FDOT District 1 - From the desk of Secretary Billy Hattaway
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| Secretary Billy Hattaway |
FDOT
District One First Edition Issue 1, 2012 (March 2012)
From the
Desk of
Secretary Hattaway
This article was
created based on a request from one of our employees to share my vision for
multi-modal transportation in District One.
“I’m interested to know about the
Secretary’s vision for Public Transportation in the District with the new
projects such as Bus Rapid Transit, The Commuter Service Program (biking,
walking, carpool, vanpool, telecommuting, green initiatives, parking
management, etc.)”
My vision is based
on many years of experience in working nationally with state DOTs and local
governments on improving the balance between all modes of transportation for
their communities and thorough review of reports and articles concerning the
changing trends and demographics in the United States.
We have been
blessed for decades with the freedom to drive with little expense to take care
of our daily needs or travel recreationally. That freedom has allowed us to
live at increasing distances from work, school and our downtowns. More
recently, there is an increased recognition that the costs of sprawl
development patterns, such as costs of personal transportation, municipal
services, schools and busing of children, are becoming less sustainable. That
combined with demographic changes of baby boomers (like me) and many in younger
generations wanting to live in more urban walk-able communities is driving an
increased demand for local governments and state transportation agencies to
improve the balance between all modes.
District One has
numerous communities along our coast who recognize this trend and are working
to implement changes in their development patterns and transportation systems
to create communities that are more supportive to walking, biking, and transit.
I believe our role as a transportation agency is to provide leadership in these
efforts and we have a responsibility to work with them collaboratively in
achieving their goals. This will involve increased partnerships with local
governments who are willing to truly partner with us to achieve mutual goals to
increase mobility for our citizens and visitors.
Local governments
are looking to the Department for support in creating streets that are more
comfort-able and safer for pedestrians and bicyclists which also supports
increased transit ridership. This includes both working with them in planning
and designing “complete streets” and providing technical expertise to them in
achieving their goals for redevelopment and improving their local
transportation network.
In my role as
Secretary I have already begun discussions with some of our local governments
who have begun planning or implementation of redevelopment of their downtown
and along some of our corridors. Their roles include planning efforts that
truly engage their citizens in creating a vision for the area they are focused
on, recruiting champions who will ensure their plans are carried out,
developing implementation plans that are financially feasible, and committing
to change development patterns to support the changes they are requesting of
the department. I have expressed to them that we will work with them to achieve
their goals.
My commitment to our employees is to work with you and
support you during our transition into this expanded role of the department,
which will involve learning new skills for public outreach, planning and
design. This is an exciting opportunity for those who are interested in
learning new skills and expanding their capability and value to the Department.
Consistent, Predictable, Repeatable
This is incredibly welcome news from inside Florida DOT!
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