Lee MPO one of seven MPOs in the country selected to participate in national Transportation Leadership Academy

BikeWalkLee is thrilled with today's announcement that the Lee MPO has been selected as one of only 7 MPOs in the country to participate in a national Transportation Leadership Academy sponsored by T4America and supported by FHWA. This is an exciting opportunity for the Lee MPO and participating community leaders to be part of a yearlong cutting-edge project focused on the best practices in measuring the impacts of transportation investments. Kudos for the Lee MPO for applying and being selected for this opportunity. Being a "TIGER community" is opening more doors for the County...let's keep taking advantage of them.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Lee County MPO, community leaders selected to participate in yearlong training academy on measuring the impacts of transportation investments

CAPE CORAL, Fla. (Jan. 12, 2016) – A group comprised of community leaders and the Lee County MPO was one of only seven groups selected nationally by the nonprofit Transportation for America to participate in a first-of-its-kind, yearlong training academy for ambitious metro regions beginning to use performance measurement to better assess the impacts of transportation spending. 

Lee County team members selected for the Transportation Leadership Academy include:

-          Brian Hamman, Lee County Commissioner and MPO Chairman

-          Marni Sawicki, Mayor of Cape Coral

-          Janet Watermeier, Watermeier Consulting and Property Services

-          Aaron Troyer, Troyer Brothers Farms

-          Dr. Margaret Banyan, Florida Gulf Coast University

-          Johnny Limbaugh, Lee County MPO

Other teams selected for the academy represent Boston; Cleveland; Des Moines; Indianapolis; Seattle; and South Bend, Indiana.

 

“Our entire team is honored to be selected by Transportation for America for this first-ever transportation leadership program, particularly with groups from such a diverse cross-section of the country,” said Hamman. “The knowledge this team will gain, and the national network we’ll create with other forward-thinking leaders, will serve Lee County’s transportation efforts well into the future.”

Lee County Commissioner and MPO Chair Brian Hamman

Performance measurement — more carefully measuring the impacts of transportation spending decisions to ensure that every dollar is aligned with the public’s goals and brings the greatest return possible for citizens — is an emerging practice that forward-looking metropolitan areas of all sizes are beginning to use. 

The program, created by Transportation for America in partnership with the Federal Highway Administration, will educate teams of local business, civic, elected leaders, and transportation professionals at the early stages of performance measure development; prepare participants to act on opportunities within their communities; and plug them into a dynamic national network of like-minded leaders throughout the country. 

“It’s never easy to raise money to invest in transportation, and more than ever before, citizens want to know how the decisions are being made to spend their money,” said Transportation for America Director James Corless. “A more accountable system that sets tangible goals with input from the community, chooses transportation projects that will help the community meet those goals, and then measures the outcomes in a feedback loop will be essential for ensuring that we get the best bang for the buck going forward.”

The yearlong academy will consist of in-person workshops, ongoing technical assistance throughout the year, regular online training sessions, and expert analysis of plans and progress on deploying performance measures.

For more information about the Lee County MPO, visit LeeMPO.com. Additional information about Transportation for America is available at T4America.org.

Contact:

Tina Matte, Gravina, Smith, Matte and Arnold Marketing and Public Relations, 239.275.5758, Tina@GSMA.pro

 Link to T4America Jan. 11, 2016 announcement:  Seven metropolitan areas selected to participate in yearlong transportation training academy

Quotes from past participants included in T4America's announcement: 

• “The benefit of being selected for this is program allows Central Indiana to have access to best practices in the industry as they’re being developed,” said Anna Gremling, executive director of the Indianapolis MPO, in their official release today. “Our team will use what we learn through this process to assist in the development of the 2045 Long Range Transportation Plan that will begin in mid-2016.”
• “This is the future of transportation in an era of aging infrastructure and limited revenue – continually measuring the performance of the transportation network to ensure we’re making the smartest investments possible,” Des Moines Area MPO Executive Director Todd Ashby said. “We are thrilled to be included in cutting-edge thinking on the best practices in this field.”

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