For Immediate Release
Contact: Anthony Flint 617-661-3016 x116
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Development patterns and vehicle miles traveled (VMT), transportation choices and energy consumption will be among the topics at the New England Smart Growth Leadership Forum Nov. 20 at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, as leaders prepare for major changes in federal legislation on transportation policy.
Climate Change and Transportation: Innovations in Financing and Land Use is sponsored by the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy in partnership with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston, the University of Massachusetts at Lowell, and the Vermont Agency of Transportation.
“Development patterns have a major influence on how much we drive, which in turn produces greenhouse gas emissions,” said Armando Carbonell, senior fellow and chair of the Department of Planning and Urban Form at the Lincoln Institute, which has brought together policymakers and practitioners and expanded research over the past year on land policy and climate change. “Experts in the field will assess how those connections, and the financing of smart transportation choices, can result in tangible actions to reduce this source of emissions.”
Speakers include former Massachusetts Governor Michael S. Dukakis, former vice president of the board of Amtrak; Steve Winkelman, manager of the transportation program at the Center for Clean Air Policy, on the reauthorization of SAFETEA-LU, the next federal transportation bill; Greg Nadeau, deputy commissioner of policy, planning and communications at the Maine Department of Transportation, on the nexus of climate change, land use, and transportation; Michael Repogle, transportation director, Environmental Defense Fund, on public and private transportation financing innovations; and Coralie Cooper, transportation manager at the Clean Air Association of New England States, on the relationship of compact development, vehicle miles traveled, and greenhouse gas emissions.
The event is from 9:30 to 3 at the Federal Reserve Bank, Boston on Nov. 20, and is open to the press.
The Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, a think-tank in Cambridge, Mass., www.lincolninst.edu, has convened leaders in the field for the forum in anticipation of the reauthorization in 2009 of SAFETEA-LU, the federal transportation legislation guiding policy and funding for transit and highways. The bill will be taken up by Congress in 2009 as the new administration of President-elect Barack Obama charts a new course for transportation infrastructure supporting major metropolitan areas.
To attend as media please contact Anthony Flint at 617-661-3016 x116 or anthony.flint@lincolninst.edu.
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