Save the Date! An Evening with Beth Osbourne - January 27, 2021

On January 27, 2021 the UW Department of Urban Design and Planning and the Professionals Council are pleased to present an evening with Beth Osbourne, Director of Transportation for America. This is the second in our 2020/2021 lecture series highlighting important topics in planning. Beth Osborne will discuss:

• Prospects for reauthorizing our national surface transportation program that includes transit, highways, maritime ports, and rail systems that move both people and freight,

• How to do this in a way that supports broad goals such as building a resilient economy, preventing catastrophic global climate change, and removing racial inequities in the transportation system, and

• The role of local planning and development patterns that provide transportation systems a chance to meet those goals.

Prior to being director of Transportation for America, which is Smart Growth America’s transportation arm, Beth served as the Acting Assistant Secretary for Transportation Policy at the US Department of Transportation and the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Transportation Policy. At USDOT, Beth managed the TIGER Discretionary Grant program, the secretary’s livability initiative, the development of the Obama administration’s surface transportation authorization proposal, and the implementation of MAP-21. She began her career in Washington, DC in the House of Representatives working as a legislative director for Rep. Brian Baird (WA-03). Beth is a Washington native.