Conference Brings Transportation Equity to Forefront

By Bree Romero, Field Manager

Nestled at the intersection of three rivers connecting the Midwest to the Atlantic coast is Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania – host of the 18th annual Pro Walk/Pro Bike/Pro Place Conference earlier this month. It was a perfect meeting space for over 1,000 city planners, transportation engineers, public health advocates, elected officials, community leaders, and professional walking and bicycling advocates to gather and build on an active transportation network.

As Fred Kent, president of Project for Public Spaces (PPS) and presenter during the opening plenary noted, “ever since it was first organized as Pro Bike in 1980, this event has served a critical role in the active transportation movement – a place for advocates and practitioners to come together to reflect on needs and lessons learned, to develop a vision for the future, and of course, to build relationships and create new friendships.”

The conference’s four tracks – change, connect, prosper, and sustain – represented the importance of advocacy, infrastructure change, evaluation, and partnership building. And to ensure a lasting impact, interactive activities and workshops were added, including local demonstration projects, trainings leading up to the event, mobile sessions (such as “Connecting Pittsburgh’s Neighborhoods to the Riverfront: A Boat Tour”), and a free community open house available for anyone to attend.

I was excited to participate in the conference and join the Safe Routes to School National Partnership session, “Policies for Pupils: Working with School Boards on Walking and Bicycling Policies.” The session not only highlighted how to engage schools in walking and bicycling projects that focus on infrastructure improvements, student traffic education, and driver enforcement that improves safety for children (many of whom already walk or bicycle in unsafe conditions), but it also provided an overview of transportation equity. I joined several sessions on behalf of The Leadership Conference Education Fund and PolicyLink, co-chairs of the Transportation Equity Caucus (a coalition of partner organizations that further transportation policies that advance economic and social equity in America), where I explained what transportation equity is and why it’s a critical component of bike share programs.

Transportation equity means a transportation system that works for everyone and provides people with multiple transportation options, including the promotion of equal employment opportunities, a requirement of equal decision-making power, the promotion of healthy and sustainable communities, and a requirement for meaningful civil rights protections.

Learn more about transportation equity here.