In May 2024, Elizabeth Maldari and Jonah Williams from MVPC’s Transportation Program had the exciting opportunity to attend the 2024 NACTO Designing Cities Conference in Miami, FL. NACTO, the National Association of City Transportation Officials, is an association made up of cities and transit agencies throughout North America focused on building cooperation to approach national transportation issues. NACTO’s mission emphasizes creating cities for people with safe, sustainable, accessible, and equitable transportation options. Every year NACTO brings together practitioners in the transportation field to foster collaboration and share best practices at the Designing Cities Conference. The themes of the 2024 conference were:
- Safety
- Climate
- Equity
- Sustainable Growth
- Regional Collaboration
These themes closely align with the goals of MVPC’s Transportation Program and complement major projects the program is currently working on such as the Vision Zero Plan and Active Transportation Plan.
Safety Poster at NACTO Designing Cities 2024
Throughout the conference, Elizabeth and Jonah attended sessions where they had the opportunity to learn from leaders in the transportation field. Jonah attended sessions focused on topics including leveraging federal grants with limited capacity, implementing amenities such as bus shelters at bus stops, and updated guidance on aesthetic treatments for pavement and their applications for safety improvements. Elizabeth attended sessions related to Vision Zero and safety planning, hearing from planners and engineers across the nation discuss challenges and successes their teams had encountered. Elizabeth also attended a session about innovation to traffic signals and community-led transit engagement.
Miami’s Ludlam Trail
In addition to more traditional conference sessions, NACTO also included opportunities to get out and see transportation projects taking place in Miami through “Walkshops”. Jonah visited two different trail projects, the Commodore Trail and the Ludlam Trail, to hear about how the projects are being developed and even got to bike on the Commodore Trail. Jonah also explored Miami’s newly redesigned bus network and learned about how the county collaborated with local transit advocates to bring about this redesign. Elizabeth enjoyed a Walkshop through the Allapattah neighborhood where guides highlighted the interplay between housing development and community action to preserve the diverse and vibrant social life that spills out of barbershops and supermarkets to strengthen community ties. Elizabeth also joined a tour with Miami’s Transit Alliance to experience connectivity across Miami for an experiential look at transit route redesign.
In addition to these sessions, a highlight of the conference was opportunities for networking and sharing ideas with fellow transportation professionals. While Elizabeth and Jonah met people from throughout the country, they also connected with people from the Merrimack Valley – representatives from Lawrence and Methuen were also in attendance! Elizabeth and Jonah are eager to apply all that they learned through the NACTO Conference to their work to improve transportation options in the region.