Understanding Community Transportation Needs – Julie A.White, NCDOT

Jan 31, 2023

“So we went out to the communities and we met with them and said,’ what do you want in your downtown? There's this rail line that goes through the middle of your downtown. What's your vision for that?’ And they all said, we think rail is a really big part of our future right now….We'd love to use that to spur economic development in our downtown. We think it creates foot traffic and then creates economic opportunity….How can you help us as small towns? How do we make the most of that?” Julie White on Electric Ladies Podcast

Public transportation today looks very different than ever before. It’s because communities are different, “commuting” is different, and what makes up “public transportation” is different. Covid is only part of it. Systems have changed, priorities have changed and funding options have changed, especially with the new federal legislation too. How so?

Listen to this fascinating interview on Electric Ladies Podcast with Julie White, Deputy Secretary of Transportation in North Carolina, a state that take “multi-modal” to a whole new level.

You’ll hear:

• How communities look at how they get from point A to point B in this brave new world of mobility.
• How NC DOT got to know what their communities need – in a state with a wide range of types of communities – and what we can learn from them.
• What kind of impact the new federal legislation and funding is having and will have as it rolls out across the country.
• What “institutionalizing change” means and how NDCOT is doing it.
• Plus, insightful career advice from Julie’s many years in state government and transportation, such as….:

“First, have a proactive plan.  So, if you don't know where you want to go, you cannot get there, right? So, map out what is it you want to do with your career and map out a proactive plan to get there. And then, the second step is, be willing to throw the plan away…. But the point of the plan was, I'm not willing to let life happen to me. I'm going to make life happen. We have the life we largely have, the life we build.”

Julie White on Electric Ladies podcast

You’ll also like: (some might be recorded under our previous name, Green Connections Radio)

• Tiya Gordon, Cofounder and COO, itsElectric urban EV charging systems
• Linda Zhang, Chief Engineer, Ford F160 Lightning EV
• Suzy Deering, Chief Marketing Officer of Ford – on bringing change to a legacy industry as an outsider.
• Genevieve Cullen, President, Electric Drive Transportation Assn. – on financial benefits for buying EVs in the new legislation, and EVs coming to market soon
• Kristen Siemen, Chief Sustainability Officer of General Motors
• Neha Palmer, Founder/CEO of TeraWatt Infrastructure on charging for EV trucks

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