WCTA Breakfast: The Future of Washington's Transportation System

Featuring: Washington State Department of Transportation Secretary Lynn Peterson | July 10 | 730-900 am | Seattle Chamber Conference Center, 1301 Fifth Avenue, Suite 1500.

The demands on our transportation infrastructure are enormous. How do we improve sustainability, create jobs, reduce greenhouse gases, complete big transportation projects–and manage challenging budgets. WSDOT Lynn Peterson shared her perspectives of our future and a respondent panel followed at this event that had over 100 people in attendance.  Find the slides for the presentation here.

Lynn Peterson, Secretary of Transportation
Lynn Peterson, Secretary of Transportation

Lynn Peterson is Washington State’s Secretary of Transportation and heads the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT). She was appointed Secretary of Transportation in 2013 by Governor Inslee. Peterson manages an agency of 6,600 employees, with responsibility for 18,600 lane miles of highway, 3,700 bridges, general aviation airports, passenger- and freight-rail programs, and the nation’s largest ferry system. As WSDOT nears completion of the agency’s largest construction program in its history ($16.3 billion), Peterson brings a renewed focus on sustainable transportation investments. She supports WSDOT’s partnerships with cities and counties, businesses, transit, non-motorized transportation, and environmental organizations to cost-effectively build safe and healthy communities. Before joining WSDOT, Peterson served as Oregon Governor Kitzhaber’s Sustainable Communities and Transportation policy advisor. She is the former chair of the Clackamas County Commission and a nationally recognized transportation and land-use integration expert. In her role with Gov. Kitzhaber’s administration, Peterson led policy efforts on building a safe, complete, and low-carbon transportation system and linking transportation investments to Oregon’s economy, housing needs, health, and sustainability. Prior to serving on the Clackamas Commission, Peterson worked as a transportation consultant and as a strategic planning manager for TriMet, Portland’s regional transportation agency. She was also a transportation advocate for 1000 Friends of Oregon and a transportation planner for Metro, the regional government for the Portland metropolitan area. Peterson holds a degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Wisconsin-Madison and two Masters degrees from Portland State in Civil and Environmental Engineering and Urban and Regional Planning.

Respondents included:

Anne Goodchild, UW
Anne Goodchild, University of Washington

Anne Goodchild is the Allan and Inger Osberg Endowed Associate Professor in Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Washington. She joined the faculty of the University of Washington as an Assistant Professor in 2005 after completing her PhD in Civil and Environmental Engineering at UC Berkeley. Her research interests lie in the analysis of logistic systems, with an emphasis on freight transportation. Recent research has evaluated CO2 emissions in strategic routing and schedule planning in urban pick-up and delivery systems, policy and technology implementations to improve intermodal interfaces, and the relationship between freight activity and the economy. In addition, a series of recent projects include primary data collection and analysis to build knowledge and algorithms for next generation freight models. Before attending Berkeley she worked in consulting for 5 years in Europe and North America, for PricewaterhouseCoopers and Applied Decision Analysis Inc., modeling business problems such as airline fleet maintenance scheduling. She holds an MS in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the UC Berkeley, and a BS (with High Honors) in Mathematics from the UC-Davis.

Kathleen Petrich, Graham & Dunn
Kathleen Petrich, Graham & Dunn

Kathleen Petrich, Moderator, is an attorney at Graham & Dunn. She is a shareholder and practices in the area of intellectual property, including trademark, mechanical/electrical and electro-mechanical and design patent prosecution. She counsels clients regarding their intellectual property rights and strategizes with clients as to the protection and enforcement of those rights. She also litigates intellectual property disputes, and provides clearing, registration, prosecution, opposition practice, portfolio management, opinion, due diligence, license, and settlement negotiations services.

Geoff Wood, Profile Composites
Geoff Wood, Profile Composites

Geoff Wood is the CEO of Profile Composites Inc. in Bremerton and the lead for the proposed Advanced Composites Center, designed to be a Manufacturing Innovation/Demonstration Facility. He started Profile as a consulting and development firm and has provided design, development, business case feasibility, and production services including advanced transportation (light vehicle structures), aerospace, infrastructure (logging road stream crossings), CNG and hydrogen storage, large precision antenna, and accelerated manufacturing of large wind turbine blades. With the company’s recent relocation to WA, he is concentrating on state-wide collaborative efforts within the composite community to cement the state’s position as an international leader in the advanced composites field. He is also working to establish an Advanced Composites Center in WA. Geoff previously worked at Oak Ridge National Laboratory managing the DoE’s Lightweight Materials Program, and also consulted for Rocky Mountain Institute through the founding and establishment of their Hypercar™ effort. Prior to that he worked for six years in natural gas and hydrogen production and gas treatment. He holds an undergraduate degree in Chemical Engineering from Cornell and an MASc in Materials Science from the University of BC.