Mind Opener & Policy Forum: Transparent Funding Options for Meaningful Transportation Choices

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Outcomes: The purpose of these events was to identify top options for advancing sustainable transportation choices and funding in Minnesota.

Three major agreements came out of the policy forum discussions:
  • We must focus on thinking comprehensively on transportation and resist the tendency to put transportation issues into different silos or "bins." Comprehensive thinking must be adopted by professionals and policymakers and must be reflected in how we educate transportation students.
  • Transparency, knowing what the subsidies are and having a consistent way to think about them. Find ways to measure the subsidies.
  • Determine what is most appropriately paid for publicly and privately when we are looking at transportation investments.

Presentations and other materials:


May 5, 2008
Minneapolis Central Library
300 Nicollet Mall
Mary and David Doty Board Room
 * Note room change: Both sessions will now be held in the Doty Room *

Mind Opener Breakfast
7:30 - 8:30 a.m.

Policy Forum
9 a.m. - 12 noon

Click here for directions, transit, and parking information



Part I: Mind Opener Breakfast with Professor David Levinson


7:30 - 8:30 a.m.

Land use, transportation, access, and value
Dr. Levinson is a leading thinker on transportation finance and behavior. He will help frame the policy forum by providing the elements to create a new context around transparent funding and a sustainable transportation system.

Improving metropolitan transportation systems requires a comprehensive approach, yet planning efforts are often focused on narrower objectives to reduce traffic congestion. Useful transportation and land use policies need to capture both mobility and the activities that occur where access is provided. Value capture techniques are one example of opening up a new avenue for funding transportation that is tied directly to the value of transportation, closing the loop between transportation financing and transportation benefits.

Part II: Policy Forum with U.S. DOT Policy Undersecretary Tyler Duvall


9:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon

Session I: Tyler Duvall Keynote
9:00 - 9:45 a.m. (includes Q&A)

Session II: Funding Meaningful Transportation Choices
10:00 - 11:30 a.m.

John Adams, Co-Chair, University Metropolitan Consortium
Tyler Duvall, Undersecretary for Transportation Policy, US DOT
Steve Elkins, Bloomington City Council
Jim Erkel, Land Use & Transportation Director, MN Center for Environmental Advocacy
Elizabeth Glidden, Minneapolis City Council Member
David Levinson, Associate Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, U of M
Peter McLaughlin, Hennepin County Commissioner
Jerry Zhao, Asst. Professor of Public Administration, Humphrey Institute, U of M

Panelists will each give 3-5 minute perspectives on these two questions:
  • How do you view the opportunities to have more transportation choices?
  • What are the most promising ways to make funding more transparent?

After perspectives on these two questions, we will focus on value capture to discuss the approaches for the upcoming study to be performed by the Center for Transportation Studies.

Session III: Where to go?
11:30 - 12:00 noon

Discussion: What are the most important steps for us to take to advance a sustainable transportation system?



PFM%20Logo.jpg The Mind Opener and Policy Forum on Transparent Funding Options for Meaningful Transportation Choices is sponsored by the PFM Group.

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