Auto Club Leads Mobility 21 Transportation Coalition

Over 850 elected officials, business leaders, and transportation advocates gathered in Anaheim, CA on Friday, October 29th for Mobility 21’s annual transportation summit. The largest ever event of this kind, the summit focused on investing in transportation to strengthen the economy, create jobs, reduce congestion, and improve traffic safety.

As chair of Mobility 21, Steve Finnegan, Manager, Government Affairs and Public Policy, led the annual summit, capping a year of advocacy successes for Southern California motorists, businesses, and residents.

Mobility 21 has become one of the strongest mobility advocates in California. This year, the coalition was instrumental in getting legislation allowing the use of “design-build” contracting to speed up highway work and bypass the slower and more costly state process.

The Auto Club helped create Mobility 21 seven years ago in Los Angeles County. It is now a coalition of business and transportation interests covering seven counties and 21 million people throughout Southern California.

Key conference participants included:

• Curt Pringle, Anaheim Mayor, Orange County Transportation Authority Director, and California High-Speed Rail Authority Chair
• Mary Peters, Former Secretary, U.S. Department of Transportation - who noted that this was “the best transportation conference I ever attended.”
• Don Knabe, County of Los Angeles Supervisor, L.A. Metro Chair, and Metrolink Board Member
• Bonnie Lowenthal, Chair, California Assembly Transportation Committee
• Janet Kavinoky, Director of Transportation Infrastructure, U.S. Chamber of Commerce - who remarked that “the event [was] the most impressive gathering of transportation leaders she has attended in 20 years of working on transportation issues.”
• Joel Szabet, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Transportation Policy, U.S. Department of Transportation
• Dale Bonner, California Secretary of Business, Transportation and Housing Agency
• Lucy Dunn, CEO Orange County Business Council and California Transportation Commission (CTC) member
• Jim Earp, Executive Director, California Alliance for Jobs and CTC member
• Fran Inman, Senior Vice President, Majestic Realty and CTC member

TV personality Huell Howser - host of the Auto Club-sponsored “Road Trip with Huell Howser” and “California’s Gold” series - served as the conference’s master of ceremonies. In his opening remarks, Howser thanked the Auto Club for its leadership in traffic safety, transportation, and advocating for motorists.

Participants at the conference took part on 10 breakout sessions in five tracks:

• Track 1 - Show Me the Money: How Transportation Can Survive in an Era of Dwindling Investment
• Track 2 - Boots on the Ground: Using Creative Project Advancement Options to Make Projects Happen
• Track 3 - Moving Goods, Creating Jobs
• Track 4 - Reality Check: Practical Applications of Sustainability and Livability Goals
• Track 5 - Power to the People: How Social Media Can Help Empower Your Stakeholders

Through partnerships with transportation agencies and business organizations from Southern California, Mobility 21 tackles issues across modes of transportation including highways, buses, moving goods and people, bicycles, railways, trucks and trains. Mobility 21 fights for funding and solutions to transportation challenges facing the 21 million residents of Imperial, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, and Ventura Counties.

For more information about Mobility 21 visit www.mobility21.com. For more on the Auto Club’s involvement in transportation, go to www.AAA.com/roadahead.