[box color=”green” align=”left”]NOTE: The first day (September 29) Interactive Workshop Registration has been reopened by popular demand! Contact Ann Pierce at annpierce350@gmail.com or (757) 870-9105 to register. The venue has also changed to the Center for Performing Arts of Bonita Springs 10150 Bonita Beach Rd, Bonita Springs, FL 34135.[/box]

Register Today for the 2016 Innovative Transportation & Land Use Planning Workshop & Summit

Join us on Friday September 30th to hear from and interact with four national experts and consultants as they present and discuss the evolving new paradigm in transportation planning and funding, emphasizing state-of-the-art best practices and integration with land use patterns, economic development and community well-being.

Ian Lockwood, Dan Burden and Samantha Thomas, instructors from the Day 1 Workshop, will also present summary and highlights of this Interactive Workshop, current and evolving national best practices, case studies, necessary process changes and collaborative opportunities to maximize outcomes and minimize costs.

FDOT Secretary Billy Hattaway will outline the state’s new Complete Streets Implementation Program, its integration with smart growth principles, land use and community design and the expected impacts on local MPOs and each one of our communities.

As well, Paula Benway, the new Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) President and fresh from the National ITE Conference will also speak, exploring the new national transportation initiatives, including multimodal and maximization of equitable accessibility.

Mayor Retzer of Cape Coral and Johnny Limbaugh of Lee Co MPO, both participants in the highly selective year-long Transportation 4 America National Leadership Academy will present updated information on the newly developing federal guidelines, including the new performance measures and future funding implications for our area.

The program will end with a Panel Discussion featuring the City Mangers of Fort Myers, Cape Coral and Bonita Springs, a County Commissioner, Dr. Sal Lacagnina of LMHS and the four national consultants listed above. In this forum they will get a chance to discuss the obstacles and limitations encountered in making these large system changes with the national experts and steer towards collaborative solutions.

Why Attend this Transportation Summit & Conference?

It is estimated that 50-perccent of the buildings needed by 2050 have not been built. More than 80-percent of Americans say they would like to live in walkable places, according to the National Realtors Association. A majority prefer neighborhoods which offer safe choices in active personal mobility with Millennials and Retirees both expressing desire for greater diversity in housing and transportation. They want to live where they can easily walk, cycle or take transit to earn, learn and play. Meanwhile recent research shows that less than 14-percent of neighborhoods in America are walkable.

How do we avoid repeating past outcomes? How do we build infrastructure for an affordable future? While SW Florida enjoys one of the best climates in the nation for active transportation we also kill and injury more pedestrians and cyclists on our roadways than most other places; how do we build safe and convenient infrastructure for all? How do we mitigate the impact of sedentary automobile dependency on epidemics of chronic diseases? And how will we meet the new federal Performance Measures to ensure equitable and safe multimodal, multiuser transportation networks in the face of shrinking federal budgets?

Among the many ingredients of a healthy neighborhood are intersection density, block patterns, internal street connectivity, external street connections and overall street design and networking. Other ingredients such as mixed uses, placement of and connections to parks, schools, and other community assets can create the necessary parameters for highly livable communities. But, if the framework of streets is poor residents and visitors alike will be forced to drive, rather than to walk, bicycle, or transit to their destinations.

This Transportation Summit will help build a common language among elected and appointed officials, developers, practitioners and the public to break down silos, strengthening and emphasizing collaboration; empowering those within our region to not only respond to changing public expectations, regulatory demands and funding criteria, but to proactively advance policy and program changes that increase the quality of life, reduce traffic, build active transportation, increase economic and social exchange, and enhance the resiliency and sustainability of our cities and county.