheated.
Fernandez
NTSB Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy told Congress last year: “We strongly believe that continued vigilance and improvement are needed in our rail system. We recognize the progress that has been made; yet there will always be room for more when it comes to safety.”
TRB organizers on Jan. 8 will honor Nuria Fernandez with the 2025 Frank Turner Medal for Lifetime Achievement in Transportation. Fernandez, president and CEO of AMDC Consulting, will be recognized for her contributions to the public transportation sector. During President Joe Biden’s tenure, she served as FTA administrator.
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